Fearless Interviewing
130
- Clarifywhat qualifies you to make more than average
and more than the employer’s initial offer. - Determineyour target salary and benefits.
- Fo recasthow long you are willing to wait until the negoti-
ation resolves in your favor.
I want to see you get every penny and every advantage that
you deserve. To accomplish that, let’s take a closer look at each
bargaining factor.
- Know the relative worth for your position in the market-
place. It is helpful—especially if you happen to be entering a
new field, going from a very small to very large company, or
making a significant geographic shift—to get a ballpark salary
figure for a position. Do some research to determine what, sta-
tistically, is a low, mid, and high salary range for a particular
position. At no point should you confuse this ballpark figure for
the actual sum you’ll settle for. You should use this only as a
broad guideline.
There are a couple of quick and handy ways to estimate what
a reasonable range for your position might be. One is the do-it-
yourself method, and another is to let a professional salary ser-
vice do the work. If you would like to research your salary range
and your probable benefits yourself, I suggest these free Web
sites and links on the Internet:
http://www.salary.com
http://www.salaryexpert.com
http://www.jobsmart.org
http://www.bls.gov/oco/
If you’d prefer to have a professional service research your salary
for a fee, I would recommend these companies:
Pinpoint Salary Services, http://members.aol.com/payraises/
pinpoint.html
Personal Salary Report, http://www.salary.com
T
E
A
M
F
L
Y
Team-Fly®