Nobody cares about you, honey - it’s all about the business.
You have to standup for yourself. When passing into the “you’re hired” phase, many so-called experts tell you to highlight your good qualities when trying to get a better deal. Wrong.
With more than seven billion people in the world, the odds of someone else having those experiences and skills - even in a small town or a particular industry - I’d make a call to Vegas and wager money against you.
However, notice where I focused that last sentence - on the numbers. It’s about numbers that work in your favor. You need to show the new business that you know how to count. So what numbers should be important to you and why?
Here are three tips on how to negotiate a better package from a new employer.
Problem one is all about that base. Thanks, Megan Trainor. The base is the focus, not the treble or other benefits. That comes later...
Problem One: You are offered a lower base salary than you want.
Answer One: Look at the average base salary for that position in the city or region. Then, also research the average years of people in same position.
Option One Part A: The base salary offered is lower.
Solution One Part A: You counter with knowledge of the industry by providing the average salary in a given area and incorporate the years on the job of the person in the role (if it is the same or less than yours). Hard for a company to justify how they value you less than someone that’s average - and you don’t even have to explain how you’re better than just “average.” Use salary.com, glassdoor.com, payscale.com… you get the drift. Compare a few, too, as Salary uses numbers from industry but Glassdoor uses employee self-reporting.
Option One Part B: The base salary offered is higher.
Solution One Part B: Don’t necessarily negotiate the base until after you review what’s next (but know you’ll likely take the offer and just want to see how to sweeten it).
Problem two is they better recognize. Thanks, Honey Boo-Boo. They need to recognize your work contributions...
Problem Two: You are offered either a lower merit bonus or no merit - or worse yet, a “team” bonus.
Answer Two: Refer back to Answer One.
Option Two Part A: They offer a low or no bonus structure.
Solution Two Part A: A bit longer explanation as bonus payments are more complicated… Review how their base salary offering compares to the average base in your profession for your job for your region for your years of experience. If no merit is offered (or an older-model cost of living set increase), leverage it with the Solution One and a combination of your own past reviews (if they were good) to show your contributions. Give them facts about your sales exceeding target, your patient satisfaction survey results, your student evaluations - whatever it takes for third party data to show them what they are getting. Don’t say how great you are - third party acts are WAY BETTER and more successful. After all, you have nothing to say if the response is “no” if you just told them you are wonderful, but with metrics you can still have a second round of discussion.
Option Two Part B: They offer a “team effort” bonus structure.
Solution Two Part B: Again longer explanation, but for a different reason than Part A. This is generally a no-win bonus as almost every job today has some system that, regardless of what you call it, is manipulated to cover cost of living increases. Kind of like threatening with a big stick but forgetting a carrot. These merit structures can’t be altered and this one stinks as it depends on other people not screwing up your money. However, your past performance ratings can influence a bigger base… meaning that the 3% they may say was awarded last year will be larger on a salary that’s $3,000 higher than the original offer. Combined with the Solution One Part A, you can get a larger base salary (which means better matching for retirement, too). Combine this personal initial agreement increase based on your past performance with Solution One Part B, you again get a larger base salary. Refer back to point one - it’s all about the base and guaranteed money.
Problem three is what about me. Thanks, Kardashians. The “selfie” here though is your bank account and portfolio...
Problem Three: The benefits structure seems lower - fewer days off than what you have now or less of a retirement match than what you have today.
Answer Three: A variation of Answer One - it’s all about where you start the count.
Option Three Part A: If you are leaving a company that gave you additional days vacation after your years of loyalty, tell the new employer. State your current paid days off, sick time, or PTO. Speak their language.
Solution Three Part A: This is a give-away for them. The starting "days off" package is nearly always negotiable. If you have experience in the industry - especially at a direct competitor - this is a good area to let them know they are not as generous as where you currently work. You don’t need them (though you may want them) - they need you and is the last thing you review. With the above steps, they should already be paying you appropriately at this point anyway, so putting extra “V”s in the system is easy. By gaining your experience and not a starter position that would only earn the intro rate, you can leverage what you know and how long you did it somewhere else as a reward, too. But don’t let this be the deal breaker if you’ve already handled One and Two.
Option Three Part B: The new company doesn’t match as high of a percentage for retirement or takes longer to vest their contributions to your program.
Solution Three Part B: As this set-up is extremely unlikely to change, reframe it; let them know how the math works out against you, making their offer seem cheap (don’t say that literally). Pretend you couldn’t get a better base for the sake of math here. Both jobs are annual $100,000, but the new job offered only 3%of salary match instead of 6% match of you current employer. The new job is actually paying you $3,000 less a year - over ten years, that’s $30,000 they don’t give you (forget the investment interest). And I didn’t even do the “harder” math of raises, promotions, or that merit bonus - so it becomes more than $30,000! Effectively, this puts your negotiation back at Option One Part A - so you need to get this loss back into your base and you can tell them this component of your request to raise the base is so you can replace the decrease to your retirement contribution at the new company.
There’s a lot of talk about underemployment in the supposed economic recovery from the 2008 recession in addition to gender pay-gaps in certain fields and other job trending information. Any reason for the reduction in overall wages, sluggish increase in pay, or effective results lowering by age (younger or older) or gender - people aren’t sure how to get what they think they deserve for their skills. They don’t want to lose a chance… but will regret taking a position if they didn’t try to get what they think they deserve. If you are professional during the negotiation, it only bodes well as they know you know your business and are willing to invest in your best project - yourself.
Going back to the beginning of this article - if you don’t look out for yourself, no one else will. Have a cheerleader to remind you how great you are, but talk numbers when you are looking to take something from them to the bank.
