Insist on all you're worth when negotiating salary

By Blanca Torres
Baltimore Sun

The offer is on the table and all a job seeker can think is, "Thank goodness, I have a job."

Not so fast, soon-to-be employed.

Career counselors say many job seekers are so pleased to be offered work that they accept the first salary an employer suggests. They say it's OK to feel relieved, but a salary discussion is not the time to let one's guard down.

"They're going to pay as little as they can get away with until you convince them you are worth more," said Francie Dalton, founder and president of Dalton Alliances Inc., a business consulting firm in Columbia, Md. "You have to show people you are not mediocre. You have to say, 'I am a stellar performer. That's why I'm worth the additional $5,000.' "

Defend your worth

Negotiating salary or a raise is one of the most nerve-wracking and subjective aspects of the working world, experts say. Workers need to do a self-evaluation and then be ready to defend their worth to prospective employers, according to career counselors. The process requires finesse, because aggressiveness or extremely high demands turn off many employers, they say.

"Most people in a negotiation don't lead with a final offer, so if you accept the first thing, you are leaving money on the table," said Robin Wolaner, a former Time Warner executive and author of the soon-to-be-released "Naked in the Boardroom: A CEO Bares Her Secrets So You Can Transform Your Career."

"You have to be comfortable in your own skin. So act like yourself, make yourself feel self-confident — don't take things personally."

The majority of workers come to the discussion believing there is no room to negotiate or that raises are a right based on seniority, said Hussam S. Hamadeh, co-president of Vault Inc., a New York employment data company.

"In the last 10 years, everyone is more focused on performance versus entitlement," he said.

Average salary increases for workers in the United States were 2.4 percent to 2.6 percent in 2004, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares with average salary increases of 3.9 percent to 4.2 percent in 2000.

Salaries and wages as a whole became stagnant or decreased from 2000 to 2003, but have been increasing during the past two years, Hamadeh said.

Remain firm

A more promising job market motivated Karin Schwartz to start looking for better-paying work last year.

Schwartz, who became a business development manager for a human-resources company in Towson, Md., in July, said she determined early on what kind of compensation range she was looking for and told potential employers up front.

During her interview, she said, the recruiter lowered the salary range they had discussed by about $20,000.

"I was ready to walk out," Schwartz said. The company then increased its offer. "If you're looking for the best deal for yourself, you need to be able to say 'No, this is not what I'm looking for,' and if they truly want you, they will offer you more."

Sometimes employers provide salary information in a job posting. Dalton also suggests calling the human-resources department to ask for a pay range for a particular position.

Get help from web

Job seekers also can turn to Web sites such as Salary.com, SalaryExpert.com, Vault.com and SalarySource.com. Some information is free, but the sites charge for detailed data.

Marc Cenedella, president and chief executive of TheLadders.com, a job-search Web site for positions that pay $100,000 or more, said seekers should determine a range that is broad enough to give employers an idea of what the candidate is looking for, but not specific enough to turn them off.

His method is to calculate a salary that is 20 percent less than what a person currently earns and then add 50 percent to that figure.

"When the employer offers you a job, then you can look at the total compensation package and then you decide what is that worth to me versus what the value is in the marketplace and reconcile the two," said William H. Coleman, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com in Needham, Mass. "It's just like buying a house, you look at what's comparable for the neighborhood, but in the end you are negotiating for one house."

Coleman recalled an employee who took a job for $75,000 a year and was offered a similar position from another company two months later that paid $95,000. He informed his employer of the offer, and the company immediately matched it.

The man left for the second company, because he realized his first employer had undervalued him.

It's not about greed

Many workers struggle to put a dollar value on their job performance.

"Talking about money and pushing for more money feels greedy," Wolaner said.

Compensation is not about greed, experts say. It is about rewarding people for the work they do.

Wolaner, for example, said she regretted not asking for more money in past jobs.

"I feel bad that I was not valued for my contributions," said Wolaner, who started Parenting magazine as a joint venture with Time Inc. and later sold it to Time. "It's only right to be paid for them."

Wolaner said her mistake was not speaking up for herself during salary discussions. An employee should come to the discussion with clear examples of accomplishments, improved performance or increased efficiency.

That technique is crucial in negotiating a raise because employees have to prove they are growing, doing more or adding value to a company, Dalton said. "If you can't grow and expand in value, why should your employer compensate you for that?" Dalton said.