Negotiating a Job Offer

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Negotiating a Job Offer

• Carol Young

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Is it O.K. to Negotiate?

• Yes
• However, your success is dependent on your
  preparation, negotiating skills, and market
  conditions.

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When Do I Negotiate?

• After you have a verbal offer
• Ideally, wait until you have other offers
• Decide which company you want to work for
• Negotiate only with that company
• Unethical to negotiate a higher salary (with a
  company you do not want to work for) to leverage
  with another companys offer

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Steps to Negotiating

• STEP ONE Prepare Yourself
• STEP TWO Know the Employer
• STEP THREE Assess the Job Offer
• STEP FOUR Negotiate Salary Benefits
• STEP FIVE Get It in Writing

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STEP ONE Prepare Yourself

• Know Your Values
• Know Your Strengths
• Know the Market

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Know Your Values
Identify and rank your values. An offer is not
just about salary, but it is also about what you
value in a position.

• Benefits
• Challenge
• Competition
• Flexibility
• Helping Others
• Independence
• Location
• Low Stress Level
• Making Decisions
• Mental Stimulation
• Opportunities to Advance

• Personal Growth
• Physical Work Environment
• Prestige
• Public Contact
• Recognition
• Responsibility
• Salary
• Stability
• Supervisory Style
• Teamwork
• Variety

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Questions to Consider

• How many hours a week do I want to work?
• How much income do I need to live comfortably?
• Where do I want to live? Cost of living?
• Is social status a concern - position/title/compan
  y?
• What do I need in a new career to keep me
  challenged?
• Am I
• (a) people-oriented
• (b) technology-oriented
• (c) research-oriented
• (d) combination?

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Know Your Bottom Line

• Establish a budget including taxes and savings
• Decide on the minimum amount of compensation that
  will support your budget and make you satisfied
• If an employer is unable to meet or exceed this
  amount, it may be to your advantage to keep
  looking. There is no point in accepting an offer
  if you think you will be unsatisfied and want to
  look for another job in the near future.

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Know Your Strengths

• Education (Degrees, GPA, Skills, Projects)
• Experience (Projects, Research, Internships)
• Expertise
• Intangibles or Soft Skills
• Employer Hot Buttons
• Other Offers

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How Much Am I Worth?

• Depends on several factors
• Your background relative to others
• State of the companys financial health
• State of the economy/job market
• Cost of living

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Know the Market

• Know the average salaries of Carnegie Mellon
  graduates with similar degrees.
• Identify salary averages for your field and in
  your geographic area.
• Know CMUs Offer Policy as it relates to offer
  due dates.
• Identify norms in your field as far as which
  things you can negotiate, and which things are
  non-negotiable such as health insurance.
• Network with your Career Consultant, faculty,
  internship supervisors, mentors, recent grads,
  etc.
• At the end of presentation there are resources
  where you can find this information.

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Carnegie Mellon Offer Policy

• Employer Deadlines for Job or Internship Offers
• Fall Interviews
• Employers conducting interviews in the fall
  semester must give students until the first
  business day of December to respond to an offer,
  without pressure to respond on an earlier date.
  Students interviewing on or after the first
  business day of December should be given three
  weeks to respond to an offer.
• Spring Interviews
• Employers conducting interviews in the spring
  semester must give students three weeks to
  respond to an offer, without pressure to respond
  on an earlier date.
• Full-time Offers to Summer Interns
• Employers who give an offer for full-time
  employment to a student who has had a summer
  internship with the employer must give students
  until the first business day of November to
  respond to an offer, without pressure to respond
  on an earlier date.
• PLEASE NOTE In all cases, employers must give
  students at least 3 weeks to make a decision.

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STEP TWO Know the Employer Run Through Your
Contact History with the Company

• What in your background did they focus on during
  interviews?
• What was your impression of the companys values?
• Web site
• Corporate literature
• Interviews/site visit
• Was there a common background or theme in the
  backgrounds of current employees that you met
  with?

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Know the Employer's Compensation Guidelines

• Although there are many ways that employers
  decide on the initial offer, they are typically
  presented from one of three different viewpoints.
  
• Companies fall into one of these three categories
  depending upon their attitude about salary and
  negotiation.

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Know the Employer's Compensation Guidelines

• Fixed Offer This type of company will tell you
  that they carefully research the job market and
  they make a very fair and firm offer.
• Thank them graciously for the information and
  stop negotiating.
• Respect the companys philosophy, otherwise it
  may harm you.

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Know the Employer's Compensation Guidelines

• Pay-Grade System a system in which a salary
  range has been set and you will be paid within
  this range based on your experience and the
  duties associated with the job.
• However, you can often negotiate within the
  salary range.
• The most common compensation system encountered.

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Know the Employer's Compensation Guidelines

• The Negotiator In this framework, the employer
  will have the authority to raise or lower your
  salary without going through bureaucratic red
  tape.
• You can definitely negotiate with this type of
  organization.
• This type of system is rare because most
  organizations work within a structure.

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Salary Guidelines

• Never bring up salary first alwayslet the
  employer make the first move or wait until you
  have an offer.
• Try not to reveal to an employer your target
  salary during the interview process.
• If pressed, give a range always position
  yourself a little higher than your target.

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Once Youve Received the Offer

• Do not comment immediately on the salary offer
  thank the employer for the offer, make sure that
  you have an understanding of the jobs
  responsibilities, the benefits package, etc.
• Express interest, and always ask for time to
  consider the offer refer to Carnegie Mellons
  Offer Policy as it relates to offer due dates
• Be sure there is a mutual understanding of the
  timeline
• Evaluate the offer from the perspective of
• Compare the salary offer with the data that you
  collected and your other offers

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STEP THREE Assess the OfferWhy Do I Want to
Work for This Particular Company?

