Negotiating A Higher Salary

Don't Get Paid Less Than You Deserve - Here Are The Secrets To Negotiating A Higher Salary

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Are you preparing to negotiate a higher salary?

Between 18-25 years of age, I served in multiple roles in a super regional bank, from Branch Manager to Executive Vice President. While I was promoted over a dozen times to various departments and salary grades, there was one thing that was always consistent: my salary was always 40% more than my peers and even in one instance, over 75% higher than the average person in the same role.

Over the years I learned a few salary negotiation tricks that may help you ensure you get the money you deserve when you get hired.

Salary negotiation always comes down to these five basic questions. The more you know, the better equipped you will be to negotiate fairly in your favor, and the less likely to lose the job you worked so hard to get an offer on.

What does the role pay?

Be realistic and do research about what the role itself pays. Understanding what the actual pay of someone in that job is allows you to have the right expectations. A big mistake workers make when negotiating pay is their misunderstanding of the actual pay for the role they are applying for; instead, their focus is based on their own existing pay and the increase they want to make.

What will your impact be?

An organization is usually willing to negotiate more with individuals who are in positions that directly impact the bottom line. Regardless of whether there is a high bonus or incentive structures, every organization wants those people who will not only pay for themselves, but also bring net profits to the business.

Understanding if the position you are applying for qualifies as such and what that impact will be can enable you to have massive leverage in getting negotiations to turn in your favor, especially if you have a worthy track record in the same role elsewhere.

What is the pay range for such a job within your organization?

Most organizations have ranges for each and every job. Back in my banking days, we used to pay managers who would work for me an average of $65,000 but the range varied drastically for the same role. The lowest for that position was $58,000 and the highest $101,000 — for the exact same job.

Most of the hiring managers had the ability to pay up to 50% of that range, but anything higher required approval. While they could pay up to that 50th percentile, many HR managers made offers that started much lower.

Understanding if there is a range for the role you are applying for is very helpful and it enables you to know the hiring manager’s limitations — and, therefore, if its worth pushing for further approval. Keep in mind HR managers work on vacancy rates, but executives do not, meaning the wrong push may result in the offer being made to someone else. Negotiate your salary carefully.

What is your worth to the outside job market?

Regardless of whether you are an internal candidate or external recruit, knowing what someone else will pay for you to work at his or her organization enables you to understand your worth in today’s marketplace, and therefore allows you to negotiate your next promotion well.

I highly encourage everyone to apply for roles they have always wanted or are one step ahead of where they are today at least once every two to three years. By understanding what others are willing to pay, you can assess how your company’s pay scale stacks up, and get a feel for how your industry as a whole is doing. Knowing what you’re worth to the wider market is a valuable tool in salary negotiations.

Who you are negotiating with?

Negotiations are always between two people and knowing who the person sitting across from you is, including their title and limitations in authority, allows you to know if this is the right person to push for getting what you want.