Negotiating

If I offered you $10,000 to have a 30 minutes conversation that could feel awkward, but has little to zero repercussions, would you do it?

That’s exactly what negotiating is.

I want you to get rid of any thoughts about it being a taboo conversation, or fears that you'll appear greedy or annoying.

You are advocating for yourself and this is expected in the job force.

Your entire career earnings will grow based off of your first job.

• Promotions and new salaries are usually decided as a percentage or growth amount determined by current salary.
• Even if you only increase your salary by $1000 in the first stage, that could make a difference of over $10k in the future.

If you don’t negotiate, you could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table over the course of your career

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Know the industry standard for your role.

• Look at Glassdoor
• Salary.com
• Ask people with similar jobs - If you're networking you could say, "I'm trying to learn more about industry standards to make sure I'm not taken advantage of. Would you be comfortable sharing a range that you've seen or gotten? No pressure if you don't want to." I've never had someone tell me no. As long as you approach it about wage transparency and advocacy than just being nosy, people are typically more than happy to help

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Even if this is your first job, think about what you could bring to the team that others (who most likely this is also their first time job) cannot.

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For example:

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- Were you a leader or an organization? If you don't have any specific work experience, think about the skills that are your strongest.

- Are you really organized and have created a new system for a student org?

- Have you lead a team for a project?

- Are you good with numbers or finance? Did you take any additional certifications or classes?

- If you're going for an entry level graphic design role. You could really stick out if you've used After Effects and learned basic animation - even just for fun. Animation might not be the focus of the job, but it could make you a stronger candidate than others who also meet the same bare minimum criteria.

- Maybe you're going for a marketing job, but also do photography on the side - huge!

- Are you bilingual? Are there types of software that you know? Do you know how to code?

Always expect an employer to offer a number lower than your first request. If you were offered $50k, I'd ask for 60-70k to try to get it to $60k or at least $55k.

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Compensation can also include:

• Title
• Vacation time and PTO
• Relocation costs
• Transportation reimbursement
• Professional development budget
• Phone allowance
• Work from home
• Childcare costs
• Education reimbursement
• Equity

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Frame your negotiation about your worth, skillset, and how you are going to grow their team.

Don’t use having sick relatives or family problems as leverage, it will just make everyone uncomfortable.

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Wait till you recieve an actual offer before countering the numbers. After recieving an offer, don't accept it immediately. You can respond back with, "Thank you so much for the offer. I look forward to working with your team. Would it be possible to have a few days to look over everything before responding? I want to make sure I understand the job offer fully before making a decision. Thank you so much!

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That will give you time to craft a negotiation reponse and also make sure you understand everything before you sign.

If asked about what you want to make or your salary expectations don't just give one number and call it a day, since you might be lowballing yourself. I usually give a range and say it depends on the overall position. Then I do actual negotiating when I have the offer in hand.

Claire Wasserman says it best. She's the founder of Ladies Get Paid and has taught me so much about how to scale my income and career. This is my favorite video about negotiating and I 100% recommend watching it since she walks you through different situations.

You can watch here. I'm not sponsored, just excited haha

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