Over the last ten years, I’ve hired hundreds of people and the vast majority of people don’t know how to position or negotiate their salary. This puts them at a significant disadvantage.
Getting a fair market salary is a key step to freedom for both financial independence and entrepreneurship. Key steps:
- Negotiate from a position of strength (if you can)
- Use positional negotiation. This means you negotiate the position, not the specific number.
- Negotiate not just the salary but all other aspects of the offer.
- Don’t discuss your past salary. It puts you at a disadvantage for getting to a fair outcome and it may be illegal for the employer to ask. 17 states explicitly ban this.
- Get to a Win-Win. Negotiation of salary is about finding a fair market value. Look for opportunities to increase your value to the organization, not just your salary.