Your pay isn’t commensurate with your credentials or the work you’re doing? It’s high time to overcome your nervousness and ask for a raise from your boss. Keep the following tips for successful salary negotiation.
Plan Ahead
If you want to talk to your employer about money, you should let him know and set up a meeting. Because people who catch their superiors off guard in typical talks about wage demands are more likely to receive a “no.”
Do Your Homework
Those who are well prepared can appear self-confident and are less likely to get disturbed in such situations. It often helps to remember your own achievements and successes during preparation and thus to underpin your demands. It is also important to know the company’s current position. This helps in assessing whether the argument “the coffers are empty” corresponds to reality or is just an exaggeration.
Counter-questions are acceptable. Feel free to inquire about the boss’s reaction to your request. The benefit is that you don’t have to discuss head and neck in a monologue, and your boss stays focused and doesn’t turn off. Also, avoid beating around the bush at all costs. That appears uneasy and unconfident. Maintain eye contact while saying what you want.
Be Brave
It’s not too much, but it’s also not too little. It’s a balancing act to get the correct salary. To accomplish so, you must first determine what you want and what you need. You should absolutely establish a (reasonable) upper limit. The basis for your negotiation should be based on industry-standard pay and numbers from databases or compensation tables. Be bold; the demand could be a little higher and talks normally end in a downward spiral.
Very important: also define a lower limit in advance.
Meet in Halfway. If Necessary.
Every employer negotiates differently, so don’t be tempted to talk too much if he doesn’t say much – no detailed and rambling self-portraits. If he takes the initiative in the conversation, don’t interrupt; instead, wait until he finishes and then establish your counterargument. And: Salary NEGOTIATION isn’t called that for nothing. It’s all about reaching an agreement that is acceptable to all parties. So don’t be too adamant about your expectations. It is preferable to state clearly that the discussion is still ongoing and that you will request another meeting in a few months. This demonstrates that you are a tenacious negotiator. Sometimes that’s all it takes to achieve an agreement or a compromise.
Plan B
If there is no agreement, other alternatives can lead to success. Bonuses, additional services or company cars can be brought into play here, or alternatives that are personally interesting, such as training and further education.
An absolute no-go is to make comparisons with other colleagues. It’s about you, your performance and your work. Everything else seems jealous and envious. The fact that another colleague earns more is no reason why you should earn more too.
If the negotiation comes to nothing, don’t despair. You can try again after a few months. Until then, you should draw attention to yourself, for example through presentations of results or more contributions to conversations in meetings.
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