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Salary Negotiation - Free Online Tutorial
The information in this free Salary Negotiation tutorial is taken from “GetAhead in Business Negotiations”. This accelerated learning course condenses a 2-day class-based course into a highly focused eBook & CD-Rom. It will teach you proven strategies for negotiating a better salary and shows you how to achieve this goal by adopting a structured approach to the negotiation.
       
The Business Negotiations self-development program is available in the following formats...
   
                                                                             
                   eBook                                        Multimedia CD-Rom                  eBook & Multimedia CD-Rom
   
 

Free Salary Negotiation Tutorial
    
 

Salary Negotiation - Introduction
An interview is best approached as a sales meeting. Your main challenge at interview is how to communicate your benefits to the interviewer, and how to avoid, or dilute, any negative aspects of your employment history.

When attending an interview it is your job to make as strong a case as you can for them offering you the position as you can. You are there to sell - yourself!

One of the keys to this is to ensure that you always remain positive. Good news tends to be accepted at face value, whereas bad news tends to make people sit up and pay attention. If you get the interviewers attention in this way, they are likely to pursue this new line of enquiry aggressively. This would mean dwelling on bad news and facing awkward questions about something you really should not have brought up in the first place.

If you have some career skeletons in your closet, decide ahead of the interview how you can avoid giving too much information about these areas. Is it possible to avoid talking about these issues at the interview? You almost certainly wont have published negative information in your CV/resume.

Alternatively, can you put a more positive interpretation on events, stressing the lessons you learned and how you have put these to practical effect since.

Salary Negotiation – Sell Your Sizzle!
In treating the interview like a sales meeting, it is worth keeping a very common sales slogan in mind: Sell the sizzle, not the sausage. This slogan stresses that you sell the benefits and not the feature.

In an everyday sales arena a salesman might be selling an expensive gas fireplace, whilst operating in front of a live demonstration model in the showroom. Here, the customer can see all the features; like design, craftsmanship and the real-fire effect.

The good salesman wont waste his breath describing what is totally obvious to anyone looking at the fire; but will stress all the real benefits; like speed at heating a cold room, fuel efficiency self cleaning flue, etc.

Likewise, your features your skills experience and abilities are all clearly identified on your CV/resume; so when you highlight these during the interview you should do so by linking your feature to a demonstrable benefit.

You are at the interview on the strength of your application to date, but you need to secure the job offer. To do that you need to convince the interviewer that your features have brought real benefits to previous employers. The association will be that you are a benefit bringer, and that pattern will continue for their organization.

In this mode you really are selling, you are presenting the interviewer with an irresistible package of benefits.

Salary Negotiation – Asking the Right Questions at Interview
Towards the end of an interview it is normal for the Interviewer to ask if you, the candidate, would like to ask any questions. At the point you start asking questions, you are effectively taking charge of the proceedings for the first time. Remember that you need to reinforce the impression that you would be a positive addition to the organization, so remain friendly and react positively to their replies.

When asking your questions don’t interrogate the interviewer. Whilst the interview is a two-way process there is an inherent balance of power and you are in the weaker position.

Only ask questions that you think the interviewer is capable of answering. Asking inappropriate questions can lead to embarrassment and cause a rift between you. An example of this would be asking detailed technical questions of an interviewer from the HR department.

Don’t ask questions that could have easily been answered by your own research ahead of the meeting. For example, asking about the organizations geographical offices or an overview of their product lines would be the type of question that a bright and inquisitive candidate should know before attending interview.

You must use your judgement to decide when to bring your questions to a close. Be aware of the time and the interviewers body language - if they start shuffling, clock watching or looking uncomfortable the time has come to wrap up quickly.

It is quite acceptable to have a prepared list of questions. You should write these in order of priority so that you ensure you ask the most important ones first. Intelligent and unique questions can leave a positive impression on the interviewer and help to set you apart from the other candidates.

