How to Negotiate Pay Raises, Promotions, and Job Offers

Whenever you negotiate anything, do your research.  For example, when negotiating a pay raise, research the salary range of your job.

If you have an open, comfortable relationship with the human resources, simply ask for the salary range for your job.  Some companies publish internal information on salary ranges.  Some companies even post salary ranges on public job listings.

If you have the actual amount of the salaries in your company, ask for the pay raise in the increments of pay.  If your company pays once a month, ask for a monthly pay raise that matches what your company actually pays for a month of work.  If your company pays you once each month, you get twelve payments a year.  If your company pays every four weeks, you get thirteen payments a year.  Knowing the difference is important.

The arithmetic works like this.  A monthly salary of $1000 per month is an annual salary of $12,000.  A four-weekly salary of $1,000 (4 X 13 = 52) is an annual salary $13,000.

Knowledge from the Internet

On the Internet, you can research salary ranges for your job.  Some companies do not show their compensation ranges to their employees.  To learn the value of your job, click on the “Salaries” tab at the top of the page on JayWren.com.  You will find a custom search engine built on multiple compensation sites.

Negotiating promotions is a fundamental part of your career.  If you want your career to grow, make promotion negotiation an ongoing progress.

1. Watch for internal job postings.
2. When you see internal job postings, check your skills and education for a match.
3. If you do not have skills or education for a job that you seek, get them.
4. Apply for positions you would like to have.
5. Ask your supervisor for support in applying for a promotion.
6. Periodically update your supervisor on your accomplishments.
7. If proper, discuss your accomplishments with other managers in the company.
8. Treat everyone with respect.  Your coworkers may someday be your boss.
9. When you go in for a performance review, write your own review of your performance.  Give a copy to your boss.
10. Do your research.  Network within your company.  Say great things about yourself.

When you interview, you are negotiating for getting a job offer.  Some people start negotiating the terms of an offer before they even get an offer.  You should know the range of compensation and the details of a job during the interview process.  However, before you can negotiate the amount of a job offer, you must first go through an interview process and get an offer.  In other words, you are negotiating for an offer.

Apply the same principles of any negotiation in the interview process.  Do your research.  Show the hiring managers how their company benefits from hiring you.

Layout the Details

To prepare yourself for negotiating the details of a job offer, you can use a comparison chart.  You can use nearly any word processing document or spreadsheet to create this table.  You can use a pen and paper as well.

Here is a sample:

Once you have created your comparison table, you can begin a meaningful negotiation.  If you believe that your table can help you as a presentation in your negotiation, you can give a copy of the table to the hiring manager.