The 10 Commandments of Salary Negotiation
By Elizabeth Morgan January 7, 2015
This is the first in a series of six posts on salary negotiation published in partnership with PayScale.com.
1. Never accept the first salary offer.
2. Remember that you can negotiate more than just salary. A sign-on bonus and stock options are also major components of your offer that can be negotiated.
3. Work with your recruiter. Recruiters are your friends. But they are friends who have a budget. Ideally, they want you to accept the offer they are extending to you. Provide concrete data (see #10) to support why you are asking for a different compensation package.
4. Role-play the salary-negotiation conversation. Practice, practice, practice.
5. Utilize time as your golden trump card. Let’s say you found your dream job, but still aren’t happy with the salary that is being offered to you. It’s okay to put a timer on the offer after negotiations. Suggest a short turnaround time (i.e. “I will accept this offer by 5pm today if you can deliver the offer I am asking for”) to your recruiter to provide you with the salary criteria you requested.
6. Don’t be the first to disclose a number. Always let the recruiter or hiring manager be the first to share salary ranges or an offer post interviews.
7. Keep emotion out of the process. Remember: Business is business, and you can’t count on karma or other magical thinking. Sorry.
8. Always prepare a counter offer.
9. Remember that the negotiation process revolves around two factors: what you are worth and what they are willing to pay for you.
10. Always research your value and the company prior to interviewing for a job. Data is key to effective salary negotiating. Payscale.com is a great resource to leverage when doing research to determine your professional worth and how much you should be getting paid.
Elizabeth Morgan has over 15 years of technical recruiting experience, with companies that include Microsoft, Google, Amazon and LinkedIn. Currently, she is building LinkedIn’s Engineering Leadership team and helping launch LinkedIn’s Women in Tech program.
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