A Guide To: Negotiating Your Salary

Negotiating your salary early on in a new job can seem daunting. Asking for a better deal after someone has offered you a career – maybe even the career of your dreams – seems almost wrong. Because of this it is important to remember that salary negotiations are a very normal part of business. It’s nothing to feel nervous about.

Although it’s a normal part of the interview process, research into how much you could and should receive from your employer – to find this information is your goal. To do this, compare salaries in the adverts for jobs similar to the one you’re applying for, check out surveys and contact people in that job and ask them what you should expect from the company at this stage.

Salary negotiations in an interview setting often happen once you’ve already been offered the job. It would be against your own personal interest to mention money in your first or even second interview – other candidates are also being interviewed at this stage that may do your job for less of a wage, the company is more likely at this point to choose them over you if money is mentioned.

When you come to negotiating your salary, the interviewer will ask you why. Be prepared to explain to that interviewer why you’re worth it. If you’ve been offered the job then you’ve already been deemed capable, but you need to be more convincing. Try to explain how the organisation with either make or save money by employing you, if you can show this in your career history then your employer will be more confident in boosting your wage.

Once you’ve agreed on an amount, make sure you have a record of the agreement on paper, this should be signed by both parties. This is useful to you because it will ensure that the employer won’t go back on their responsibility to the agreement at a later date.

Read further advice on salaries and negotiating them:

moneyHow to get a pay rise and aligning salary to market value

Whatever your current salary is, it may or may not reflect the value you’re currently contributing to your employer organisation. The truth is a lot of us don’t even know if our salary is aligned with our contribution. Do you honestly know what the value of your contribution is in the context of the wider labour market?

pound moneyHow to ask for a pay rise

Research shows that women are less confident than men when it comes to asking for a pay rise. There are lots of articles, and even books, that aim to build your confidence and give you tips on how to get that extra moula you so rightly deserve.

About the author

Eleanor Bridger is a writer from Rayleigh, Essex who was born on 5th December 1995. She is in her second year of completing a BA honours degree in Creative Writing at the University of Winchester - where she also serves as CW Student Representative for her year.
Visa - WeAreTheCity - Pioneer 20 - nominations open
WeAreTech Festival 2024 advert

Upcoming Events

march, 2024

Job Board Banner

Related Posts