Don’t Be Afraid To Negotiate A Salary

In today’s economy, it often seems like that the prospective employee has very little chips to play during both the hiring and negotiating phases. As a matter of fact, some people are just content finding work after months of trying unsuccessfully. A few companies, although not all of them, are taking advantage of these workers by offering them lowball salaries well below what their experience and position should warrant. Fortunately, career experts agree that the average worker has nothing to fear from negotiating a higher salary that is in line with their own reasonable expectations.

One of the fears that many workers have is that if they negotiate too aggressively that a company may pull their offer for employment off the table. Undoubtedly this has happened before. Yet it is important to remember the good companies expect workers to be driven and competitive. This extends to salary negotiations as well. If you’re not unreasonable and have a good idea of what you’re worth in the market, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t be expected to be paid that amount. If management penalizes you for doing what any confident worker would do given the circumstance, then they’re probably not a company that you would want to work for to begin with.

Studies have shown that women in particular lack the confidence to effectively negotiate their salaries. One of the fears cited is that they’ll look silly if they negotiate for a higher salary and then ultimately have to accept a lower one instead. This simple isn’t true. Hiring managers expect for you to advocate for your own personal interests during the negotiation phase, just like they’re advocating for the interests of the company. If a salary offer is firm, then they’ll think no less of you for trying to get a higher one but finally accepting the firm offer.

Of course, for many workers the anxiety over negotiating a salary is tied to the fact that they just don’t know what their skills are worth. Fortunately, given the abundance of data within our reach on the internet, finding out the right salary to negotiate for is just a few simple clicks away. Information from industry study groups and government sources are available which provide insight into how much professionals at certain levels of experience are paid given the location of the job and other factors. All of this data can be used by a worker to determine the salary to negotiate for after a job has been offered.

Not negotiating a salary is a lost opportunity to show your own confidence to management. Not only is asking for a higher salary a great way to get more money from the start, but you’ll be making a wonderful impression by showing just how confident and driven you are in the workplace. Those are qualities which both hiring managers and management enjoy seeing in new hires.