Few of us enjoy the salary negotiation process, whether we’re asking for a raise or interviewing for a new job. Recruiters and employer surveys, however, suggest that not only do companies expect you to negotiate, it might make you seem like a better candidate.
Photo by jabberwocky381
If you don’t negotiate your starting salary, you can stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over your career (half a million dollars in some cases, for just a $5000 difference).
Besides the money, though, recruiter Margaret Buj writes on Career Attraction that demonstrating negotiation skills is a positive thing:
Very often people who at least attempt to ask for a higher salary are perceived more positively, since they’re demonstrating the skills the company wants to hire them for.
It depends on how you ask, she says. Know what you’re worth and ask confidently, rather than demand. It’s also confidence-boosting to know that in a Salary.com survey of 1000 employers and employees:
73% of employers agreed they are not offended when people negotiate. Furthermore, a whopping 84% said they always expect job applicants to negotiate salary during the interview stage. But most importantly, 87% said they’ve never rescinded a job offer following negotiations during the interview, and no employers — that’s zero per cent — reported demoting or firing an existing employee simply for asking for a raise.
Sadly, in that same survey, 4% of employees said they were demoted or fired after asking for a raise and 19% said they lost a job offer during the interview stage. So just be aware of the kind of employer you’re negotiating with, and if it’s a good one, chances are very high that negotiating won’t put you in a negative light.
A Recruiter’s Inside Scoop on Salary Negotiation Tips [Career Attraction]
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