You are invited to interview for a job you would absolutely love, and, to your delight, it goes swimmingly. Toward the end, the interviewer offers you the position — along with a less-than-satisfactory salary. What do you do?
Most job seekers are hesitant about negotiating their salaries, but accepting a low salary offer without negotiating may lead to severe income setbacks and regret over the course of a career. Job seekers must tackle this issue as early as the initial job offer, with a few strategies in mind. Here are three dos and three don’ts when receiving a salary offer that is lower than you would have liked.
Salary Negotiation — 3 Dos
1. Be Prepared
Know your worth and practice explaining it accurately and succinctly. Always know your market value through research — this changes regularly so make sure you stay updated. Get a sense of what the company and its competitors pay by researching sites such as Payscale and Glassdoor. As Live Careers points out, look into the economic, geographic, and company-specific factors that might affect a given offer.
Cheryl Roshak, a transition and career coach for over 25 years, says that every applicant needs to be aware of the inner workings of a company offer. "What most job seekers do not know or understand is that every job opening has a salary range attached to it that is competitive within the industry of existing similar jobs,” she says. "This salary range has been authorized from the existing budget. The range has about $10,000 spread above a certain salary number.”
2. Ask for What You Want
Form a solid negotiation technique, and practice asking for what you want, within reason. Tori Dunlap, influencer and founder of financial feminism and money education site Her First $100k, created a simple script for negotiating a low salary offer:
“Thank you so much for this offer. I would love to join the team, however, the salary listed is way under my market rate. Based on my skills, education, and experience, to be fairly compensated, I’m looking for a range of $X-$Y. I’d love to get to a number we can collaboratively agree on?”
Simple and to the point, a short script like this points out your strong suits, reiterates your interest in the role, and shows your knowledge of the market.
3. Think About the Whole Package, Not Just the Salary
Though the initial salary amount offered may come as a surprise, take a moment to add all the benefits offered together. Roshak mentions that many candidates, in their efforts to secure a high salary, forget to consider the compensation package they are offered.
These could include paid sick leave and vacation time, holidays, health insurance benefits, pensions, or 401(k) plans, profit-sharing, bonuses, and more. "These all add up in addition to the base salary offered,” she stresses.
In addition, you could be given the opportunity to work remotely, if you so wish, which could greatly reduce or even eliminate expensive commuting costs; another factor to think about. Finally, there’s no need to negotiate just for negotiation’s sake. If you’re happy with the offer, and you like the job, take it!
Salary Negotiation — 3 Don’ts
1. Don’t Seem Arrogant
Applicants that appear arrogant will never get far in their job searches. You don’t want to play hard-to-get; you want to seem interested, willing, and readily available. Additionally, those who show that they are most focused on money indicate that they are only as loyal as the highest bidder.
"Most candidates have an inflated value of what they are worth and what competitive salaries are in their field for their job,” says Roshak. "Every job opportunity has a salary ceiling. You can try and bargain all you wish, but it’s not going to do you any good. At most, if they really value you, they might [go] up $1,500 or so.” Some companies will simply not be able to offer you what you are asking due to iron-clad company constraints and salary caps.
2. Don’t Forget About Your Other Requirements
Sure, salary is one of the largest factors that need to be negotiated before signing a contract at a new job, but while you’re giving your prospective employer your number to muse over, it would be best to give them all your requests at once, instead of feeding these issues to them slowly and painfully.
It’s highly likely they, too, will have to run these requests past their own superiors, and it would be a rather arduous task if they had to do each request individually instead of all requests at once. So, whether you need specific days off, early leaves to pick up the kids, work-from-home requests, or any other requirements, you should request them along with the salary negotiations.
3. Don’t Be Intimidated
If you’re not happy with a low salary offer, don’t let ultimatums (“There are many candidates vying for this job so you’ll have to let me know now”) intimidate you into making a decision on the spot. Tell them you will need a few days to think about it and will get back to them — even if they retract the offer because of it.
If you’re not sure if the offer is in line with the market rate — perhaps they have blindsided you with some additional information such as an extra perk you didn’t see coming — do more research before reverting, and only respond when you are ready.
In the meantime, feel free to check out other job opportunities too. This job will likely not be the be-all and end-all, and, if something doesn’t quite feel right, you should probably trust your gut.