Points to Remember While Negotiating Job Offers
Posted on:
by Namratha Ambat
Job Interview Preparation
What a great feeling it is to be successful in a job interview process. To see all those days and months of hardwork in terms of research and preparation finally paying off! Once you’ve bagged the job and an offer is placed in front of you, there are still a few steps to get through before you’re able to officially join the team.
Sometimes you get the job you were running after, but the offer in hand might not always match up to your initial expectations. For example: the salary offered, the location or the seniority level might differ from what you expected it to be.
When this happens and it happens quite often, you will need to start negotiating the current job offer in hand. Having this conversation is pretty uncomfortable, but it’s something you need to dive into, while keeping a few specific rules in mind.
Top 5 rules to consider while negotiating your job offer:
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Explain your worth and why you deserve more
Guide them through your top reasons as to why you deserve the offer you’re looking for. Whatever your demands may be, for example: remote work option, higher salary, a particular job title, etc., show them why you deserve it.
Just dictating that you are an incredibly valuable asset might paint you in a different light, you might come off as arrogant. Never forget the importance of being likeable. If you provide a genuine reason they might be more forthcoming.
For example: saying that at your old job you were receiving X amount of salary with X benefits, so you would like an increase of X% in your salary, might give them a clearer picture of why you want the offer to be altered.
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Understand the employers constraints
At times even if you’re the superstar candidate and the company would love to cater to all your demands they might have certain hurdles they in fact can’t get across. If their budget for recruitment is decided at a certain amount for the year, they probably can’t go beyond that number. In which case, even though they would love to, they could not give you the salary you’re looking for.
So, when such a situation presents itself, what you should do is try to negotiate within different areas. Maybe ask for a more flexible work option, maybe a one-off signing bonus, etc. If you are actually keen on the opportunity and can see that there are genuine constraints that cannot be altered, arrive at an optimal deal.
Another point to keep in mind is to understand that you’re dealing with a person and not the company. So, approach your negotiations in targeted ways. According to Harvard Business Review dealing with the leadership team directly is so much more different than dealing with HR. Which is absolutely correct!
The team leader might understand the urgency and importance of filling the open position and might be more open to offering a promising candidate what they want. Whereas HR on the other hand, who are incharge of hiring people for various teams and different positions, might not be ok with altering their recruitment process and budgets.
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Make sure they know you’re keen on joining
Companies like to chase candidates only when they know they have a chance of getting them to join their team. If you’re making job offer demands, but not showing any sign of commitment, they won’t be so keen on catering to your needs.
It’s good to let them know that you’re in between interviews with other companies, but with the right offer you’ll be happy to pull out of the other processes and dedicate yourself to their company.
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Have answers prepared for tough questions
If you’re negotiating an offer, you need to be prepared for a list of questions that can come your way. The employer will try to understand your point of view and for this purpose they will need a range of questions answered.
So to make your case stick, prepare beforehand. Maybe note down all the potential questions they can counter you with based on your request and have a mock conversation with a friend for practice.
Doing this will help you answer better. You don’t want to be caught off-guard which could lead to you answering in an unprofessional manner. That would discredit your case and not help you reach your goal.
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Consider the whole package
It’s not always the case that all of your demands are met when the employer is making the offer. But when this happens you need to take a step back and look at the whole picture. If they fall short in one area, look for how they make up in another.
For example: if they’re not able to meet the exact salary expectations, but can provide you with other benefits that add value to the package offered, that’s still worth considering.
Negotiating a job offer is not simple and can lead to some tough and uncomfortable conversations. But discussing these areas of concern and coming up with solutions that cater to the needs of both parties is key.
This will then lead to a stronger employer-employee relationship from the very beginning, which is important for everyone to reach their professional goals.
If you are applying for a new position, you should head over to our IT careers page and apply to a job today. Additionally, to prepare for any job interviews you can check out our blog on interview questions to ask during your next job interview. This will help you prepare better and lay the foundation for your job offer.
If you have any further questions, you can contact us on info@gempool.ie and we would be happy to help.
