How Do You Negotiate Your Salary Like a Boss?

You successfully got through that first interview. You left a good enough impression to get another. This is where you really hammer out those details. Now comes the hard part: You have to prepare for the second interview questions.

Those are always the real-deal questions.

Of course, you already had some time to prepare, but filling out forms is never quite the same as staring your interviewer in the face as you ask for what you’re due. You might now how to answer the desired salary field on an online application, but do you know how to ask for that face to face? 

Negotiating during a conversation can be difficult, but we can help you negotiate for that desired salary like a boss. Don’t be intimidated! Be prepared, instead, and make sure that you walk away with everything you want from the negotiation.

Do Your Homework

We can’t stress this enough. Do your research. Do research on the company. On other companies in the field. Find out what the standard salary is for your position and experience. That’s how you know where to start. You don’t want to begin from a position of ignorance.

Not only do you risk low-balling yourself (or asking for far too much and being laughed out of the room), but you also risk coming off as someone who is unprepared—and unwilling to do the legwork. 

Knowing more about the company and what they value can also help tell you what to emphasize during the interview. This leads to….

Value and Experience

You might not have all the experience they’re looking for. Does that mean you’re worthless?

Not if you know how to negotiate and make up that value. Sure, maybe you don’t have quite as many years as they were hoping, but you make up for that.

How?

You have bold ideas, an open mind, and an eye for trends in the market. You grew up in an era of change and growth, so you know how to be adaptable. Your skillset is versatile and you learn quickly. 

In fact, you can even turn your lack of experience into a strength. You are capable of learning because you don’t have a bunch of set-in-your-ways biases that give you tunnel vision. You’re more adaptable than the others and willing to use anything you can learn to your advantage.

That’s exactly the kind of hungry, eager spirit your employer will want on their team. 

Focusing on the Good Stuff

This is why doing your research is so important. You want to have every advantage in this negotiation you can. What does your employer need?

In marketing, pain defines just that, a problem that needs to be solved—by you. Knowing their pain and how best to address it is the best way to the inside track of this negotiation. You’re marketing yourself, after all, and you need to present the best possible face for yourself. 

There are risks associated with taking on a new employee. You need to address these along with the employer’s pain to paint the best picture about how you can contribute. Make them believe that you can solve their problem and more than makeup for the risk investment in bringing you on. Show them what you know, and make sure they know it just as keenly as you do.

Your skills are valuable and your services can just as easily end up benefiting someone else. You want to make sure that your employer knows that, and keep the conversation on the ways you’ll do so, rather than on what you haven’t done.

Aim High

Don’t “settle.” Never settle. You want to aim high, but go in knowing that this is a negotiation. You can ask for the theoretical maximum for your role, regardless of your experience level or the employer’s trust in you to deliver, but getting it is a completely different story. They’re investing both time and money into you, and it’s a risk. You have to make sure the risk is worth it for both of you. 

When you’re negotiating that salary, you want to aim high with room to, well, negotiate. Know that your employer is going to try to cut low. This tactic serves dual purposes. It potentially lowers the employer’s financial risk—but it also is a move in the chess game of negotiations. They’ll be studying your reaction.

Are you willing to accept less without a fight?

Then maybe you aren’t that confident in your abilities after all. Immediately taking the lowest offer might actually cost you the job, even though you thought it’d help. 

Be sure of your worth. The more confident you are, the more confident your employer will be that the investment is worth it. This is why you need to know how to emphasize your skills and the ways in which you will make your employer’s life easier. 

Aim high, because you know that you can go higher still. Follow these tips and your employer will know that you can, too.