Doable Job Tip of the Week: Salary Negotiation

This week’s totally doable tip: negotiate your salary!

Just kidding.

I’m not trying to say that salary negotiation is a breeze for everyone. But what I am saying is that waiting until the night before your annual review or waiting for the job offer is not the time to start thinking about it.

Think about a time when you waited til the last minute to think about this critical component of accepting a new position at your current company or a new one. I bet you felt harried and rushed and discombobulated. It doesn’t have to be that way!

Instead, do your homework ahead of time.

If your annual review is coming up in the next 2-3 months or you are beginning active job search mode, listen up: this week’s totally doable job tip of the week is:

Do one thing to clarify your salary expectations so afterward, you can begin to crystalize your ‘ask’.

This could be:

• Research on LinkedIn or Salary.com for average salaries in your metro for your job title in your industry.
• Contacting a colleague/friend at another firm (not your own) to gauge where you’re at. (Note: At a recent Ellevate NYC event, Sallie Krawcheck talked about salary discussions being the last taboo topic in our culture, but that it’s perfectly ok to compare notes with trusted colleagues not at your firm to know where you stand)
• Discussing where you’re at and where you think you deserve to be with your mentor.
• Try not to get caught up in needing an answer NOW- this is why we’re working on the initial steps with enough time to revisit and tweak before a job offer is made or it’s annual review time.

Time to Complete: Less time than it takes to have a glass of wine (or two).