Rake in the Benjamins

One of the most intimidating and uncomfortable things to discuss with a new employer is your salary.  It’s quite the dilemma.  If you ask too low, the company may have paid you more, but if you ask too high, it may cost you the job. 

The best way to get a salary you want, even in this economy, is to conduct market research.  Before you have a chit-chat with your boss, you need to know what you are talking about, otherwise it’s just embarrassing.  You can easily do this by using Web sites like salary.com and glassdoor.com.  For example, I am interested in finding an entry-level position in public relations or advertising in Boston, Massachusetts.  To find the average salaries for these positions, I visited salary.com and typed public relations and Boston, MA in the search boxes.  The Web site calculated my search information on a graph as you can see in the picture below. 

Not all salary search Web sites will provide their data graphically.  On glassdoor.com, I searched for an entry-level copywriting position in Boston, MA.  The results for this search are more in a list form, as you can see in the picture below. 

Don’t bring up salary first on an interview with an employer or recruiter.  If you have not talked about all your qualifications yet and you start asking about salaries, it sends a message that all you care about is money.  Not only that, if you haven’t fully discussed your career skills the employer may think you are asking too much money for the job.  As recommended by Forbes in an article “5 Salary Negotiation Tips that Work,” says to talk about performance based bonuses.  The article says if an employer offers you a “lowball figure” you can ask for performance based bonus because your work for the company is measurable.  Forbes suggests getting a pay agreement in writing so an employer will follow through on your deal. 

Keep in mind you should never settle on the first salary offer right away.  The more you learn about salaries, the better prepared you are to negotiate with an employer.  

For more information on negotiating salaries, follow the links provided here.   

 

I know the video above is a little corny, but it goes over some of the helpful information I have wrote about in this blog. 

 

In the video above, news anchors interview an expert on the dos and don'ts of salary negotiation.