Useful questions topics include:

1) What are the key tasks and responsibilities of the job
2) How are performance reviews conducted
3) The attitudes of your future line manager
4) What scope there is for promotion within the company
5) Training and development opportunities
6) Other expectations of the employer, such as travel etc
7) Why the position has become vacant
8) What is the largest challenge facing this section at present
9) The decision-making process and line of authority issues

    
  Salary Negotiation – Negotiating the Right Package
Salary negotiations may form an essential part of the interview process. It is important that you do not psyche yourself into a weak position before the negotiations begin and that you have an appreciation of a variety of factors, other than salary, that together constitute the employment package.

It is up to you to ensure that the employer recognizes your value and the contribution you can make to the organization. Remember, once you accept an offer, your salary is unlikely to change significantly until you get promoted.

The salary negotiation process depends on the following factors:

1) The goals and interests of the parties
2) The personalities of the people involved
3) The persuasive ability of each party

As with any negotiation, your two major objectives are:
To change the other party's impression of the strength of your position.
To change the other party's impression of the strength of their position.

Most candidates are overly concerned with the power of the employer and the extent of the competition for the job. It is quite common for candidates to psyche themselves into a weak position by focusing on their misconceptions of these two critical issues – make sure you don’t fall into this trap!

Salary Negotiation – Know Your Market Value
Before going into the negotiation make sure that you've done your homework. This will add to your confidence - something that is vital when negotiating.

Assess your market value based on advice from recruiters, adverts for similar jobs, the demand for people with your skills set, salary surveys in trade magazines and advice from colleagues who have a similar role to yours.

The golden rule is never to be the first party to mention a figure. Sometimes this can be difficult, but you can respond vaguely by talking about 'a package in the region of…' The purpose of this tactic is to avoid selling yourself short. Usually the job description will carry a salary range, but you will obviously want to get as much as you possibly can.

Once they have mentioned a figure, you must assess whether or not it is reasonable. If so, you should aim to maximize the package that you can secure.

If it is not, you can then begin levering them with comments such as; "How much room do we have for negotiation?" " What benefits does that include?" or even call their bluff by saying, "I'm really keen on the position, but I'll have to weigh it up against another offer I have been made."

Salary Negotiation – Challenge a Poor Offer
If their opening offer is unacceptable then you could make comments such as "I'll have to go away and consider if I can justify that salary to myself" or "I'm not sure if that's a very competitive salary".

This will indicate that they should consider an immediate improvement or the negotiations might stall. Sometimes, a surprisingly effective tactic is to look the interviewer straight in the eye and ask, "Is that the best you can offer?"

Not all remuneration is made as payment. Some benefits do have a genuine value, while others may even leave you out of pocket in the long-run. Be well informed about common 'sweeteners' such as company cars, share options, profit share and pensions. Many of these are based on performance or the buoyancy of the economy.

Finally, take the time to consider and accept the right offer. Don't be afraid to turn down an offer and move onto another interview with added confidence. Beware of fancy titles, expectations of unpaid overtime, open promises and so-called 'opportunities for promotion'.
  
Salary Negotiation - Free Online Tutorial
The information in this free Salary Negotiation tutorial is taken from “GetAhead in Business Negotiations”. This accelerated learning course condenses a 2-day class-based course into a highly focused eBook & CD-Rom. It will teach you proven strategies for negotiating a better salary and shows you how to achieve this goal by adopting a structured approach to the negotiation.
   
The Business Negotiations self-development program is available in the following formats...
   
                                                                             
                   eBook                                        Multimedia CD-Rom                  eBook & Multimedia CD-Rom
   

 

 

GetAhead - Free Training Resources
 These free online tutorials are text only extracts taken from the GetAhead range of training courses.

Personal Skills Management Skills Technical Skills
Job Search
Interview Questions
Career Search
 Career Change
Career Education
Career Planning
Salary Negotiation
Time Management Skills		 Negotiating Skills
Communication Skills
Public Speaking
Nonverbal Communication
Meeting Planning
Project Management Training		 Configuration Management
Gantt Chart
Pert Chart
Data Flow Diagrams
Data Modeling
Entity Relationship Diagram

 

 

 

 

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