10 tips on how to negotiate a fair salary
Nasty Wo/Men — Salary Negotiation Part 2
Being paid a proper salary is not only about “making more money.” It’s about recognition and the feeling of being treated fairly. Negotiating that crucial part of your job is your right and a great way of understanding and embracing your own worth. Since especially women hesitate to negotiate their salary we decided to create an interactive panel discussion that is supposed to teach the basic principles of negotiations in job interviews. Yesterday we hosted the second and last APX Salary Negotiation event, moderated by Katy Campbell.
Our guests were:
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House rules “This is a safe space, don’t be an asshole.”
All the questions below were asked by our audience.
1.What do I do after I accepted a salary for a position and realized the agreed salary was way under average?
Ewelina: Talk to your colleagues and find out where the company stands. Once you feel comfortable and understand the stage of the company you can talk to your manager. Have a logical argument about why you should earn more: If you are happy with your salary, you will do a better job, which benefits the team and company.
Ela: I don’t like when people come up to me and say they want more money simply because other people make more. What I like is when people approach me because they can show me, via a prepared slide for instance, what they have achieved and why therefore they deserve to earn more money. The best thing is if they give me a timeline of when they expect a salary increase. This gives me a heads up and shows that the person is committed and thinks about the company goals.
2. Should I put in a bit of pressure on my employer when in a salary negotiation?
Ela: If you have an alternative you can use that card. It is not a bad thing to go to your manager and say you’d like to renegotiate your salary. If your manager is an actual leader, they will understand that you are not asking for a raise because you want to threaten them, but because you want to stay. But be well prepared for situations like this. Come up with an agenda of what you want to achieve by the end of the meeting.
Ewelina: Know your BATNA — Best alternative to a negotiated agreement. The best way to negotiate is to show your achievements and goals. If your ‘argument’ is a baby or a new job offer, try to show this at the end — achievements come first!
Yearit: It really depends, like anything in life, on who you’re dealing with. What motivates this person and what is the current situation of the company? Does this workplace really need me and my skills? Do they need me now? By the way: You should never say that you need the position now, because the employer will be able to pressure you on that.
3. How do I find about my market value if I can’t find data on Glassdoor or on salary reports?
Tim: If you live in a city like Berlin, you can find events, conferences, meetups — to find likeminded people and talk to them. Also, figure out what you need in order to sustain your life and therefore what your self-worth is.
Sabrina: I like when people come to me and tell me what exactly they need. Many people google what the average market value is. I don’t think that’s a good argument because we are dealing with individual people. I appreciate if people talk openly with me and tell me why they personally need a higher salary.
Yearit: You can find your market value on LinkedIn. What I also like to do: I interview people to understand your market value. The argument “I’ve been here for XY years so I should be paid more” is terrible. It’s about responsibilities and showing your worth.”
4. Could you do a life demo negotiation to demonstrate one or two tactics?
Sarah, a very brave audience member took on the challenge:
Brave Sarah: “We lost coworkers, I took over a complete region, onboarded three new colleagues, I am managing a team of three people and am responsible for three countries, yet I’m still at the same level at which I was when I started and that needs to change. This will benefit not only me but the whole team.”
Ewelina: “So this is the situation: We are currently looking for new investors and our budget is quite low. Therefore I can’t offer you a higher salary, what I can offer is for us to have a performance review in six months and then we can see if an increase is possible. Until then, I can offer an urban sports card or free fruit.”
Brave Sarah: “This isn’t matching the value I give. I understand the company is in a tough phase but the churn rate is also something that worries investors. If you have me, a very well experienced manager on that role, it conveys security.”
Ewelina: I will talk to my manager since I’m not in charge of the budget myself. So please gather some fact about your achievements so that I can show that to my superiors. What kind of salary would be satisfactory to you?
Sarah: I currently make 2,500 after tax and I’d like to receive 3,000 after tax.
5. Feedback and thoughts on the mock negotiation:
Ela: I negotiated a 60% increase once while working in a job. If the salary goal doesn’t work you can always negotiate a title. It doesn’t cost the organization money, you get affirmation, other people in the team understand your worth and the whole attitude towards you changes. And you can leverage it when you change the company.
Ewelina: If a manager says she has to ask her manager first, ask for a deadline so that the conversation doesn’t fizzle out.
Yearit: Ask questions, get info. Ask what their budget is. You can turn the situation around.
Tim: This is also a question of timing. When a company gives you a big project, rather than mentioning a raise afterwards, it makes sense to say: Six months from now I expect us to talk about my salary when I successfully managed this project.”Rather negotiate beforehand than afterwards.
There are basically three things that will mostly define your position and success in salary negotiations:
State of the company
Skills you bring
Your achievements in the company
6. What about a huge corporation, there oftentimes you have to wait for a certain period in which salaries are being discussed?
Ela: Plan ahead. 3–4 months ahead, try to promote yourself and use your weekly meetings to create ideas and initiatives so that everything has already been spoken about as soon as the performance review arises.
Come up with a list of action items and things you need to accomplish. Show slides. It shows that you are very organized and interested in bringing value to the organization.
Yearit: In large corporate, there is always a way. It just seems as if they are not flexible. Find the right person to talk to.
7. How about salaries for foreigners, what if you can’t speak fluent German and apply for a German company?
Ewelina: I used to work for a German corporation and always got viewer salary than most men there because I was foreign. So I decided to learn German. If you see others get paid because of certain skills, you can complain and cry in your pillow or decide to learn those skills!
8. Do you know if any formats where people support each other in negotiations, share experience and practice with each other?
Katy: Talk to the people who are here! Always grow your own network of people. There is no guide on how to do this.
9. Where did you find your mentors?
Ela: I asked people I looked up to. So, my advice: just ask!
Ewelina: I started organized my own networking events and I learned from my guests.
Yearit: I love talking to people so just talk to anyone because anyone can be a mentor for you.
Sabrina: Anything that gives you inspiration. Even podcasts. I listen to a great podcast where this Irish guy philosophy about all kinds of topics. I actually already learned a lot from him.
Tim: For many people, their bosses and superiors can be inspiring. And they are also reachable for you. You can just meet them for coffee. What I think is important, men should especially look for a women’s perspective and the other way around.
10. What if most of the job qualifications in a job description fit me but there is one that doesn’t fit me? Should I still apply?
Ela: Apply to positions! There is always more to gain than to lose.
Sabrina: If you don’t shoot, you’ll never hit the target, so just apply for positions.
Ewelina: We are all traders. We trade our times for money all the time. If you think: “My life is too short and my time too valuable to give a fuck” — go negotiate!
