Salary and Contract Negotiations

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Enhancing Your Power with Salary and Contract
Negotiations
Office of Career Services LRITC Room 4036
career_at_nova.edu 954-262-7201
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You aren't paid what you're worth
You're paid what you can negotiate

• Top 10 Tips for Successful Salary Negotiations
• Deadly Salary Mistakes
• Communicate Your Worth
• Calculate Your Expenses
• Other Negotiation Methods
• Salary Information Resources

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• Be Persuasive
• Its hard to force compensation and trying
  to do so can potentially damage your working
  relationship. On the other hand, its much easier
  to persuade someone that it might benefit
  the organization to pay you more.
  Doing so will likely improve the way you
  deal with each other going forward.

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2. Aim High and be realistic Many researchers
have found a strong correlation between peoples
aspirations and the results they achieve
in negotiation. At the same time, you want
to suggest ideas to which your boss can
realistically say yes.
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3. Start off with the Right Tone To be
persuasive, you want to let your boss know
that you will listen and try to understand
his views. At the same time, you expect your
boss to do the same for you, so you can work
together to address this issues. Avoid
ultimatums, threats and other coercive behavior.
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4. Clarify your interests your compensation
should satisfy Your compensation should
satisfy a range of needs, not just salary. Make
sure you have thought about other types of
compensation that would be valuable as well like
profit sharing, stock options that vest
immediately, a bonus, greater work
responsibilities, a quicker promotion schedule,
increased vacation or flexible hours.
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5. Anticipate their interests Just like you,
your boss has needs and concerns of his own. To
persuade your supervisor to say yes, your ideas
will have to address those interests.
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6. Create several options Joint brainstorming
is the most effective way to find ideas
that satisfy everyones interests.
Brain- storming works best when
you separate it from commit-
ment, first create possible solutions and
then decide among them.
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7. Focus on objective criteria It is far easier
to persuade someone to
agree with your proposal if he
sees how that proposal is
firmly grounded on objective criteria,
such as what similar firms pay people
of like experience, or what others in the firm
make.
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8. Think through your alternatives In case you
cannot persuade your super- visor to say yes,
you need to have a plan B to satisfy your
interests. Part of preparation is creating a
specific action plan so you know what
youll do if you have to walk away from the
table.
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9. Prepare thoughtfully to achieve your
goals This is the only aspect of your
negotiations you can completely control. To
take advantage of all the above advice,
you have to invest a significant
amount of your time and energy.
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10. Review to learn The only way you can really
improve your ability to negotiate
is to explicitly learn from your
experiences. After
you finish negotiations, reflect on what
you did that worked well, and
what you might want to do
differently.
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Deadly Salary Mistakes

• Avoiding to face the salary question until the
  question about your salary requirements is
  raised by the employer
• Failing to deal intelligently with salary
  questions by not doing research on salary,
  comparable employers, and compensation options
• Not knowing how much youre really worth
• Specifying a single salary figure when asked
  What are your salary requirements
• Thinking salaries are predetermined by employers

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Deadly Salary Mistakes

• Assuming your qualifications and performance
  will automatically determine your salary
• Under-valuing your worth
• Over-valuing your worth
• Thinking the employer is in the drivers seat
• Negotiating salary and benefits over the
  telephone or through e-mail
• Prematurely discussing salary before acquiring
  information on your detailed job description

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Deadly Salary Mistakes

• Forgeting to consider benefits, perks, stock
  options, and equity incentives as part of the
  compensation package
• Playing hard to get when you have little or
  nothing to leverage
• Lying about your past salary history or
  alternative offers
• Failing to raise intelligent salary questions
• Accepting the first or second offer

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Deadly Salary Mistakes

• Failing to assess the employers needs and
  develop a strategy to meet those needs as well as
  relate this strategy to your salary requirements
• Failing to know how to close or follow up the
  salary negotiation interview
• Stating a specific salary on your resume or cover
  letter
• Failing to know when to leave a job for another
  opportunity that will pay better

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What you make today reflects what you make
tomorrow!
Just Remember..
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• 
  When talking about
  yourself, focus on your major strengths and
  accomplishments as they relate to the employers
  needs
• Be sufficiently redundant on the points that
  stress your benefits for the employer
• Answer and ask questions directly and in
  detail
• Use examples for making your points
• Give positive nonverbal clues and feedback
• Help the interviewer through the process (The
  questions you ask may be more important than the
  answers you give)
• Be employer-centered rather than self-centered

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Calculate Your Expenses

• Credit Card Bills
• Cost of Living
• Entertainment
• Rent/Mortgage
• Student Loans
• Investment
• Car Payment
• Insurance Payments

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Other Negotiation Methods

• Signing bonus
• Vacation time
• Extra time away (paid or unpaid)
• COBRA payments
• Relocation benefits
• Accelerated performance review
• Make sure you calculate your take home pay!

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Salary Informtion Resources

• Salary.com
• http//www.salary.com
• Wet Feet.com
• http//www.wetfeet.com/research/compensation_artic
  les.asp
• Monster - Salary Center http//content.salary.mons
  ter.com/articles/

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Salary Informtion Resources

• Occupational Outlook
• http//www.bls.gov/oco/
• Cost of Living Index
• http//www.expatforum.com/
• International Cost of Living Index
  http//www.homefair.com/homefair/calc/intsalcalc.h
  tml

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Salary Informtion Resources

• Salary Calculator
• http//www.homefair.com/homefair/calc/salcalc.html
  
• Wage Web
• http//www.wageweb.com/
• Wall Street Journal.com Job Star
• http//jobstar.org/tools/salary/sal-prof.cfm

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For more information contact

• Office of Career Services
• (954) 262 - 7201
• career_at_nova.edu
• www.nova.edu/career