What Color Is Your Parachute? (27 page)

Salary negotiation would never happen if
every
employer in
every
hiring-interview were to mention, right from the start, the top figure they are willing to pay for that position.
Some
employers do, as I mentioned before. And that’s the end of any salary negotiation. But, of course, most employers don’t. Hoping they’ll be able to get you for less, they start
lower
than they’re ultimately willing to go.
This creates
a range
.
And that range is what salary negotiation is all about.

For example, if the employer wants to hire somebody for no more than $20 an hour, they may start
the bidding
at $12 an hour. In which case, their
range
runs between $12 and $20 an hour.

So, why do you want to negotiate? Because, if a range
is
thus involved, you have every right to try to discover the highest salary that employer is willing to pay you
within that range.

The employer’s goal, is to save money, if possible. Your goal is to bring home to your family, your partner, or your own household, the best salary that you can, for the work you will be doing. Nothing’s wrong with the goals of either of you. But it does mean that, where the employer starts lower, salary negotiation is legitimate, and expected.

Where salary negotiation has been kept
offstage
for much of the interview process, when it finally does come
onstage
you want the employer to be the first one to mention
a figure
, if you possibly can.

Nobody knows why, but it has been observed over the years that where the goals are opposite, as in this case—you are trying to get the employer to pay the most they can, and the employer is trying to pay the least they can—in this back-and-forth negotiation,
whoever mentions a salary figure first, generally loses.
You can speculate from now until the cows come home, as to
why
this is; all we know is
that
it is.

Inexperienced employer/interviewers often don’t know this quirky rule. But experienced ones are very aware of it; that’s why they will
always
toss the ball to you first, with some innocent-sounding question, such as: “What kind of salary are you looking for?”
Well, how kind of them to ask me what I want
—you may be thinking. No, no, no. Kindness has nothing to do with it. They are hoping
you
will be the first to mention a figure, because they know this strange experiential truth:
whoever mentions a salary figure first, generally loses salary negotiation, at the end.

Accordingly, if they ask you to name a figure, the
countermove
on your part should be: “Well, you created this position, so you must have some figure in mind, and I’d be interested in knowing what that figure is.”

As I said, salary negotiation is possible
anytime
the employer does not open discussion of salary by naming the top figure they have in mind, but starts instead with a lower figure.

Okay, so here is our $64,000 question: how do you tell whether the figure the employer first offers you is only their
starting bid
, or is their
final final offer
? The answer is: by doing some research on the field
and
that organization, before you go to the interview.

Oh, come on!
I can hear you say.
Isn’t this more trouble than it’s worth?
No, not if you’re determined.

Trust me, salary research pays off
handsomely.
Let’s say it takes you from one to three days to run down this sort of information on the three or four organizations that interest you the most. And let us say that because you’ve done this research, when you finally go in for the hiring-interview you are able to ask for and obtain a salary that is $15,000 a year higher, than you would otherwise have gotten. In just the next three years, you will be earning $45,000 extra, because of your salary research.
Not bad pay, for one to three days’ work!
And it can be even more. I know
many
job-hunters and career-changers to whom this has happened. There is a financial penalty exacted from those who are too lazy, or in too much of a hurry, to go gather this information. In plainer language
: if you don’t do this research, it’ll cost ya!

Okay then, how do you do this research? There are two ways to go: on the Internet, and off the Internet. Let’s look at each, in turn:

If you have access to the Internet, and you want to research salaries for particular geographical regions, positions, occupations, or industries, here are some free sites that may give you just what you’re looking for:

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey of salaries in individual
  occupations
  ,
  The Occupational Outlook Handbook 2010–2011
  .
  www.bls.gov/oco
  

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey of salaries in individual industries (it’s a companion piece to
  The Occupational Outlook Handbook
  ).
  http://stats.bls.gov/oes/oes_emp.htm
  

• “High Earning Workers Who Don’t Have a Bachelor’s Degree,” by Matthew Mariani, for those who want to know how to earn
  a lot
  without having to go to college first. The most recent government data about this was compiled ten years ago, but it is still cited by contemporary writers.
  http://stats.bls.gov/opub/ooq/1999/fall/art02.pdf
  

• The oldest of the salary-specific sites, and one of the largest and most complete lists of salary reviews on the Web; run by a genius (Mary Ellen Mort).
  http://jobstar.org/tools/salary/index.cfm
  

• The most visited of all the salary-specific job-sites, with fifty online partners that use their “Salary Wizard,” such as AOL and Yahoo.
  www.salary.com
  

• When you need a salary expert, it makes sense to go to the Salary Expert. Lots of stuff on the subject here, including a free “Salary Report” for hundreds of job-titles, varying by area, skill level, and experience. Also has one of the salary calculators mentioned earlier.
  www.salaryexpert.com
  

Incidentally, if these free sites don’t give you what you want, you can always
pay
for the info, and hopefully get more-up-to-date surveys. Salary Expert (
www.salaryexpert.com
) also offers up-to-date salary information services starting at $29.00.

If you “strike out” on all the above sites, then you’re going to have to get a little more clever, and work a little harder, and pound the pavement, as I shall describe below.

Off the Internet, how do you go about doing salary research? Well, there’s a simple rule: generally speaking, abandon books, and go talk to
people
. Use books and libraries only as a
second
, or
last
, resort. (Their information is often just way too outdated.)

You can get much more complete and up-to-date information from
people
who are in the same job
at another company or organization.
Or,
people
at the nearby university or college who
train
such people, whatever their department may be. Teachers and professors will usually know what their graduates are making.