• Its the only offer that I have so far
• I like the work that Ill be doing
• I like the people
• I like where Ill be working
• I like what Ill be making

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Assess the Job Offer

• Consider the pros and the cons of the offer. It
  may help to create a chart.
• A chart may also be helpful if you have had more
  than one offer and you want to compare and
  contrast the merits of each offer.

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A Few Tips

• Never add more items to your Negotiating list
  down the lineput everything out front
  immediately.
• Consider alternatives to higher salarymoving
  expenses, signing bonus, more vacation time,
  tuition reimbursement, etc.
• Know your limitswhats the lowest salary that I
  will accept?
• Know your next stepif I am unable to negotiate a
  higher salary, what then?
• Always be truthful
• Comply with deadlines

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STEP FOUR Negotiate Salary and Benefits

• List your values/needs, as compared to the offer
  on the table
• Determine if its it really worth the effort to
  negotiate
• If Yes Call the employer- DO NOT EMAIL THE
  EMPLOYER
• Use the Sandwich Approach
• Start by expressing an interest in the
  jobsummarize how you see your Background
  fitting in to the organization and making a
  difference.
• Next, outline your counter offers
• More salarybased on data
• Benefits (vacation time, parking, etc.)
• Finally, thank them and express an interest in
  working with them to come up with a mutually
  agreeable package.

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Negotiate Salary and Benefits

• If an employer makes an offer that is below your
  expectation, you don't want to offend them so you
  might start the conversation by asking what the
  benefits include.
• To proceed, you might want to use one of the
  following approaches to begin the negotiation
  process

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Negotiate Salary and Benefits

• Approach 1 I am very interested in your
  company. Thank you for the job offer. I wanted to
  know if the salary is negotiable?
• Approach 2 I am very interested in the
  position, but I would like to discuss the salary
  you are offering.

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Negotiate Salary and Benefits

• When using either approach, be certain to support
  your case by stating your skills, the average
  salary range for your level of experience in your
  field, and the average salaries for Carnegie
  Mellon graduates in your major.
• It is best to let the employer respond and then
  continue the discussion from his/her lead.

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Sample Script

• Hello, Im calling to follow up on our phone
  conversation last week regarding your offer of
  employment. As I mentioned to you at that time,
  you were one of the companies that I had been
  particularly interested in since the start of the
  recruiting season, and after learning more about
  the position during my site visit, Im confident
  that my technical and customer service experience
  will allow me to make immediate and positive
  contributions to the company.

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Sample Script (cont.)

• Id like to discuss the compensation package
  that youve offered. While its a very generous
  one in a lot of respects, information that Ive
  collected from published surveys indicates that
  the starting salary for a position such as this
  is XXXX
• Im very excited about the prospects of working
  with your company and Id really like to work
  something out with you.

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Negotiate Salary and Benefits

• Based on an employer's compensation guidelines,
  you may not be able to negotiate a higher salary.
  However, you may be able to increase your
  compensation in benefits.
• Negotiable areas may include
• vacation time
• educational reimbursement, and salary review
• relocation
• Caution You may be negotiating with the person
  who will be your supervisor. Stay polite. Do not
  get overly aggressive. Try to make it a win-win.

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STEP FIVE Get it in Writing

• It would be nice if everything discussed would
  actually occur, but unfortunately it doesn't
  always happen that way.
• To avoid problems in the future, ask for a letter
  of employment which states all the employment
  conditions agreed upon (i.e. salary and benefits
  as well as a thorough job description).
• If there is confusion at a later date, you will
  have a written document to refer to stating the
  conditions under which you were hired. This
  document is especially important if the
  conditions of your employment differ from normal
  company policies.

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A Final Word

• If a position is acceptable to you as it is
  offered, do not feel that you must negotiate.
• Limit your negotiations to one round.

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Ethics for Interviewing, Site Visits and Job
Offers

• You are expected to --
• Attend all scheduled campus interviews
• Be on-time for campus interviews and site visits
• Present your qualifications in a truthful manner
• Honor all agreements made with recruiters. This
  is especially true with site visits.
• Honor all agreements made with recruiters. This
  is especially true of accepting a job offer
• Cease interviewing upon your acceptance of a job
  offer and de-activate your resume in TartanTRAK

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ResourcesCarnegie Mellon Websites

• Carnegie Mellon Post Graduation and Salary
  Statistics
• Includes maximum, minimum, mean and median salary
  information from Carnegie Mellon graduates,
  listed by college and majorhttp//www.studentaffa
  irs.cmu.edu/career/students_alumni/post-grad-surve
  y/index.html
• Carnegie Mellon Offer Policy
• Addresses employer deadlines when making offers
  to studentshttp//www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/care
  er/students_alumni/offer.html

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ResourcesSalary Negotiation Websites

• Occupational Outlook Handbook - provides career
  and salary information for approximately 250
  occupationshttp//www.bls.gov/oco/
• Quintessential Careers - provides a variety of
  resources and links for job seekers including
  resources on the web about salary
  negotiationhttp//www.quintcareers.com/salary_neg
  otiation.html
• JobStar Central - provides links to over 300
  salary surveys and tips on salary
  negotiationhttp//www.jobstar.org/tools/salary/in
  dex.cfm

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ResourcesCost of Living Websites

• Analyze the worth of your salary offer(s) in
  relation to the city and state where you would be
  making that salary
• Cost of Living Calculator from CNNMoney (for
  individual cities)http//cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/
  costofliving/costofliving.html
• Salary.com Cost of Living Wizard
  http//swz.salary.com/CostOfLivingWizard/layoutsc
  ripts/coll_start.asp