Category Archives: Raises

Negotiating salary, vacation, perks, and benefits at a new job – really negotiating

Posted on October 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

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.

————————–

Next:   All I want is more money, vacation and benefits

Later:              A crippled ace

An ace who learned

Leave a comment

Posted in Negotiating, Raises

Tagged , ,

What to do the first time salary is mentioned

Posted on October 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

“Will you work for minimum wage?”

Not a winning question when negotiating salary with an engineer.

“Give me all your money!”

Probably not a wise gambit for any job interview.

At some point in your job exploration the question of money has to come up.  Asking a recruiter what the job pays is fine.  Asking what your pay will be in a phone or first interview is a mistake.  They may have been given strict instructions to only mention $50,000, but have been told that they can go to $60,000 for the right candidate.  That happens all the time.

When THEY ask you how much you must make to switch jobs, THEY are nervous.  So are you.  Here is an answer that works.  It doesn’t get you eliminated for asking for too much.  You won’t get paid too little for being too meek.  It leaves room for negotiating.  It gives them the information they need to make you a good offer.

The answer has 3 steps:

  1. the compliment
  2. the money
  3. the rules.

First the compliment.  This job and your company interest me.  I’d like to go to work for you.

Now the money.  Last year I earned a total of $70,000 and just had a raise to $73,000.

Finally the rules.  I certainly wouldn’t want to earn less.  I would like to be able to entertain your best offer.

This works for minimum wage jobs and CEO salaries.  If they ask a second time, tell them the same thing.  Let them know that you feel it is the company’s job to make an offer, not yours.  You just tell them the facts about what you are earning.  That’s all.  You can negotiate AFTER they have decided to make you an offer.  Then you will have some leverage.

How to think about salary – do this.

Write down three numbers.

First, what are you earning now?  Obviously you would take your current job for that much money.  You did.

Second, what do you really think you would be paid in a good but realistic situation if you switched jobs next month?  It should be a raise.

Third, if the ideal job came along, with you doing, learning and being exactly what you really want, with a great company and future, what is the least you would take to go there?  Is it a drop in pay?

You now have three different numbers you would work for.  So why should you demand to know what a job will pay before you find out which of the three possibilities it is?

————————–

Tomorrow:     Negotiating a salary at a new job – really negotiating

Later:              All I want is more money, vacation and benefits

A crippled ace

An ace who learned

Leave a comment

Posted in Negotiating, Raises

Tagged ,

When to negotiate salary at a new job

Posted on October 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

The new college graduate walked into his job interview and sat down.  He put both feet up on the desktop, leaned back, and looked at the interviewer through steepled fingers.  After a five second silence he said, “Well, I’m just what you need.  Before we go any further I want you to know that I need at least a six figure income and a new BMW. I also expect 6 weeks of vacation.”

The silence stretched for 10 seconds, then 20.  After 30 seconds of silence the interviewer said, “I can only offer you $328,000.  What color of BMW do you want?”

The candidate’s eyes unfocused as his feet came down to the floor and he leaned forward.  He croaked, “You’re kidding!”

The interviewer frowned and waited 10 seconds, then he grinned and said, “Of course I’m kidding, but you started it.”

Timing is critical.  Don’t negotiate salary, vacation or perks until they love you and are sure they want to hire you.  You have no leverage for negotiations until you are the final candidate.

The problem is that THEY want to talk about it too early.  So what do you say?  We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Something to do today

Write down the salary, benefits and perks you want.  Also write down exactly what you have today.

Then do something more important: Write down why you want to leave.  If the list is exactly the same, salary, benefits, and perks, you are in trouble.  There is another problem.

————————–

Tomorrow:     Negotiating a salary at a new job – first interview

Later:              Negotiating a salary at a new job – really negotiating

All I want is more money, vacation and benefits

A crippled ace

An ace who learned

Leave a comment

Posted in Interviews, Raises

Tagged , ,

How to get a raise in 3 months

Posted on October 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

I was working in the oilfield for a year and a half and was laid off.  I talked with a co-worker who was also laid off.  He started the same time I did and was earning over twice as much.  I was flabbergasted.  I was better educated and had worked just as hard.  He confided his secret, “Every time I saw my supervisor I asked when I was going to get my next raise.”  We only saw our supervisor every month or three.  He got the raises.  I didn’t.

I didn’t learn.

Ask not what you can do for your country.  Ask what’s for lunch.  (Orson Welles)

 

My next job at EDS they told us that we weren’t allowed to share salary information with others.  I was intimidated. Luckily they did give me some nice raises.  After a few years those raises slowed down.  I waited for my annual reviews and hoped for a raise.  Once I got ready to quit.  The boss found out and gave me a raise.  Hmmm.  I still didn’t learn.

I am now paid based on how well AGI does.  My wife owns the company.  If I were going back to an hourly or salaried job, I’d talk to my boss about a raise every 3 months.

Every 3 months is often enough that you can set goals and meet them between reminders.  It is often enough to get some more education and finish some more projects. You have time to turn in 13 good weekly reports to your boss, even if he doesn’t ask for them.

I would NOT be upset about NOT getting a raise.  I would expect to get a better raise than if I kept quiet.  Think about it.  If I discuss my job performance and a raise every 3 months with my boss, I will be much more likely to focus on what will get me a raise.  Also, at the end of the year my boss really knows how much I deserve.

Something to do today

Want a raise?  A promotion?  Time to start reviewing your desires with your boss often.  More often.

————————–

Later:              Negotiating a salary at a new job

A crippled ace

An ace who learned

Leave a comment

Posted in Promotions, Raises

Tagged ,