The job search market has completely changed. It is now an employer's market. Companies have a lot of options to choose from, and they're being very strategic and picky about who they hire. They're also being budget conscious; they want the best bang for their buck, the greatest return on investment. So, how do you successfully negotiate salary in this kind of labor market?
If you want to negotiate a higher salary in 2024, follow these three critical salary negotiation tips.
1. Don't Negotiate Salary When It's Listed In the Job Description
Many hiring managers are given a set salary or bonus structure for a new hire that they're told not to exceed. With that in mind, if a company has the salary range for a job publicly listed in the job description, please understand that they're not even going to entertain talking to anybody who doesn't agree to that amount.
So if your walkway rate, which is the least amount of money you could accept without having to still look for another job, is not in that range, it is not worth your time to apply.
If they post a range, you better be in that range—or don't bother applying.
2. Use Evidence-Based Answering In Job Interviews To Prove Your Value
The interview process is where you make sure that you get the highest amount of money possible, and you're going to accomplish that through evidence-based answering.
Evidence-based answering is when you provide very clear and concrete examples of how you achieved results in your career that show you can do the job. You can't just say that you have the experience and give hypotheticals in this competitive market. You need to provide the evidence with storytelling.
At Work It DAILY, we call this storytelling technique the "Experience + Learn = Grow" model. It's a framework for making sure that you answer behavioral interview questions correctly, giving the right amount of evidence to prove your value.
When you correctly use evidence-based answering in a job interview, you are proving to the hiring manager that you have the value that they need. I talk about how important your unique value add (UVA) is all the time. You demonstrate your UVA through this kind of evidence-based answering.
3. Create A Table To Show You Exceed Their Expectations & Requirements
When you get the job offer and it's time to negotiate salary, you should have a two-column table ready to give to the hiring manager.
In the first column of this table, list all of the things that are required to do the job you're interviewing for. Go back to the job description, but also add in anything else they told you through the interview process that is a requirement to do this job.
In the second column, match up your experience to these requirements. If they said you need five years of experience and you have seven, put seven in this second column. If they said you need to be able to do a certain type of project and you've done it 20 times, say you've done that project 20 times.
Then, go through the document, and any place where you exceed the requirement that they asked for, highlight it in green.
This becomes the document that you are going to use to negotiate a higher salary so that if you get the offer and the salary is lower than what you expected, you can go back to the hiring manager and say...
"I'm really honored and excited to get this job. However, I was hoping for X. I put together this table because this shows that I not only meet all your expectations, but in green, you can see where I exceed them. I truly believe I'm going to give you the best return on your investment if you pay me X, and I would love it if you would consider that because it would give me the confidence that you believe in me and I will make sure I am worth every penny."
These three tips are going to help you maximize your salary negotiation in this current job market. Spending the time to create a table and use evidence-based answering in the job interview will make all the difference. You don't want to wing it. The more you prepare for salary negotiation, the better off you're going to be. I promise.
Good luck, and go get 'em!
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