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Closing The Deal

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AboutUsBentonBy J. Benton Howie

Salary and terms of employment negotiations…what works and what may not work so well.

In Salary negotiations try to avoid putting a number on the table first. It places you at negotiation disadvantage. A good first response would be something like…”I am sure your company pays its employees fairly and I am open to any offer similar to what you would pay an existing employee in the same position with comparable skills and experience.” If pressed further quote a range, or an “in the neighborhood or around” amount.

Stock options, memberships, flexible work hours are negotiable for those companies that offer them, although company paid memberships are usually only offered to executives and some sales professionals for networking purposes. And they are falling out of favor due to current business conditions.

Benefits are usually not negotiable, especially in larger companies which have standard policies. Often these benefits, especially medical and vacation are ERISA defined, which means they must be consistently applied. My advice is to not go there; it won’t work. Besides, the last impression a prospective employee wants to give is that they are overly concerned about time away from the job. Companies hire individuals to work, not to be absent.

Many other items such as title, auto allowance, office space, travel and entertainment and similar business polices, are also uniformly applied. To do otherwise would create an employee relations nightmare for employers. Negotiating reporting relationships can also be tricky. It’s probably not a good idea to communicate that you don’t report to a specific level, especially when the person at that level may be approving (or not approving) the offer.

A word about timing---do your salary negotiations before you receive the written offer. Many companies, especially larger companies, have a structured offer approval process requiring multiple levels of approvals, and once approvals are obtained managers are often unwilling, or unable, to re-submit the offers for modification. This is why employers always try to get a verbal agreement before moving to the written offer level. You could negotiate yourself out of an offer. I have seen written offers withdrawn when applicants try to continue negotiations after receiving them. Be careful. This is a buyer’s job market, which means that unless you have a critical, hard-to-find skill, you really don’t have much negotiating leverage.

And a final piece of advice—employers want future employees to cheerfully accept the offer. So, when you accept the offer, smile, and tell them you are happy with the offer. Then ask when you can start.

 

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