Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can’t trade for your heart’s desire is your heart. (Lois McMaster Bujold)
Really negotiating
Negotiating is the art of getting what you want, while giving up what you want less.
A good recruiter can help you negotiate. He can find out all the details before the offer is given to you and get important problems fixed. He can give away the things you care less about. He can negotiate for you before the final offer is put on the table. A good recruiter can put pressure on a company that you will never see. If you have a recruiter be blunt and honest with him. Don’t lie and say I need $80,000 when you are hoping for $60,000. Tell the recruiter the truth. Then accept or reject an offer based on its merits, not on your greed for more.
If you don’t have a recruiter, you have to do exactly the same thing, only directly with someone at the company.
Find out all the details
Talk about details before a final offer is on the table
Give away the things you care about less for the things you want the most
Pressure. Let them know your priorities and what will make you walk away
Be blunt and honest
Tell them what you really want
Accept or reject an offer on its merits, not based on your greed
Every one of those points is about communication. Negotiating a salary is about communicating. Go at it with the desire to understand and inform and you will come out ahead. If you go in with a desire to rape and pillage, you will lose.
Something to do today
Get the book, How To Win Friends And Influence People. It may be the best practical book on communicating that was ever written.
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Next: All I want is more money, vacation and benefits
Later: A crippled ace
An ace who learned