An important part of your applying for a job is for you to have some knowledge on how much a particular job pays, and on your worth as an employee, salary-wise. You should have an idea on these two items before you face a prospective employer or his job interviewer, as this will likely be brought up by them before deciding on whether to hire you or not. This could even be the most crucial part of the interview, for the employer who is following a budget outline on company compensations, and especially for you who will be taking on the job.

The procedure as regards the subject of compensation is normally done in two ways – you will be asked what salary you will expect to receive, or they could offer you an amount. Either way, it is important that you must have an idea beforehand on how you should answer their question on how much you want as a salary or react to the amount they are offering. You will therefore need to take the time to research on salaries in the kind of work you do, so you will be prepared to get what you’re worth or accept a job offer that’s realistic and reasonable in the industry.

The Salary Negotiation Process

How should you go about your salary negotiation, assuming that you already know what you should be earning? Be very patient in this regard, as both you and the prospective employer have your own target amounts.  The employer will try to negotiate as low an amount as he can, while you will of course be aiming for something higher. You may not have to open the matter on salaries – wait for the prospective employer to start the discussion on this item.

He may make you an offer of the salary the company is willing to pay you, or ask you how much are your salary requirements. You can answer this question by saying that they are open, based upon the position, and the overall compensation package. Or ask the employer to tell you more about the responsibilities and the challenges of the job prior to discussing the matter of a salary.

You may also give the employer another option which is a salary range based upon the salary research you’ve done beforehand. When you have received the salary offer from the employer you don’t need to accept (or reject) it right away. You could just say that you need to think it over, and this answer might bring you a higher offer.

As the negotiation progresses, ambivalence in your position may even result in a still higher salary offer from the employer when you indicate a negative answer especially if you are not so keen in getting the job. One job applicant did this because he did not really care getting the job or not, and because of his negative answer, he got three follow up phone calls upping the compensation package. There’s a risk though in this kind of strategy in that the employer may stop talking to you and move on to the next job applicant.

This kind of salary negotiation method may be good for you only if you have other options to fall back on, in case your approach does not work with a particular employer. Maybe you will be brave enough to use this tactic if you are really qualified and experienced to do the job you are applying for. Otherwise, you should be more careful especially when you are in a situation where you badly need to get accepted in your job application.