"Establish Your Worth" - Salary Negotiation

Don't worry! The MIIS CACs advisors assured IEM students last week that this WILL NOT happen to you (and even if it does, do you really want to work for that kind of employer anyway?)

Grace O'Dell's Salary Negotiation workshop was amazing! As someone who has only negotiated a salary once before in her life, this workshop was more than necessary! Grace explained that statistically, females typically do not negotiate their salary. Once we let the opportunity slip by the first time, it can lead to even lower salaries for the rest of our careers.

Speaking from personal experience, this cartoon can seem very real. After months of hard work searching for the perfect job, I had finally received an offer letter that was almost perfect. Obviously, I was scared to risk my new employment prospect for a couple of additional dollars in my hourly rate of pay (a couple of dollars an hour, though, can lead to thousands over the course of a year!) But, I was motivated to negotiate based on what had happened when I had originally been contacted to interview for the position. The hiring manager had indicated that perhaps I was "over-qualified" for my future job. You can imagine my surprise when the offer letter came through and I saw that they had proposed a salary amount that was at the bottom of the proposed range. I was so upset that I almost declined immediately. But, I settled down, decided that the job was an amazing professional opportunity, and decided to do what any mature adult in my position should do - negotiate!

After having attended Grace's workshop, it's almost a miracle that I met with any success at all with my first negotiation attempt, because, well, I hadn't really followed any of the steps Grace proposed. My technique was completely ad-hoc.

Here are the steps Grace proposed:

1) Establish your Worth

2) Do your Research

3) Make your own Budget

4) Negotiate Professionally

1) Establish your own Worth - Here we must consider the job description in relation to our own qualifications. How many of the job responsibilities do we have experience with in the past or have we learned through school? Do we have the required education level, or more? What is our X factor, that extra something that sets us apart from the competition? Once we know all this, we can evaluate how much leverage we have before the negotiation begins.

2) Do your own Research - Talk to your CACs advisor once you receive your offer letter, they will help you go over it in detail and point out aspects you may have missed. Talk to your professors, they may have worked in the same industry before! Check out the US Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook or GlassDoor (which you can access free through Zocalo) so you know what the average salaries are. The Dept. of Labor is also useful because it can help you figure location into your salary amount - we would expect to make more if we work in New York City versus in Kansas City.

3) Make Your Own Budget - this is crucial, you don't want to accept a job you can't afford! Look at your expenses - housing, car payments/transportation costs, credit card, health insurance, rainy day fund, retirement contribution (especially this one, young people tend to overlook how important this is at a young age), student loans etc. Figure out your break even amount, then figure out how much more you need in order to be comfortable. This is your "Yes Zone." If an employer proposes this amount, you may not need to negotiate very much. Don't tell anyone what your "Yes" amount is, keep it to yourself, you will need this when you come to the table.

4) Negotiate Professionally and collaboratively - It is so important to be professional because these are the people who will soon be a part of your professional team. Don't assume that they don't want to make the negotiation work for you! Remember - they already extended you an offer - they want you! Be professional and you will never face the prospect of them rescinding the offer. If you come to the table with a "high and mighty, you should be lucky to have me" attitude, chances are you won't get what you want, and they may realize that you are not what they want either. Do not respond right away, talk it over with CACs or others. Do not make an emotional decision, this can backfire! Don't play games, it destroys the collaboration between you and your future co-workers!

Start off with: "I am a young professional and this is my first time in this industry. The salary is lower than I expected, is there room for negotiation?" If they say no, at least you tried AND you can always ask if other aspects of the offer are negotiable. For example, you can start with, "How can we work together to close the pay gap?" Can they reduce the amount of responsibility you have on the weekends, if they are unable to budge on salary? Can you look at the benefits package before you sign on (Grace recommends you do this no matter what!)? Can they pay for you to participate in certain professional development opportunities? Can they help you relocate (this is a one time expense and is a lot "cheaper" for them than having to pay you more annually).

And finally, once you are satisfied with the negotiation - ASK FOR AN UPDATED OFFER LETTER! You have just worked hard, but your negotiation is worth nothing unless you have it in writing from the person who hired you AND the HR department or representative.

I hope Grace runs this workshop again, because in my own personal experience, the job hunt is stressful and confusing and you forget everything you were told when things were calm! In my previous salary negotiation, I was somewhat successful, but I let the hiring manager pressure me to sign within 24 hours, already putting me at a disadvantage. I also caved and disclosed an amount first. Grace recommends that we push back, say something more vague like we are looking for an amount "commiserate with experience" or "in relation to the industry standard." Once I stated an amount, my negotiator immediately cut it in half between the offer amount and my proposed amount. I also acted impulsively and emotionally. I was angry that this company did not value my worth, and I was stressed about the prospect of going back to the search process. If I had waited, and discarded their "24 hour" time limit, I could have put myself at an advantage. I also had not done my research. Yes, I knew how much I needed to get by, but I did not know my "yes zone." I also had only a vague idea as to the industry standard in the regional location I was stationed in. In the end, I did secure a three month review, and was able to secure a more reasonable salary amount after I had proven myself on the job. I realized that my employer had had much turnover in the company before and was hesitant to offer too much without ascertaining my long-term commitment beforehand.

In conclusion, it is important to look at salary negotiation in a positive light. It is a chance for us to get what we want and we should not always assume that the company is the "bad guy." The company wants to hire us, wants us to start off our new job happy (not upset and vengeful) and wants us to succeed: that's why they sent us the offer letter in the first place! Take advantage of all the positive resources we have, especially as MIIS students - our professors, alumni, CACs, CACs online resources and our peers! The MIIS mafia is everywhere and sometimes when MIIS students pass up a job, they will recommend a colleague who would fit better with the organization instead! Also consider that different cultures may have different norms surrounding salary and noegotiation. I will need to adjust my expectations and prepare in advance to familiarize myself with different cultural norms, when, for example, applying for jobs in France, where salaries are much more openly discussed than in the US.