A Guide To Assessing Job Offers And Negotiating Better Terms

By

Doug Fred

Posted Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009 | Viewed: 106
Posted In Category: Careers » Employment Articles
Article Directory | Employment RSS Feed Employment RSS Feed | Email to Friend | Report Article

• Create a plan – Set guidelines for yourself on what you deem acceptable. Do not forget that it is important not to look at salary alone. You should factor in the market, relocation expenses, benefits, career advancement opportunities and other important factors. Have your limits in mind and know what you want, what you expect, and what you are willing to settle for.

• Research - The key to a successful salary negotiation is preparation. Research your market worth to determine what a person with your skills, education and qualifications is earning in your area. A wonderful resource for this might be http://www.engineersalary.com.

• Convince the prospective employer that you are the best they will ever have – When you begin the negotiation process, position yourself as a “must have” candidate. Be prepared to confidently boast your skills and achievements to demonstrate your value. Never show that you need the job, rather prove to the potential employer that you will be a great asset to them.

• Hold off on the money – Try and gauge the employer’s interest in you before you start talking about compensation. In this situation, it might be to your advantage to have insider information: find a willing existing employee to let you know if the current position is critical for a given project, or what happened to the person who had that position before you. Remember that in most cases if the employer is interested, they will reveal the level of compensation they are willing to offer. In this case the salary you received in the past is your bargaining chip. If the interviewer does raise the question of salary before you have received an offer, try to return the question to them by asking what they are expecting to pay someone with your qualifications. If that does not work, give them a range that you are comfortable with. Of course you should base on the research you have already conducted.

• Get the Offer In Writing – Do not start negotiating until you have received an offer in writing. Job offer terms are not always crystal clear, so before you officially accept, examine the job from all angles. Make sure you take into consideration the additional benefits that can add as much as forty percent to your base salary. Don’t feel pressured to immediately respond to an offer.

• Practice with Multiple Job Offers – Refine your negotiation skills by practicing your negotiation strategy with companies that extend an offer that you most likely would not consider. You never know, your great negotiation skills may turn a mediocre offer into a great offer.

Negotiating better terms is never easy. You must remember to always negotiate from a position of power and you should never appear needy of weak. Never ask for too much and you can be seen as money hungry. Ask for too little and you can risk earning less than what you deserve. Knowing how much you are worth is a simple, yet critical step in your job search process.




Article Tags: career management, engineering jobs, career, work

About Author:

Related Articles, Information, Products And Links

Comments on A Guide To Assessing Job Offers And Negotiating Better Terms:


Post A Comment on A Guide To Assessing Job Offers And Negotiating Better Terms
  • No Comment Posted Yet...

Related Articles on Employment

  1. Balancing Work and Life
  2. Atlanta Job Hunters Find Small Businesses Yield Big Dividends
  3. Align Your Organization for Success
  4. Good recruitment interviewing skills training make recruiting the right person easy.
  5. Recruitment interview skills training outlines the importance of Defining the role
  6. Filipino Employee Raises Economic Prospects
  7. Hospitality & Tourism Industry Cape Town South Africa
  8. Hotel and Travel Jobs
  9. Article On Rightshoring Recruitment
  10. Exit Interviews: To Know More About Departure Employees
  11. Aged Care Jobs & Disabled Career Jobs In Uk
  12. Writing As A Career
  13. Career In Music
  14. Careers In The Retail Industry
  15. Flying For A Regional Airline - Is It Worth It?

Latest Articles on Employment

  1. Flying For A Regional Airline - Is It Worth It?
    In this article we examine the question, is regional airline flying worth it to the aspiring professional pilot who hopes to fly for the major airlines? We will look at conditions regional airline pilots must endure with a special examination of the salary of the regional airline pilot....
  2. Careers In The Retail Industry
    If you were to survey store managers, merchandisers, buyers, or other high-level retail executives, virtually all of them would say that their first retail jobs were in customer service or in retail sales. They may have started part-time when they were students, took seasonal mall jobs during the holiday season, or started full-time after taking classes in merchandising or in management....
  3. Career In Music
    For a skilled musician, there is an additional career path that is invisible to the non-musician. This is an additional benefit beyond the pleasure of playing music, the attention it brings, and the better academic performance than students who do not learn to play a musical instrument. It is a broad range of extra career opportunities that non-musicians never even consider....
  4. Writing As A Career
    All right, I know all writers are individuals. To some, 'successful' might mean just getting one article published. Others want a string of best-selling novels, recognition in the supermarket and megabucks in the bank account. So, for the purposes of this article, we'll define 'successful' as "achieving regular or ongoing publication credits in tandem with a growing income"....
  5. Aged Care Jobs & Disabled Career Jobs In Uk
    All of us need love, care and appreciation in all the age especially for those people who are aged and disabled. These people need attention and love from their loved ones as well as to be appreciated at their work place. Love and the appreciation serve the biggest motivation for these people to live their life with the self esteem....
  6. Exit Interviews: To Know More About Departure Employees
    Exit interviews are used as a mean to better understand the reasons behind employees resigning from the job and jump to the new one. While employees’ retention and reducing organizational turnover costs are given importance, more and more employers have started using this method....
  7. A Guide To Assessing Job Offers And Negotiating Better Terms
    Once you have received a job offer and you are inline to receive the job, it is prudent to come up with a detailed list of expectations. If you already have an offer, remember you can always negotiate better terms and benefits. The tips below provide six effective ways to give help you negotiate acceptable terms and salary with prospective employers...
  8. Article On Rightshoring Recruitment
    Article on rightshoring recruitment published by recruitment process outsourcing agency based in UK India. Article explains the role of rightshoring directors for recruitment process outsourcing. As the recruitment industry embraces the global delivery model there will be a move towards building both onshore and offshore teams....
  9. Hotel and Travel Jobs
    Hospitality can said to be the relationship between the guest and the host where the host keeps the guests entertained and also caters to their needs to keep them happy for a cost.The word that comes to mind when hospitality is considered is only luxurious, that’s because each and every one wants their experience in hotelling and travelling to be excellent and lavishing....
  10. Hospitality & Tourism Industry Cape Town South Africa
    The hospitality industry in Cape Town has experienced significant growth in recent years, and this upward trend is expected to continue in the near future, as despite a worldwide recession, as the citywide and country wide efforts to further development strengthen with the rising hopes surrounding the Soccer World Cup 2010....

Related topics in Careers



Other Categories