How To Discuss Salary Requirements With The Hiring Manager

A lot of people find the subject of salary negotiation tricky. Do you wait to bring up the salary requirements or do you wait until the potential employer does it first?

When you’re dealing with an internal recruiter or a recruitment agency, they should make sure that they know what your expectations are before arranging any interviews.

It is sometimes hard to be precise when stating your salary expectations. If you only mention your minimum required amount, you’re unlikely to get anything more at the negotiation stage. If you mention a number that’s much higher than your current salary – you’re risking pricing yourself out of the job.

It is safer to give out a range that you’re interested in at the start of the process. There are a lot of salary surveys online (many published by recruitment agencies), so it should be relatively easy to get an idea what someone with your experience should be earning in your area.

Your negotiating power of course depends on a variety of factors. The first is your negotiating skill – your ability to convince the employer to give you what you want. The second is the job market. If a lot of people are out there selling the same skills and experience as you, you lose some negotiating edge.

The third factor affecting your negotiating power is the type of job you’re being hired to do. Generally, the higher up the corporate ladder you go, the more you can bargain for wages, benefits and perks.

Let me give you some advice on how to make salary negotiation process a bit easier!

Focus on the needs of the employer.

When you negotiate salary, you must remember that you’re involved in a sales process. Your goal is to persuade the customer – the employer – to pay as much as possible for your services. The only way to do that is to convince the employer that doing so will pay off handsomely for the company.

Remember, you must focus on the needs of the employer and not on your own needs when you sell yourself in an interview. The same applies in salary negotiations.

Employers base their salary decisions on one thing only: how much value they think you’ll add to the company. If you want $5k more than the employer offers, you have to prove you’re worth $5k more to the company.

How do you do that? By reminding the employer of the benefits and advantages you offer and by citing examples of how your past accomplishments benefited previous employers. In other words, by using the same sales techniques you used to convince the employer to make you a job offer in the first place.

Be polite, enthusiastic and professional.

During salary negotiations, be flexible and self-confident, but not arrogant and demonstrate that you’re looking for a win-win solution.

A few years ago a company I recruited for withdrew the offer as the candidate was too pushy and it appeared like he was only interested in the money. You don’t want to adopt a “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude here – remain polite and professional.

Ask for a bit more & continue selling yourself.

It is a good idea to ask for a little bit more than you think the employer wants to pay, which gives you room to negotiate. For example, if the employer offers you $55k and you want $60k, ask for $63-64k and then work backward towards your targeted salary.

Remember to justify why you’re requesting more money by focusing on the employer’s needs, not yours.

 Finally, when you make a salary request, offer a short, simple explanation as to why this amount is appropriate and then – remain silent. Wait for the employer to respond instead of going on and on about why you should get what you’ve asked for.

Hope you’ll find these tips useful – best of luck in your negotiations!

3 Phone Interview Tips To Build Your Confidence

Do you get nervous before phone interviews? You are not alone… it’s very common. Here are three tips to help you feel more confident, so you give better answers in your phone interview and get invited to the next step: the face-to-face interview.

Wear Your Best, Most Confidence-Inspiring Suit

The clothes we wear have an impact on how we feel and how we behave. So, if you want to feel and sound like a professional on the phone, make sure you are wearing a professional suit. It will come across in your voice.

If it’s too tight or uncomfortable, your voice will show it. On top of that, you will be distracted, and may not give the best answers to interview questions.

Over-Prepare

Some job seekers believe they don’t have to do anything before the phone interview—but those are the job seekers who aren’t likely to move on to the face-to-face.

The more you can learn about the company and the job before the interview, the better off you are.

You want to study their website, and look them up on LinkedIn. Find others who have worked for the company and see if you can learn anything from their profiles. Of course, Google the company to find out what’s going on with them. Based on your research, make a list of questions to ask. You may not get to all of them, but having questions to ask of your own will help you perform better.  In addition, write out answers (or outline them) to common interview questions, so you don’t forget important points.

With all of this pre-interview work, you will give better answers to questions, you will ask more intelligent questions, and you will be more confident. There is nothing like knowing you are prepared and ready for anything to calm your nerves.

Be Extra-Organized

Before your phone interview is scheduled to begin, print out all of your papers and notes and lay them out in front of you—your resume, your notes about points you want to make, notes about the company, your list of questions and answers, and a blank sheet of paper to take notes on. Paper is better than computer in this instance, because it’s easier, quieter, and more reliable. The last thing you want is a computer that freezes up, or tell-tale clicking in the background that makes it seem like you’re not paying attention to the conversation.

Your ability to have all of these “cheat sheets” in front of you is one of the only advantages of phone interviews, so you should make the most of it.

How To Answer Interview Questions About Why You’re Leaving Your Current Job

If you are interviewing for a position that is essentially a lateral move, this can be a touchier answer. In many cases, people don’t leave their jobs for positive reasons—something has happened to drive them away. If this is what’s happening for you, be very careful with how you phrase your answer.

You never want to say anything negative in a job interview, because what will come across to your interviewer is that YOU are negative, rather than your situation.

Any reason you give is best if it’s more neutral than negative. It should be a factor in your old job that won’t be a part of this new one—but also something that you aren’t angry about. Your attitude should be more like, “It is what it is,” and you aren’t taking it personally. For instance:

• If your current job requires a lot of travel but the new one doesn’t, you can say, “My current job requires a lot of travel, and I’m ready to be home in my own bed a little more often.” Of course, if the situation is reversed, you could say, “I love that this job requires a lot of travel. I’ve been ready to get out and about more.”
• If your current job is with a small company and you are interviewing with a large one, point out something that’s inherent in each of these types of companies, as in “I’ve loved being at Small Company and learned a lot, but there’s not a lot of room for growth or promotions and I’m ready to be somewhere I have the chance to move up.” If you’re moving from a large to a small company, you could say, “I loved working for Large Company and learned a lot, but I’d love the chance to really dig into helping a smaller company grow.”
• If the new job is in another city, you could say, “I’ve loved working at Other City, but I am moving to this area and so I need a job here.”

Whatever your answer is, be brief—no more than a sentence. Make sure that in your answer, you give them a reason that you are running TO this new company (because of the fit, the culture, the location, the opportunity, and son on.). That’s where your focus should be—not on the past, but on the future.