Cut salary deal after job offer

For most job seekers, the prospect of negotiating a job offer is both exciting and troubling.

The exciting part is the thrill of being chosen and finding yourself within striking distance of a new job.

But what do you say when the job is actually offered? How will you get the salary you want? And what will the benefits be? Welcome to the troubling part of the process.

When it comes to a seldom-used skill such as this, the more preparation the better. Following are five steps to follow when negotiating your next job offer, and five tips to make the process go smoothly for you.

AMY LINDGREN

WORKING STRATEGIES

Steps for negotiating

» Start the process with your first contact. Although you should not discuss compensation until after you’ve been offered a job — because that’s when you’ll have the most leverage for bargaining — you should be making your case for a good package from the moment you contact a prospective employer. That is, in every contact, your goal is to impress upon the employer that you bring extra value to the table. It may be your skill or knowledge, or your leadership ability, or perhaps your contacts in the industry.

» Let the employer take the lead. In everything from garage sales to car purchases, it’s better to be hearing an offer than making one. When you hear a price or salary, you can accept, refuse, bargain or play hard to get. When you’re the one making the offer, all you can do is hold your breath while the other person chooses one of the responses above.

To stay in control of the process, resist the urge to bring up the topic yourself. The best rule is for the candidate to not initiate a discussion of money at any point. If the interviewer asks your salary expectations early in the process, ask to delay the conversation until you have heard more about the position. If the interviewer asks for a number later in the process, try to get him or her to provide a range for the position.

» Don’t share past salary figures. When you understand that employers use past salary as a screening tool, you know the importance of keeping this information to yourself. Even if you do get the interview, you will have lost some of your negotiating power if the employer has guessed what he or she “can get you for.”

» Come prepared with comparable salary information. There’s an abundance of information available on the Internet and through professional associations that can help you fix the appropriate range of the job you’re interested in. Here are a few sites to get you started: Monster Salary Center; Salary.com; The Riley Guide.

» Understand the employer’s salary and hiring ranges.

You probably know that many organizations assign salary ranges to their positions, but did you know that the hiring range will differ from the salary range? An interviewer may have been told not to exceed $55,000, for example, when making an offer for a job whose range goes to $60,000.

Tips to smooth the process

» When in doubt about what to say, stay quiet. The other person may blurt out something you can use to your advantage.

» Don’t seek to win; seek to agree. Remember that this is your future co-worker or boss across the table from you.

» Don’t give in just because you’re uncomfortable, but do follow your intuition if you think you should ease up or hold back.

» Set a friendly tone, but don’t get emotional. Approach this as a problem the two of you can solve if you work together.

» Remember that an offer will almost always go up, but only if you ask.

Finally, stay alert to your own priorities during this process. If training or flexible scheduling mean more to you than salary, use that information to help shape an offer that works for both you and the employer.

- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecaree rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.