Millennial Career Guide #4: Negotiating Beyond Your Salary
Raise your hand if negotiating terrifies you.
You aren’t alone in feeling this way. Women can especially find themselves afraid to push back on a lowball offer for fear of rejection or worse, their offer being revoked. But research shows that more than 70% of hiring managers expect their offers to be negotiated, and yet, only 7% of women (compared to 57% of men) negotiate their first-time offer.
Consider this scenario. You and a colleague both receive an offer for $100,000. Your colleague, however, negotiates that offer to $108,000. That extra $8,000 adds up; it would take you 8 additional years of working to be as wealthy as they will be at retirement.
In some cases, companies aren’t open to negotiating salary, but, you can always ask to negotiate the fringe benefits of an offer.
Think beyond negotiating your salary:
Start date, Office location, Flexible schedule, Title, Bonuses for reaching milestones/goals, Team growth, Additional vacation time, Higher 403B/401K Match, Technology reimbursement, Education benefits, Future bonuses and reviews, Relocation expenses, Sign-on or Referral bonuses, Transportation allowance, Expense budget, Guaranteed severance package…
I’m not going to say negotiating is easy or even a guaranteed win, because it’s not. BUT, negotiating can help you find clarity in your priorities and better assess whether a job offer meets your immediate and future needs. Ready to dive in?
Here are 5 steps to negotiate beyond your salary:
- Think BEYOND your salary. Yes, your salary is important, but so are the benefits that support that salary. If you’re someone who travels often, consider asking for more vacation time. Or, if you have outside obligations or even a chronic health condition, negotiate in some flexible time so that you can work at your best.
- Identify your priorities. This means considering the things that are most important to you, including a flexible schedule, relocation expenses, expense budget, title, and even start date.
- Assess the market. Do your research and find examples of similar roles at companies within the same industry. Does their salary match your offer? If it doesn’t, start to lay out why you deserve a higher salary. Your experience, background and skills are all valuable, so be sure you can quantify how and why.
- Build your plan. You’ve got the research, now you need to confirm it. Make connections within the company (if they’re large enough) or at similar industry companies and get a sense of growth opportunities, company perks, and salary structure. You also want to set your baseline here, what are your absolute must haves, what are you willing to let go of, and what is your walkaway point.
- Make your ask. Schedule a conversation with the recruiter, HR, or the manager AFTER you’ve received your offer. Start the conversation with an easy yes, and be sure to explain how the value of the offer doesn’t match the value of your skills. Keep it professional, simple and clear, and don’t fill too much empty space. This gives recruiters a moment to weigh your ask and give you a response.
Bonus: Not sure where to start? Consider something like this: Thank you for the offer of $X. After careful consideration, I’m very excited about the role the organization. Would you be open to considering $Y for this position? I noticed during my research that the average salary of this role in competing organizations was $Z, so I’d like to meet in the middle at $Target. Given my experience and skills, I believe this is a fair starting salary for this role.
Remember that your past salary should NOT dictate your future salary. Different roles, organizations and titles all require a different set of skills and experience, so if they push back with, “but your previous salary was”… remind them that this role and organization are different and therefore, compensation should look different. Another favorite tip of mine, is to give an exact number (ex. $103,450) during negotiations, ideally based on an average of the salaries you’ve researched at competing organizations. This shows the hiring manager that you’ve done your research, and aren’t ball parking a number you think sounds fair.
And finally, be willing to walk away. Not every negotiation is going to end in your perfect outcome, and that’s okay, but knowing your baseline, what you’re worth and what you’re willing to meet in the middle on, makes reviewing an offer much easier.
What tips did I miss? Any success stories or surprising outcomes from negotiating?
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