Effective Strategies for Salary Negotiation After Job Offers
Mastering Salary Negotiation
Salary Negotiation Insights: Receiving a job offer after multiple interviews is an exciting milestone. However, this moment also brings the challenge of negotiating your salary. Even a minor increase can significantly influence your future earnings, benefits, and overall job satisfaction.
Negotiating salary can be daunting, especially when dealing with HR professionals. Many individuals hesitate to advocate for themselves due to shyness or uncertainty. Kanti Shonk, a research associate at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School, shares valuable insights on this topic in an article for Harvard's Program on Negotiation.
Kanti emphasizes that we often hinder our own negotiation efforts by overlooking opportunities. Instead of focusing on our strengths, we tend to dwell on our weaknesses, which can lead to premature resignation before negotiations even start.
1. Articulate Your Value to HR
Referencing the book Negotiating at Work: Turn Small Wins Into Big Gains (Jossey-Bass, 2015) by Deborah M. Kolb and Jessica L. Porter, Kanti advises gathering relevant information to assess the reasonableness of your salary expectations. Be ready to articulate the value you will contribute to the organization. Additionally, prepare alternative negotiation strategies to enhance your flexibility, keeping in mind that the other party's options may not be as appealing as yours.
2. Prepare for Your Weaknesses
Kanti suggests that candidates should acknowledge their weaknesses and prepare responses. For instance, if there is a gap in your employment history, be ready to explain what constructive activities you engaged in during that period, and do so with enthusiasm.
3. Communicating Your Salary Expectations
Established companies typically assess candidates based on specific job categories and predetermined salary ranges. When negotiating, research the typical salary range for your qualifications and experience, aiming for the higher end of that spectrum.
If asked about your expected salary, how should you respond? For example, if you seek a salary between 70,000 and 80,000 rupees per month, instead of stating, "I believe I deserve 80,000," you could say, "Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I've heard that individuals with my qualifications usually earn between 80,000 and 90,000 rupees." This approach sets a strong anchor for the negotiation.