Salary Negotiation

Rehearsing with a friend, colleague, or family member
Just like when going for a job interview – when planning a salary negotiation, it is absolutely vital that you rehearse for it beforehand. Ensuring you are well versed with your dossier if you’ve made one is a crucial part of this. Rehearsing for a salary negotiation will make for a much more effective presentation as you will not only know instinctively when to push a point, but you will know exactly what in your dossier to make reference to at any given time, enabling you to deliver a presentation to an employer that’s smooth and flawless

The best way to do this is to first write out the most important parts of your presentation on paper or on a word document (not only do you retain information better when you go through the process of writing things out, but every subsequent time you see this written down it will reinforce what you are seeing). From there, the most effective way to rehearse is with a friend, family member, or colleague, as you’ll have the advantage of their interactions and input while practising your presentation – it will also provide the added benefit of helping you prepare for how a decision-maker would respond with any objections or challenges that might be raised during the negotiation itself. With this being said, if you are unable to find anyone to rehearse with, sitting in front of a mirror and repeating line for line what you are planning to say, or doing this while you are doing housework or performing some other menial activity, is also a very effective way to retain information too…

Go into the negotiation with the right attitude

This is another very important, albeit subjective factor

Although it can seem almost generic, the mindset that you go into a salary negotiation with will largely determine the tone of the negotiation and will therefore inevitability determine a large part of the result you attain. While each negotiation will vary depending on the circumstances and the individuals you are dealing with, as this is a salary negotiation, being upfront, confident, and overwhelmingly assured in the tone you take when discussing the contributions you’ve made to your company is a highly effective tact to take when trying to convince your employer to do something like give you a raise. There is a fine line between being assertive and being on the wrong side of that. The direction of the conversation should remain positive and upbeat at all times, that’s why you should take care not to come across as too pushy. Remember you are there to negotiate with your employer and progress your relationship with them, not to get on their bad side. It is also a well-known fact that people who exhibit traits of aggressive competitiveness, a ‘go getter’, as so to speak, are usually picked out over their peers for faster advancement, and this should be reflected to some extent in the conversation you have with them as well

Irregardless of whether or not you get the raise you’re looking for, there can still be significant advantages to going through a salary negotiation, which we explore later on in this section… That’s why many recruitment specialists would advise you are potentially doing your career a big favour if you’re ever able to get yourself into a position where you can negotiate for your own salary…

Adopting the correct mindset is simply about being aware of what we are feeling and deliberately trying to cultivate the confident and naturally competitive traits that will help us get the results we are looking for…

In a circumstance where we’ve approached our employer to instigate a salary negotiation, we should be aware there is a good chance that their appraisal of us will actually go up! This is often attributed to the natural inclination people have that tends to draw them towards those who exhibit heightened traits of competitiveness – and in studies that have been performed, it’s been found that the perception most people have towards those entering into their own salary negotiation is almost exclusively comprised of positive traits! These include things like someone with confidence, someone with a natural ability in their job role, someone with a strong belief in their own self-worth, ambition, and a strong desire to do well for their company



Identifying exactly the right time to ask for a Salary Rise (pre-existing employees)
Just like the adage: being in the right place at the right time – – this is the part of any salary negotiation that is crucial – – and is EQUALLY if not more important than the actual negotiation itself

…As with many things in life, sometimes getting something you want simply comes down to knowing the right person, or doing something at exactly the right time — and in this case it’s the latter — because when you go to ask for a raise, your chances of being successful will increase massively if you do this at the right time!

There is no set time to do this, and no set way to do this – – a lot of the timing will come down to your own good judgement and common sense! There are however certain circumstances you can look for that will help you to identify when exactly the right time to ask is

…Typically, the best time to make any type of approach would be when your company is enjoying a sustained period of success. That could be where it has met performance targets for the quarter, has announced strong profits for the annum, or some other similarly associated measure of success. Next, let’s take a look at some of the more specific instances that would make the best times to approach your employer…