How to Best Negotiate Your Salary Package
Negotiating Salary
This situation is unique to you and needs to account for a number of variables that are personal to your own situation. You know the reason that you were looking for a new job and you know the reasons why you wanted to move from your current position. Running a comparison between your wants & needs to the offer you have in front of you will help you to reach a rational decision. We have created a Helper Document in the Negotiating Salary section of our Career Toolkit. Sign-in and download your document today.
We Can Help You Negotiate Your Salary
Firstly, we’ve created a Helper Document so that you can clinically, without emotion, compare your job offer with your needs. It’s important to remember the reasons why you looked to move jobs in the first place. Whether that was money, time, career prospects, additional training or an improved work / life balance, it is important to consider if the job is actually going to meet your needs.
Do the Maths
If you’re moving job for additional salary but the new job involves either moving area’s or additional commuting then make sure you do the maths as to whether this will help you to move forwards. Does the extra salary cover the cost of the move or the extra commuting? Will your work / life balance suffer as a result? There is no absolute formula for this as everyone has their own personal reasons and needs. This has to be measured against your own criteria.
What Are The Future Prospects?
Changing your scenario or improving your situation will only happen if you are thinking clearly about moving forwards. What does the future look like? Is there a clear path forwards? Does it match what you are looking for? It is important to take a balanced view. It can be disappointing if you have put a lot of effort into an application but it is essential to take a cold & systematic view before committing yourself.
Heat of the moment decisions are driven by emotions whereas looking to the future will help you make the correct & rational decision. Think beyond the next month to make sure you are not jumping out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire.
The Counter Offer
This is an offer from your current employer to hold you in your current job. The first question you need to ask is why wasn’t this offer there before you decided to leave. Why did you have to step out of the situation to create this reaction? When someone is paying you to stay it doesn’t necessarily mean that they value you. It might be that you’ve always been a good employee and thus sat low on the radar of the company. It’s easy for a company not to notice someone who always completes their tasks and makes very little fuss and it’s often only as you move on that your value is truly realised.
There is no a blanket rule for this but often the counter offer is more indicative of it being cheaper to keep an employee than to replace them. Remember that you have no moral obligation to stay with the company that you are at and any counter offer needs to be assessed only on its merits.
Rational or Emotional
The biggest consideration is whether your reason to move is a rational or emotional one.
Remember your history with the employer while considering the rational thought process of why you are trying to move to a new role. Statistically speaking people who take counter-offers tend to still move on from the company within the next 12 months but each offer and each company has to be assessed rationally on its benefits to you. If you are dealing with a recruitment agency such as CSR then discussing this with your recruiter should be the way forward to help make your decision. CSR will always give you the best advice about how to progress – and often it is to stay in the role you are currently in.
Good Luck
We hope that our document download and the accompanying videos will help you to make your decision in a rational and balanced way. If you are still unsure then pick the phone up to our team or click on the chat function and we will be super happy to discuss your situation and what we believe would be the best outcome for you.
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