Prior to salary negotiating, it is very important to know exactly what your market value is. If you do not know exactly what your market value is, then it is like being blindfolded and not knowing what salary to ask when you ask for a raise or try to negotiate the best salary in your next job.
If you do not do your research, your employer will decide your pay increase for you and it may be very dissapointing. Millions of people regularly negotiate salary, but very few get the maximum pay increase that they could.
Research the market in advance of approaching your boss for a pay raise, or before revealing your expectatiosn for salary at job offer time. It is like a game. Do not reveal your information too soon. In this case, your strategy is to keep your information close to you. It could be your past salary history, or what you are planning to ask for in salary negotiation.
Know how much compensation you can command before you ever discuss salary negotiation with an employer.
If you are asking for a raise, or even looking for a new job, do your full salary research on the Internet first. There are great sites like Salary.com or Salary.Monster.com who will disclose salary information in some detail for free, or greater detail for a small fee.
Make sure you scrutinize the quality of information from each site, so you feel you have reliable information. If a web site reports salary scales based on information provided by subscribers it may not be as accurate as if the salary data is reported by the hiring department of the companies in that field.
If you are not worried about being forward with others, you may just outright ask. I recommend using some tact in this approach, but it is less offensive than it once was. You might just discover inside intelligence about the salary range for that job.
Better yet, if you can ask a valued human resources friend, you may find out not only about the company you work for, but you may also find out about other companies in your market. Whatever information you can find out, will be useful, as long as the source is someone you can believe.
There are many firms that do research into the human resources data for a particular job market. These firms publish very expensive reports that are only disclosed to inside subscribers. If you are able to gain access to one of these reports in a lawful way, then you may just find you have a wealth of information, that is even more valuble than asking a friend.
Salaries are often reported on the basis of a salary curve. Take for example, a software developer in a given city with very specific experience in Microsoft technology. They may earn $70K or $80K or more. The reporting will show the percentage of workers who are earning in the top end of that range, middle of the range and bottom of the range. It is very clear based on the chart.
If you perform well at your job, then you know it. Think about your performance critically and honestly, and determine using intuition where you think you fit in, as far as a percentile basis. Don't worry if you think you're in the lower regions. It may be lack of experience or tenure. If you are in the top end, you know you're a high performer and you're providing a lot of value to the company.
I have found it to be very useful to point blank ask friends at work where they feel I should be on the salary scale. They know themselves and measure themselves against you. You should do this with someone you have a very good raport with. You will get great direct feedback.
You must be able to express the value you bring to the business in terms that employers really like to hear. If you are able to describe your value in quantifiable terms, then you will have a lot stronger arguement. Think about cost savings, profits you've been responsible for and efficiency you may have brought to the business. This is the greatest way to communicate your worth when negotiating salary.
To your salary negotiation success. - 15784
If you do not do your research, your employer will decide your pay increase for you and it may be very dissapointing. Millions of people regularly negotiate salary, but very few get the maximum pay increase that they could.
Research the market in advance of approaching your boss for a pay raise, or before revealing your expectatiosn for salary at job offer time. It is like a game. Do not reveal your information too soon. In this case, your strategy is to keep your information close to you. It could be your past salary history, or what you are planning to ask for in salary negotiation.
Know how much compensation you can command before you ever discuss salary negotiation with an employer.
If you are asking for a raise, or even looking for a new job, do your full salary research on the Internet first. There are great sites like Salary.com or Salary.Monster.com who will disclose salary information in some detail for free, or greater detail for a small fee.
Make sure you scrutinize the quality of information from each site, so you feel you have reliable information. If a web site reports salary scales based on information provided by subscribers it may not be as accurate as if the salary data is reported by the hiring department of the companies in that field.
If you are not worried about being forward with others, you may just outright ask. I recommend using some tact in this approach, but it is less offensive than it once was. You might just discover inside intelligence about the salary range for that job.
Better yet, if you can ask a valued human resources friend, you may find out not only about the company you work for, but you may also find out about other companies in your market. Whatever information you can find out, will be useful, as long as the source is someone you can believe.
There are many firms that do research into the human resources data for a particular job market. These firms publish very expensive reports that are only disclosed to inside subscribers. If you are able to gain access to one of these reports in a lawful way, then you may just find you have a wealth of information, that is even more valuble than asking a friend.
Salaries are often reported on the basis of a salary curve. Take for example, a software developer in a given city with very specific experience in Microsoft technology. They may earn $70K or $80K or more. The reporting will show the percentage of workers who are earning in the top end of that range, middle of the range and bottom of the range. It is very clear based on the chart.
If you perform well at your job, then you know it. Think about your performance critically and honestly, and determine using intuition where you think you fit in, as far as a percentile basis. Don't worry if you think you're in the lower regions. It may be lack of experience or tenure. If you are in the top end, you know you're a high performer and you're providing a lot of value to the company.
I have found it to be very useful to point blank ask friends at work where they feel I should be on the salary scale. They know themselves and measure themselves against you. You should do this with someone you have a very good raport with. You will get great direct feedback.
You must be able to express the value you bring to the business in terms that employers really like to hear. If you are able to describe your value in quantifiable terms, then you will have a lot stronger arguement. Think about cost savings, profits you've been responsible for and efficiency you may have brought to the business. This is the greatest way to communicate your worth when negotiating salary.
To your salary negotiation success. - 15784
About the Author:
Trevor Davide Grant is a project manager in the IT field and has extensive experience in salary negotiation. Trevor has worked for global telecom, power utililties, software consulting, and a prevalent social network. He has learned salary negotiating in the most effective way. Learn great tacticson the topic of salary negotiating at www.HowToNegotiateASalary.com.