Negotiating an Above Average Salary Offer | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to negotiate an above average salary offer from the get go.
When You’ve Been Made Redundunt, Fired, Laid Off, RIF’d
There is a lot of advice that you get talking about researching the salary range for position like yours. I will work with some general things; please understand I’m just using this as an example.
Let’s say that the salary range that you’re looking at is $100,000-$125,000. If you are entering into a negotiation, and you quote that figures to them, the
employer is immediately going to zero in on $100,000 and, in point of fact, you are zeroing in on $125,000.
I’m not going to tell you to shave the numbers for them and take out that $100,000 and switch it to $115,000-$125,000. The same problem will occur. I want you to go directly at it and very simply say, “if you do some research, you’ll see a whole host of numbers. A few of them mention $100,000. Most of them talk about a higher range, probably closer to one $125,000. I want to be clear with you. I’m not an average performer. I am clearly up an above average performer. As a result, these average numbers are below what my expectations are. I’m looking for something from you that shows me that you really see my value because, as I have done before, I can do for you, too, or better.”
Notice what I’ve done? I acknowledge the average numbers. I will also say, “I’m not average. I’m above average. I’ve done it before. I want to do it again and do it for you.” And you are not settling.
You don’t want to be seen as the average. You always want to be seen as the above average. Remember, at the end of the day, you can always cave-in, right? And you can always say no. Initially, when you doing the salary negotiation or if you’re being interviewed and they are starting to think in their minds what your value is based upon your previous earnings, they are always going to zero in on lower numbers and you always want to be pushing them at the earliest point to higher numbers.
The Easiest Way to Negotiate a Higher Salary for Yourself
There is a lot of advice that you get talking about researching the salary range for position like yours. I will work with some general things; please understand I'm just using this as an example. Let's say that the salary range that you're looking at is $100,000-$125,000. If you are entering into a negotiation, and you quote that figures to them, the employer is immediately going to zero in on $100,000 and, in point of fact, you are zeroing in on $125,000. I'm not going to tell you to shave the numbers for them and take out that $100,000 and switch it to $115,000-$125,000. The same problem will occur. I want you to go directly at it and very simply say, "if you do some research, you'll see a whole host of nuB07HKLZFVDmbers. A few of them mention $100,000. Most of them talk about a higher range, probably closer to one $125,000. I want to be clear with you. I'm not an average performer. I am clearly up an above average performer. As a result, these average numbers are below what my expectations are. I'm looking for something from you that shows me that you really see my value because, as I have done before, I can do for you, too, or better." Notice what I've done? I acknowledge the average numbers. I will also say, "I'm not average. I'm above average. I've done it before. I want to do it again and do it for you." And you are not settling. You don't want to be seen as the average. You always want to be seen as the above average. Remember, at the end of the day, you can always cave-in, right? And you can always say no. Initially, when you doing the salary negotiation or if you're being interviewed and they are starting to think in their minds what your value is based upon your previous earnings, they are always going to zero in on lower numbers and you always want to be pushing them at the earliest point to higher numbers.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2300 episodes.