Last week, one of my clients
decided not to put out a job offer to their preferred candidate because he lied
about his current package. To them, it was a breach of trust that could not be
repaired. Needless to say that this left all concerned parties frustrated: my
client because they had lost valuable time, my candidate because he missed out
on a great opportunity and me because I had to restart the search.
Negotiating a compensation package
is an essential part of a job search.
And the way you handle salary
negotiations, may prove to be critical to successfully closing the deal, both
from your side as well as from the side of your future employer.
So here are 7 tips that may guide
you to get the right package for the job that you aspire.
· Focus on the job
Your long-term
satisfaction depends less on getting your negotiation right and more on getting
the job right. The content of a job, the team that you will join and the
leadership displayed by your future boss are much more important than the particulars
of an offer. The start of any salary negotiation is knowing that this is the
right job for you and clearly transmitting this message to your future
employer.
· Be prepared
Know up front all the
elements of your compensation package, not just your annual base salary. Make
sure that you communicate the bonuses that you are entitled to, representation
allowances that you receive or details about your health and pension plan before
an offer is made.
There is no room to
pull any ‘forgotten’ items out of your head once the offer is on the table.
· Be open and honest
It would be stating
the obvious that you are looking for a salary increase when you decide to
change jobs. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to include that desired increase
into your current salary.
Some employers will
ask for proof of your current package. If that happens and you have been dishonest
about your current package, you are hung out to dry and there is a large chance
that the job is lost.
· Be realistic
Preparing an offer is
quite an analytical exercise where your current salary is compared with the
benchmarks and compensation guidelines a company uses to grade its employees.
Usually an increase will be added to make the offer attractive but increases of
15 to 20% are rare.
Experience shows that
offers tend to be well balanced, offering you a fair compensation for the
results you have to achieve while at the same time leaving some room for future
increases.
When you work through
a headhunter or a recruitment agency, use them as an intermediate to test the
waters and to check how much room there is for negotiation.
· Don’t negotiate for the sake of it
Resist the temptation to prove that you are a great negotiator.
You are not on a Moroccan market where they enter as low as possible and you
aim as high as possible. Determine whether battling it out over 100 EUR gross
per month will truly make the difference.
· Don’t use an ultimatum
Tempting as it may be to use another job offer to ‘increase the
price’, employers don’t like to be put hostile. If this is really the job that
you want, why would you make your future employer believe that there are in
competition with others.
· Keep a broader perspective
Much of your satisfaction from the job will come from other
factors you can negotiate—perhaps even more easily than salary. Don’t get
fixated on money. Focus on the value of the entire deal: commute time, flexibility
in work hours, possibility to work from home, opportunities for growth and promotion
and so forth.
Obviously, you want to
get the offer you deserve. But to successfully close the deal, you need to find
the right balance between the content of the job and the financial gain that
you want to get. I hope that these 7 tips will allow you to professionally
negotiate any future job offers.
I look forward to hearing from you
Isabel
Through a personalized and
tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting
the right talent that matches the DNA of your company
Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be
Follow me on Twitter
@IngeniumSearch
