Negotiating

I want to talk with you today about the idea of meeting someone halfway. There's an old joke that a man who prays to God to win the lottery. He looks skyward, pleading that he win. This goes on for about 3 years when, suddenly, a burst of lightning and a clap of thunder reverberate through an otherwise sunny day. In a loud voice, heard only by the man saying, “Meet me halfway. Buy a lottery ticket.”

There are a lot of very intelligent people who engage in job search in their careers, like the man in the story. They want to be promoted but do nothing to develop your skills, training and experience enough 2 warrant a promotion. They believe the company should pay for it, after all, they are to get the benefit, ignoring the fact that the probability is that they are going to change jobs after a year or 2. They are going to get all the benefit and the employer’s only to get a year or 2 that experience.

They submit their resume for jobs that they want but not qualified for. They say that they want to do this kind of work, but ignore the fact that the resume that they submit to the ATS or through a chain of command does nothing to demonstrate that they’re qualified to do the job they want to do. Then, they complain that they are never contacted and ignore the fact that the firm has taken the time to identify when they need and they pretend and they are ignoring the employer side of this.

Employers are really no different. Employers, you complain about why a person won’t take an offer for a salary that reflects a market of 2 or 3 years back and that they may have canceled 3 interviews, taken this job search that should've taken 3 weeks into 4 months, that they are competing with other firms, and there, doing stuff. HR people complain about that they can't find people to fill jobs and that there are 15 qualifications in the job description and there is no one within a 100-mile radius who can do this job. It goes on and on with people on one side or the other, not facing the reality.

So, this seems to be pretty common. It brings up the concept of meeting someone halfway. I am going to sneak in this little remark that says, “the person who wants to meet you halfway is often poor judgment distance.” Usually, halfway means that you move 70-80% and they move 20%. But, that's a different conversation.

I will just simply say that you have to consciously look at what you're doing that's interfering with your success. When I coach people, we have laughs over what are seemingly innocent mistakes, but really deal with belief systems that people have that stand in the way of becoming successful and how they're unwilling to anyone halfway, even if that means moving they’re moving 70-80 % in order to get what they want.

It reminds me of my son when he was young. We live in a house with a staircase and he likes watching TV downstairs and there are times he would call up, saying, “do you mind if I need downstairs?”

“No problem.”

I would bring a plate to the top of the stairs and said, “Meet me halfway,” and he would say, “no, bring it down.” I would say, “Come up and get the plate when you're ready.”

Eventually, he learned that you if he wanted the food downstairs, he would have to meet me.

What are you doing? I hope you can get over this hurdle for yourself, even if that means you moving 70 to 80%, and them moving 20%. By the way, there is one exception to this and I want talk to you as the job hunter and say salary should not necessarily be the place where you move 70-80%, nor should it necessarily be 50%. Maybe you move 20% they move 80 but salary is that one exception to this rule.

I want to talk with you today about the idea of meeting someone halfway. There's an old joke that a man who prays to God to win the lottery. He looks skyward, pleading that he win. This goes on for about 3 years when, suddenly, a burst of lightning and a clap of thunder reverberate through an otherwise sunny day. In a loud voice, heard only by the man saying, “Meet me halfway. Buy a lottery ticket.”

There are a lot of very intelligent people who engage in job search in their careers, like the man in the story. They want to be promoted but do nothing to develop your skills, training and experience enough 2 warrant a promotion. They believe the company should pay for it, after all, they are to get the benefit, ignoring the fact that the probability is that they are going to change jobs after a year or 2. They are going to get all the benefit and the employer’s only to get a year or 2 that experience.

They submit their resume for jobs that they want but not qualified for. They say that they want to do this kind of work, but ignore the fact that the resume that they submit to the ATS or through a chain of command does nothing to demonstrate that they’re qualified to do the job they want to do. Then, they complain that they are never contacted and ignore the fact that the firm has taken the time to identify when they need and they pretend and they are ignoring the employer side of this.

Employers are really no different. Employers, you complain about why a person won’t take an offer for a salary that reflects a market of 2 or 3 years back and that they may have canceled 3 interviews, taken this job search that should've taken 3 weeks into 4 months, that they are competing with other firms, and there, doing stuff. HR people complain about that they can't find people to fill jobs and that there are 15 qualifications in the job description and there is no one within a 100-mile radius who can do this job. It goes on and on with people on one side or the other, not facing the reality.

So, this seems to be pretty common. It brings up the concept of meeting someone halfway. I am going to sneak in this little remark that says, “the person who wants to meet you halfway is often poor judgment distance.” Usually, halfway means that you move 70-80% and they move 20%. But, that's a different conversation.

I will just simply say that you have to consciously look at what you're doing that's interfering with your success. When I coach people, we have laughs over what are seemingly innocent mistakes, but really deal with belief systems that people have that stand in the way of becoming successful and how they're unwilling to anyone halfway, even if that means moving they’re moving 70-80 % in order to get what they want.

It reminds me of my son when he was young. We live in a house with a staircase and he likes watching TV downstairs and there are times he would call up, saying, “do you mind if I need downstairs?”

“No problem.”

I would bring a plate to the top of the stairs and said, “Meet me halfway,” and he would say, “no, bring it down.” I would say, “Come up and get the plate when you're ready.”

Eventually, he learned that you if he wanted the food downstairs, he would have to meet me.

What are you doing? I hope you can get over this hurdle for yourself, even if that means you moving 70 to 80%, and them moving 20%. By the way, there is one exception to this and I want talk to you as the job hunter and say salary should not necessarily be the place where you move 70-80%, nor should it necessarily be 50%. Maybe you move 20% they move 80 but salary is that one exception to this rule.