Prepare and negotiate, Negotiate, NEGOTIATE!

Negotiation is a topic of recent interest to me in the world of career development. It is often an underutilized, but potentially very rewarding tool as your career progresses and opportunity presents itself. More directly, it is an informed means whereby you can see that your needs and the needs of a
current or potential employer are met. This way everyone benefits from the outcome!

When to Negotiate
Getting an Offer

• EVALUATE: look at offers based on market research (Glassdoor.com or salary.com are good resources), your needs and the company’s needs. Ask lots of questions, get the offer in writing, do comparative analysis. 
• YES, MAYBE NO: It may not be the right offer for you if there is no room to negotiate, and that's okay. It's better to turn down an opportunity if it will be great for them, but not for you--or vice versa. You'll likely only find out in the end what you already suspected after wasting time and energy. 
• DEAL MAKERS/BREAKERS: Vie for things in a way that would ensure each party's interests are fairly represented. Be flexible, but know your worth and hold tight to what needs are tied to your most closely held values.

Making an Offer/Contractor Proposal

• You can put forward a one page proposal that demonstrates how you could leverage expertise to produce measured results in meeting a key need of the company/organization.
• Do this in response to an open ad., or a researched business need; in anticipation of an offer for a role you've interviewed for; or if you were well-liked as a candidate but weren't the top choice for the role.
• Sections to include: a summary, details of the organization need, your qualifications and how you will meet the need, success metrics, requested compensation range, and follow up requested.

Annual Review

• In preparing for a salary increase request or role/responsibility change in a current position, evaluation time is a prime opportunity to vie for the desired outcome via calculated negotiation. It is important to have some sense of organization/ department budget constraints, HR policy related to employee rights and position/salary change requests 
• Before the review meeting date, request some time during the meeting with your supervisor to talk about needs you have and have a document prepared that briefly and clearly supports your requests (summary of requests, rationale, and supporting evidence/documents)

Seeking a Counter-Offer (Upon receiving another job offer in a current position or two offers simultaneously in a job search)

•  I’ve read that seeking a counter offer can be seen negatively by companies if you're currently employed, so you have to really be sure that your current position won’t be jeopardized and that you’re perceived as an asset in the department/company.
• Request a conversation time to share your requests/needs, how staying on benefits the company and be prepared to share details of the other offer.

Tools for Successful Negotiation

Research and Documentation

• Get information on budget status for your department or company
• Keep your contributions, and evidence of how and where you exceeded responsibility, well-documented
• Know your rights and workplace policies related to salary/raises/role change
• Know how your salary and benefits compare to market rates in your state/city/industry

Characteristics of Successful Negotiators

• Confident
• Desire to serve
• Diligent
• Prepared
• Patient (yet with a sense of urgency)
• Excellent in work/work ethic
• Logical and evidence-based arguers vs. emotional and “personal” arguers (make your appeals based on evidence not on personal issues or pathos. It's not about being nice, it's about presenting facts and advocating for your interests. 'Nice' people get paid less, anyway according to this Notre Dame study!)

Other Items to Consider

• Having an internal advocate (your boss ideally, a co-worker, company administration, etc.) is more likely to produce favorable results with internal negotiation efforts. Colleagues and other third party contacts that can attest to your work are key, as well as a friend/trustworthy colleague in the human resources department. Make your network work!
• Keep a file and actively collect past reviews, anecdotes, reference letters, and recommendations for your work to refer to for negotiation times, especially in a current role
• Women are less inclined to negotiate than men, due to well-studied 'costs' women pay for negotiating (this Harvard Business Review article explains), but underscores the importance of a Win-Win perspective in negotiation (referred to as an "I-We" strategy in the article)
• ALWAYS NEGOTIATE! The worst that can be said is no...and no could very well be the answer- consider your approach or your evidence, the timing, employers resources, and ask for feedback on why the negotiation wasn't successful. If first you don't succeed try, try again (at the appropriate time)!