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184 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS II

Salary Negotiation

Julie Theriot

Stanford University

Medical Center

M

any young scientists entering the job market

for the first time are unprepared to negotiate

their salary. Graduate and postdoctoral

stipends are usually fixed by the department or institu-

tion, so the first independent job offer may also be the

first occasion for scientists to question their own finan-

cial worth. Many people in this position feel so flat-

tered to have gotten a job offer that they decline to

negotiate their salary at all.

Starting Salary Is Important

Usually yearly raises are based on existing salary.

The first opportunity to negotiate a substantial

raise may not be until a major promotion, three to

seven years in the future. When an applicant is con-

sidering whether she can live with a particular

starting salary offer, she should account for the

long-term financial impact of only modest increas-

es over several years.

This issue is not mitigated when changing jobs. Most

companies will base an offer on an applicant’s existing

salary. Furthermore, aggregate salary information is

frequently used to compare competing institutions and

to expose discriminatory practices. In a sense, it is the

duty as well as the right of a new employee to negoti-

ate an appropriate starting salary.

An applicant must consider a salary offer in the con-

text of the whole job offer package, including the chal-

lenge of the work and the work environment.

In negotiations as well as interviews,

knowledge is strength. The well-prepared

applicant will have gathered information

in advance of the negotiation.