Salary Negotiation

This is a tactic for when you want to be tough in your negotiations. Most of what I've I've spoken about up until this point are the tactics of smooth and gentle and cunning negotiation. Every once in a while, people chastise me for not going tougher. I just want to say that the issue for most of people who watch my videos is they’re not prepared to get tougher. So, I've covered a lot of gentle tactics up until this point.

I alluded to one in an earlier video where someone had asked me about what do you do when you've undervalued yourself at the time you were talking with the recruiter. I always want to remind people, corporate HR, the recruiter for the corporation, is not your friend. They are there to drive you to the lowest possible point to get you to join and not be your ally. You can turn them into that but, the end of the day, their first allegiance is to their employer, not you.

So, if you act like an amateur and you aren’t prepared for the money conversation, you are going to leave money on the table. So, this is one of those tactics that can cause you to lose the offer and that's okay. Let’s work with the assumption that the money isn't right.

So, let's say at the time of the first conversation you told them how you were looking for $90,000. The number you want is more like $100,000, $105,000. You get the offer.

“Good news! We are making you an offer of $90,000!”

“Um . . . “

Do you notice what I’ve done right off the bat is signal to them that I'm not happy with that pause. And that “um.”

So, right off the bat you are being a comfortable. Then, from there, I want to say, “from the time I started this conversation till now, I had a chance to do some additional research. At the end of the day, what I found is that organizations like yours are paying more the area of $100,000 to $105,000 in base salary. I would appreciate the offer being reconsidered and re-proposed at something more at that level.”

What you've done is they’ve gone through the entire process and now you're talking to corporate HR. They’re making the offer to you. The hiring manager wants you. I want you hear that part. The hiring manager has decided you are that person and now you are going to turn around and say, “wait a sec. not at that price.” So, that puts the recruiter in a little bit of a bind because they've done a lot of work up until this point, the hiring managers has done a whole bunch of work up until this point and they the decided that you are the best fit.

So, changing the number up on them puts the recruiter into a bind where they have to now respond to the manager and say, “she's changed her mind about the number involved.” I want you to then follow up after you done this pitch by saying, “I want to be real clear. I want to join your firm, but I also want to be clear that I need to be treated fairly financially because I've getting calls from other recruiters throughout this process talking about jobs at $115,000-$120,000 and these are things I can clearly do, but I want to join your firm and want to be treated fairly.”

Repeat that mantra. Sit there and be sincere with them but don't cave-in. There is going to be a lot of pressure that is going to be put on you to you to give into their lower number. But and, at the end of the day, remember the hiring manager wants you.

Now, again, this can blow up and there's a lot of texture involved here, but this is the starting place and you can cave-in at any point after this if you want. But, I'm tell you, a lot of times, you are driving the number up more in line with that higher number just by saying, "You know, I’ve been getting calls from recruiters at other firms talking about $115,000-$120,000. I want to join your firm. I think there are terrific opportunities here. I want to be treated more fairly.” Just interrupting that offer in that kind of firm way, you will get you more results.

They will probably up the offer, even if they don't hit $100,000-$105,000, they are going to up the offer off of the $90,000 and, then, you have another choice to make whether, number one, what you're saying was true about $100,000, $105,000 or whether or not that $95,000-$97,000 counter that they are going to make to you . . .

They are going to say, “We are going to have to get back to the hiring manager.”

“I would really appreciate if you did because I really want to join. Would you like me to call?”

They may talk with you and start devaluing your skills. Remember, this is part of the negotiation. They may say things, “well, on this grade level that we want to bring in on, this is what our midpoint of the grade level is.”

Who cares! That’s a deflection to say, “our hands are tied.”

“So, who can I speak with about assessing me to a higher level where the money is higher.”

Notice what I'm doing is they throw out a backhand and you are hitting a slam.

So, I’ll simply say if your intention is to drive to the highest number and you don't mind risking it all, being a ball breaker is a great approach for you. There was a guy I worked with. He did it twice. Eventually, I threw my hands up and said I'm out here because everything you tell me… his skills were great and my client wanted to hire him at a particular price and then the number wound up being re-upped on more than one occasion. For me, as a third party recruiter, I'm going to a client that is asking me for opinions, I'm trying to drive two the highest point based upon what I'm being told and, now, it's been changed. So for third-party recruiters, this isn't ideal, but for your direct contact with a corporate recruiter, you should be able to get the money.