Love them or hate them, jobs are typically essential if you want to pay the bills. You need a regular salary coming in if you’re going to stay afloat and enjoy the good things in life. What do you do if you’re pay isn’t enough though? Maybe it’s not covering all your monthly costs, or it just doesn’t seem worth it for the work you do. Whatever the issue, negotiating your salary is usually an option. However, if you’re going to do that, you need to ensure you go in prepared.
Don’t lock yourself in
One of the questions you can commonly expect from a job interview is what salary you’re looking for. This can be a tricky question to answer if the pay wasn’t included in the ad, but it’s your opportunity to state your case from the start.
Identify immediately what you feel you should get paid and how that should advance once you’re working. That way, any desire to increase your wage won’t be unexpected if you have a salary negotiation in a year or two’s time. Just remember that while you can potentially push the boat out, your demands should still be reasonable. Otherwise, you’ll never get the job in the first place.
Show what you’re worth
The best way to justify a decent salary is to show that you’re worth every cent that you’re asking for. You can do this whether you’re looking to be hired somewhere new, or if you’re already several years into your current job.
With the former, you can showcase examples of where you’ve gone above and beyond in previous positions. Giving clear evidence of your past achievements is always ideal in an interview because it proves there’s weight to what you’re saying. For the latter, show your employer how you’ve contributed to the company since you started there. Identify where you’ve made positive changes and how frequently you’ve done them to convince your boss you deserve a raise.
Put the employer in control
We all know that the reason most people work is that they need money. However, few people want to hear that, especially employers. Most of them want to believe that their staff are there because they love what they do, not just because they’re low on funds.
So, with that in mind, it’s best to let the boss decide when the salary gets negotiated. In the case of a job interview, this means waiting for them to bring up the topic. You don’t want to seem too eager to talk about money as that will only send out the wrong impression.
Ask about future opportunities
Sometimes, achieving the salary you want can take a while. Your employer might be hesitant to increase your pay by more than $1,000 at a time, but that’s no good if you’re $4,000 away from your goal. Of course, if you’re working in your dream job, then playing the long game might be a sacrifice worth making.
In these cases, ask your boss how you can go about earning those future raises. If they need you to hit new goals before they can pay you more, start working towards them immediately. Not only will you know how to achieve your desired salary, but you’ll have a chance of getting to it much quicker.
If we didn’t have to worry about money, life would be a lot easier. Unfortunately, unless you suddenly win the lottery, you may want to think about being more prepared for those salary negotiations.
