Salary Negotiation Tips

A 27 year old engineer, Rashmi was looking for a job change. She also got an offer from good multinational company. Company offered her 15% hike on her existing salary. Rashmi was not happy with her hike though she was very much excited that she did received offer from such a big MNC. Since Rashmi was working earlier in very small company, she was really impressed with big infrastructure, Jym and Canteen facilities plus Transport options provided by the new company.

With this excitement, Rashmi finally did accepted offer from MNC. But when Rashmi joined and looked at her new Payslip received at the end of month, she surprised that her in-hand salary amount was almost same to her older company salary amount. This happened due to new Salary structure of MNC which was not there in her earlier small scale firm.

Another similar incidence happened with Amit who joined software company at Bangalore. Amit was basically from Pune and need to shift to Bangalore for his new job. Initially he was happy that he got good 20% hike. But once he worked there for first 5 months and started interacting with other team members, he found that his colleagues who is having similar or even lesser experience than him was having higher package. Amit was really shocked but he was not having any other option left rather than regret and continue to work on same package.

Above two incidence clearly shows that Amit and Rashmi even though having good technical skills and knowledge at the job , but did failed to negotiate properly with HR on salary.

When you are switching the job, you are always excited about new company and many people end-up with accepting Salary lesser than they deserve which later left us with only regret. Let's see few essential tips below that will help you to negotiate with HR on your new salary in better manner.

• Prepare yourself :  Do well market research about current Salary trend for your role, experience and designation. That will give you fair idea about what to expect. There are many websites on internet today which will help you to give this data.

• Evaluate yourself :  How much value you are going to add in your new organization? How many other Candidates can easily going to replace you? If you are unique in your skill then that gives you a boost to negotiate with HR in confident manner. Example: If you are a fresher and looking a job desperately then do not negotiate much. But if you are experience and possess some unique skills then you’re negotiating power do increases much better.

• Wait for your turn :  Always wait for Employer or HR to initiate the Offer. That will give you good starting point for your negotiation. Delay negotiation part as much as you can.

• Silence is the key !  When HR puts some offer in front of you take a pause of 5-8 seconds before you speak. This will pass a message to HR that you are not really satisfied with Offer you have been given but at the same time you are not rejecting the Offer up-front.

• Collect data :   Gather some strong points about you and your skills which you can present to HR. Example : “Sir, you can look at my past records. I am not frequent job hopper. I switched only 1 company in last 5 years. So, I am definitely looking for long term commitment in your organization.” Sentence like this will definitely give HR confidence that you are going to serve longer in their organization so s/he many not hesitate to give salary that you demanded. 

• Start at higher !  Always start with some higher amount than you expect. Example: if you are OK to settle down on package of 10 lakhs then start with 12 Lakhs and then come down to 10 Lakhs slowly as you start conversation with HR team.

• Be Honest : You have to be honest about your past salaries and point out aspects clearly to HR that left you dissatisfied in your older organization.

• Be Professional :  Never ever mention your personal reason for asking hike to HR. Example: I am looking x % hike for my parents operation or for my marriage etc. Always negotiate your salary based on your strong corporate points and skills you have.

• Balance your expression : Continue to negotiate the Salary and expressing your dis-satisfaction. But at the same time do mention or express about your excitement to join Prospect Company. If Candidate is really eager to join company then HR might agree to pay what is being demanded.  

• Relocating ? If you are being asked to relocate then you should take into account cost of shifting and living in new area. In that case you can ask HR to provide one time Shifting allowance and first 15 days hotel stay.

• Sell yourself : If you have any offers from other companies in-hand then do mention them. Also convince HR why you would like to go with their company over other Companies you have offer with. But be polite while you informing the same to HR. You should not feel arrogant in your tone while talking.

• Other options ? Don’t limit your negotiation for Salary or CTC only. If you think there is not much scope for hike and HR has package limit constraint then you can also negotiate on other perks with HR. Other perks can be like flexible timing, Paid leaves, Cell phone facility or transport facility or one time joining bonus etc. One of my friend who joined new Company was offered 2 months of Onsite travel to USA by HR during negotiation. 

• Show your curiosity : Ask more and more questions to HR about company. It will reflect that you are excited to join this company and ready to serve them long term. Be curious about every question you ask. Let them feel that you are not desperately looking for the new job and just came there as you come across such a good opportunity.

• Don’t negotiate too much!   Negotiating too much can be harmful to your image. It reflects bad image. So stop negotiating as soon as HR stops giving you any counter offer.

• Know your threshold :  Keep some minimum expected Salary bar (threshold) in your mind below which you are not going to accept the Offer. Also, if you feel salary offered by HR is not satisfactory then don’t feel shy to walk away by denying offer courteously.

• Be cool as always : Last and most important is, keep yourself cool and calm during overall negotiation process. Things may not work as you planned which is fair enough but be patient during entire negotiation process as HR might wanted to know if you can handle pressure well or not. 

Finally, once you receive negotiated offer from HR team , do read it carefully on Salary structure part. Do not hesitate to ask HR any queries you have on Salary breakdown part. Few tips before you accept Offer: 

• Read your Salary Structure carefully once received. 

• Calculate in-hand salary from CTC offered. 

• Ask deductions that are going to take place from your Gross Salary. 

• Note the difference between your CTC, Gross Salary, Net Salary and In-hand salary.

• One time joining bonus can be taxable so get that point clarified with HR.

Further, if you are going to do Salary negotiation over the email then you must aware of best practices of Email writing. Read out this post to find out Tips for Effective Email Writing before you start email negotiation with HR.

All the best and happy reading.. !