Negotiating Salary After a False Start

Dear Dr. Friedman: I am a graduating senior with a major in computer science. I have 15 job offers. My question is how do I go about negotiating salary without alienating my future boss. I sought advice from our career center and I was advised that I should not discuss salary until I was already "on the job". I followed this advice. However, in retrospect, I feel that I made a mistake. I was offered about 25% less than I thought I could command. So, I guess my question is twofold. First, how should I have negotiated salary? Second, given that I have already done the "dirty deed", how can I rectify my mistake? Sign me Oops

Dear Oops: I suspect (hope) what your career counselor meant was negotiate salary after being offered the job but before accepting it. Because once you have accepted the position, it is too late to negotiate salary. I will focus on the first part of your question. I promise to address the second question in a future column. However, to my knowledge, one of the very best experts on salary negotiation is Jack Chapman. I would advise you to buy his book, Jack Chapman's, "How to Make a Thousand Dollars a Minute" I have found this book to be exceptionally useful in helping clients to negotiate salary. An easy read, it can be read in one sitting. More importantly, it spells out a step-by-step approach to increasing your salary, immediately. I recommend reading it prior to any salary negotiation. to read it, memorize it and practice what it preaches. Before negotiating salary, it is important to know a few things. First, it is important to know about all of the possible or likely perks in your field. Most positions offer: health benefits, pension plans, paid sick days, paid personal days, paid vacation time. In some fields, companies offer professional training and educational benefits. It is important to find out about the range of benefits in your field prior to negotiating salary as these benefits can be quite valuable. I know of one former secretary with a Carnegie Mellon degree in Computer Science; the degree was one of her fringe benefits. So, depending on your career goals, benefits can be very valuable! Second, it is important to know the salary ranges of people in your position. Often this information is readily available by checking with your trade organization. Alternatively, hopefully your career center tracks this type of information. It would be great if you could find out how much money students, from your university, in your major were able to command last year. In fact, perhaps other students were recruited and hired from the same 15 companies last year. If so, what were they offered? If your career center is not tracking this information, you may want to see if your department is willing to do it. Start by telling them about your own disappointing salary negotiation experience. A third piece of information you need is, how do you stack up compared to other majors? Does your school have one of the best programs? Are you trained much better then people who are trained elsewhere? How do you compare within the major? Do you have special skills? Are you an interpersonally skilled person in a field renown for producing well...people who are, should we say, less socially comfortable? Do you have special internship experiences? Armed with this information and Jack Chapman's book, I would follow Jack Chapman's famous advice. When the prospective employer asks you how much you want to make, I would say, does this mean that you are offering me the job? If the employer says, I am not sure, or well I need to know your salary qualifications, I would follow Jack Chapman's advice, which is to say something like, "Hmmm. I am not quite ready to discuss salary. Right now, I would like to clarify, am I the person for the job? Can I be a top performer for you? Am I a good fit for your company? If so, you seem like a fair person and I am confident that we can work out a fair compensation arrangement." The key is never to discuss salary until you have a clear, unambiguous indication that they want to hire you. Do not negotiate salary until you have been told explicitly, we want you. What will it take us to get you here? Then you're ready especially if you have done your research. You say, "well I am sure that the company has well established ranges for people in my role, what were you thinking?" The key is to let your employer state the range first. Then, according to Jack Chapman's helpful book, you reiterate the number. $40,000. Then, you just wait silently. It is amazing. People often increase their offer. There's a lot more to be said about this topic...and, I will be devoting future columns to it. Good luck. Dr. Friedman

Jack Chapman's very helpful book examines how to negotiate salary

Jack Chapman's, "How to Make a Thousand Dollars a Minute" This book describes a step-by-step approach to increasing your salary, immediately. A helpful read prior to any salary negotiation.

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