How to Negotiate Your Salary

We’ve all been in this situation - the job interview has gone remarkably well, you can tell that they’re really interested and you’re available to start as early as possible. Your prospects are up, chances of rejection are down - and all that stands between you and your dream job is that nagging salary question.

There are two major mistakes candidates make when addressing this issue - they either ask for too little, or too much. Both are deadly to your career chances. Almost every company I know has an internal salary curve used to determine how much to pay someone at any given level within the organization. If you ask for too much, you’ll be outside the curve - and the company will either seek to negotiate the salary down (if they’re really interested) or simply accept that you’re outside their salary range.

On the flip side, asking for too little can get you hired - but why sell yourself short? The last thing you want is to discover that you’re getting paid half as much as your peers. Unfortunately, once you’re in at an agreed-upon salary, it can be very difficult to negotiate it back up (remember, you’re not supposed to talk to your co-workers about your monthly pay - even if everyone does it, that argument still won’t hold up too well with the HR).

In short, you can see why it’s important to nail your salary just right from the get-go, rather than trying to fix it afterwards. But how do you do that?

The simple rule of the thumb to keep in mind when negotiating a salary is that the person who makes an offer first, loses. There’s no getting around it - if you’re the one who names the figure first, it will be driven down relentlessly by the interviewer.

This is why salary negotiations often consist of a delicate interchange between you and the company, where you do everything in your power to get the interviewer to make an offer first while thwarting their efforts to make you do the same.

Usually, the dance will start with something like this:

“So what kind of salary range are you thinking of?”

And here’s a very simple way to respond to it:

“In all fairness, I do not know the salary curve that your organization typically offers for this position and for a candidate of my expertise, so it’s probably best if you provide me with some indication of the range and we can work from there.”

This tells the interviewer that you’re expecting him to name the figure first. Unfortunately, this usually doesn’t happen, and you can expect questions such as this:

“Look, before I can make you an offer, I really need to know your salary expectations. So if you could tell me how much you’re looking for, we could discuss that and finalize the interview.”

Again, this isn’t a trick you should fall for - see the sample reply above for an example of how to handle it.

Another indirect question you might get asked is this:

“If you don’t mind me asking, how much were you earning at your previous job?”

The idea behind this question is very simple - the interviewer wants you to tell them how much you were earning before, and this, in turn, will enable them to make an offer based on your previous salary. In other words, they’re still asking you to name the figure first - and we’re not falling for that!

Here’s how to answer this one:

“Judging from the job description you provided, it seems that the job in question is somewhat different from the one I did in the past. As such, I don’t think that my previous job has any bearing on my possible future one, particularly in terms of compensation.”

As you can see, there are many ways to dance around the salary question. Remember - they can’t make you a formal job offer without a concrete salary figure, so if they’re really interested, they really have no choice but to eventually break down and put a price tag on your services.

Above all, don’t give in because you’re afraid that if you negotiate too much, they will decide not to hire you. This just doesn’t happen - if anything, any HR professional will appreciate a shrewd negotiator!