Negotiating your salary — especially if you haven’t officially landed the job yet — can be a frightening prospect. Obstacles such as imposter syndrome or inexperience can make you feel like you should just accept the company’s original offer and move on, but it’s important to know your worth and stand up for yourself if you think you can. you earn a higher salary.
But even as you build the confidence to negotiate, knowing exactly what to say and what not to say is one more obstacle to overcome. To help, 10 members of Council for Young Entrepreneurs every part one thing you should never do if you want to negotiate your salary successfully, and why it might hurt your efforts from the start.
Members of the Young Entrepreneur Council discuss what not to do when negotiating your salary.
Photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Hint you are still shopping
While hiring managers are open to salary negotiations, they ultimately want candidates who want to work at the company. If an applicant shows no interest, enthusiasm or commitment, the hiring manager may consider the candidate a flight risk because it is better to hire someone who is interested in working with your company on a long-term basis than someone who constantly looking for a “better” opportunity . – Firas Kittanehu, Amerisleep mattress
2. Make the first offer
An applicant should never make the first offer as it may make him appear desperate or greedy. If a candidate makes the first bid and it’s too low, they may be able to save the situation by countering their own bid, but they’ll have burned one of their biggest bargaining chips. It is important to remember that when you make the first offer, you have placed the other in a position of power. To avoid this, you have to wait for the other side to make the first bid. Then you can make a very reasonable counter. – Kelly Richardson, Infobrandz
3. Use another offer as a medium of exchange
A candidate should never use the salary offered to him by another company as a bargaining chip. It is normal for people to appear in several job interviews and then decide to join the best of the lot. But it is bad practice to use different offers to gain the upper hand in salary negotiations. HR is generally very sensitive to information disclosure. Bringing such information to the table can therefore raise many red flags. – Jared Atchison, WPForms
4. Share the least amount of money you need
Never give your bottom dollar amount. That gives your employer the upper hand. If asked this question directly, give it a reach, but try to turn the conversation into how you earn what you want. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
5. Focus only on the song
An applicant should never focus solely on number when negotiating his salary. Some companies may not be willing to go through with salary, but you can focus on other terms of the offer, such as signing bonus, performance bonus, severance pay, paid time off, flexible work options, moving expenses and more. Research to see which aspects can be sufficiently negotiated to balance your expectations. If the company says ‘yes’ to your proposal, whether it’s salary or a good benefits package, fold your cards and request the final offer in writing. – Brian David Crane, Spread great ideas
6. Start negotiating without doing your research
Never enter wage negotiations without doing your homework, whether you are a candidate or an employee asking for a raise. You need to know what others are paid for the work you will be doing – not the job title, but the work. Use resources like Glassdoor and LinkedIn to find out what others in similar roles are making and what other industry standards are. Build your worth around what others are doing and getting paid for. Be prepared to show your worth based on the research. Never give your number first! Have the potential employer spit out a value. If you go first, you’ll either shoot too high and they’ll politely reject you, or you’ll shoot too low and hurt yourself. – Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.
7. Provide a salary range
Avoid giving a range when negotiating your salary. This is a common mistake most candidates make when negotiating their salary with their potential employer. Specifying a range can be misleading. You are most likely expecting a higher number within the specified range. But HR will likely consider the lower number when making an offer. You cannot negotiate this further as they have technically agreed to your query. So specifying a range is never a good idea. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable shapes
8. Misrepresenting Your Value or Past Earnings
When candidates misrepresent their worth or past earnings, it can be categorized alongside lying on a resume. Some candidates will exaggerate how much they earned in their current or previous job in order to negotiate a higher salary. They may also exaggerate their experience or skills to talk themselves into a higher paying position. There are a number of reasons why this is not a good strategy. First of all, it is easy to verify the candidate’s merits and previous positions. Even if you do get hired, it will usually become apparent pretty quickly once you’ve bluffed your way into the position. Don’t underestimate yourself; however, try not to demand more than you are currently worth. You can always negotiate a raise after you prove your worth. – Kalin Kassabov, ProTexting
9. Get defensive or emotional
A candidate should avoid getting defensive or emotional when negotiating his salary. This can be a turn-off for employers and make it more difficult to reach an agreement. It is important to keep in mind that salary negotiations are a business transaction and you should approach it as such. Be professional and courteous, and be prepared to walk away if you don’t get the offer you’re looking for. However, you can ask for whatever you want and feel good about it by doing your research ahead of time. Explain clearly and point to your research when you ask about your salary expectations, and the recruiter will likely respect you. – Syed Balkan, WPBeginner
10. Ask for more later
Don’t personally agree to a salary and later follow up written correspondence stating that you need more to get started. If you want to negotiate a higher salary, do it face-to-face. Agreeing in person and then following up with written correspondence gives the employer the impression that you do not fully think through situations and that you are not a good communicator. Any of these can throw the job out the window before you have a chance to start. Don’t ask for a higher salary to start, but ask what you can do to get closer to your ideal number in the next six months. Mention that you are willing to take an online course and study to improve your skills to reach this higher compensation point that you want to achieve through this new role. – Mary Harcourt, CosmoGlo
