Know Your Worth Before Salary Negotiations

Article Written By: TrevorDavideGrant

Prior to salary negotiating, it is very important to know exactly what your market value is. If you do not know exactly what your market value is, then it is like being blindfolded and not knowing what salary to ask when you ask for a raise or try to negotiate the best salary in your next job.andnbsp; Without doing your legwork, your employer will probably suggest an increase that you find disappointing. While people around the world negotiate salary every day, not many of them are able to get the most out of salary negotiation!

Research ahead of time is critical before approaching your boss for a raise, or before putting your foot forward in salary negotiations at job offer time. It is like a card game. Do not reveal your cards too soon. In this case, your cards are personal secrets like how much you made in your last job, or how much money you'd like in the new job, or how much of an increase you'd like.

Before going into a salary negotiation, know what you are worth in compensation terms!

Whether you are looking for new employment or you are asking for a pay raise, do your research first. There are great Internet resources available, like SalaryExpert.com or Monster.com. These sites have continual access to all the salary information that is available.andnbsp; It is important for you to know the the accuracy of the source of the salary market information. If a website is reporting pay scales as reported by their list of members, it may not be as current as if the salaries are reported by the HR departments of the companies in that job market.

Another method, if you are a little intrepid, is to do a bit of discreet research. If you know people who work for the firm, and are not fearful of asking direct questions, you may well find find out what other staff are earning in the same job for that business.andnbsp; Better yet, if you can ask a valued human resources friend, you may find out not only about the company you work for, but you may also find out about other companies in your market. Whatever information you can find out, will be useful, as long as the source is someone you can believe.

One source of information that is invaluable are research reports published by the salary research consultants. These consultants survey HR departments nationwide, or in specific regions, and get very specific salary data for hundreds and hundreds of job titles in each region. The current version of these reports are very valuable to job seekers, but they are hard to find. If you do find one, you are very luck because current data is worth its weight in gold!

Next, salaries ranges are often reported based on percentages. A business systems analyst salary range may be from $50,000-$90,000 for a given region, but the reporting will be based on 0-25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75-100%.

If you perform well at your job, then you know it. Think about your performance critically and honestly, and determine using intuition where you think you fit in, as far as a percentile basis. Don't worry if you think you're in the lower regions. It may be lack of experience or tenure. If you are in the top end, you know you're a high performer and you're providing a lot of value to the company.

I have found it to be very useful to point blank ask friends at work where they feel I should be on the salary scale. They know themselves and measure themselves against you. You should do this with someone you have a very good raport with. You will get great direct feedback.

It is critical for you to know the value of the skills you bring, and be able to measure them in quantitative terms. That is financially describably terms. Hard cash numbers resonate with employers. If you can say, I saved the company $150,000 last quarter due to the efficiencies I implemented, you are on a great platform to justify your salary negotiation.

Wishing you success in learning how to negotiate a salary like a pro!

About the Author

Trevor Davide Grant is a IT manager in the IT field and has extensive experience in salary negotiation. Trevor has worked for large telecom, power utililties, software consulting, and a prominent web 2.0 site. He has learned how to negotiate a salary in the most effective way. Learn great tips on the topic of salary negotiating at www.HowToNegotiateASalary.com.

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