Guerrilla Marking for Job Hunters 2.0 - Jay Conrad Levinson [141]
■ ASK FOR A LITTLE—GET A LOT
If you are negotiating an hourly wage, remember that every dollar per hour represents $2,080 per year. Most employers like to talk salary. For salaries less than $50,000, focus the employer on the dollar per hour amount. Simplify and minimize the concession you need. For example, it’s easier to get an employer to agree to an increase from $20 to $24 per hour than to get them to agree to a $48,000 salary when they budgeted $40,000. Which do you think is more palatable for the employer? Asking for $4 more per hour is nothing—$8,000 causes unnecessary headaches but it’s still $8,000.
You may also run into one of the following scenarios and need to decide in advance your course of action (I have a few suggestions):
• The employer acts like they’re doing you a favor.
• They appear cordial until you dig your heels in.
• Someone besides your future boss is doing the negotiations.
The employer wants to strike the best deal possible. All kinds of games may get played. Disarming the employer can be as easy as turning your hands palm-up on the table and saying to them, “You look a little tense, is everything all right?” That phrase will force even the most hardened negotiator to lighten up. Try it.
■ NEGOTIATE WITH THE FINAL DECISION MAKER
Before you start, make sure you understand whom you’re negotiating with. Some employers use the timeshare-vacation approach. They send in the human resources manager or some junior functionary to have the preliminary discussion and isolate your hot buttons. After several hours of discussion, they suddenly need management approval. You don’t want to discover at the last minute that your hard-fought concessions were all for naught and you’re facing a new negotiator.
If the offer has come through a headhunter, you need to understand the recruiter’s role in the negotiation. Typically, it’s in his best interest to get you as much money as possible because his compensation is tied to yours. You’d be wise to gauge your recruiter’s skill at negotiating before turning your life over. Many recruiters lack the depth of knowledge and breadth of skills necessary to negotiate a complete package. In some cases, he or she is more interested in closing the deal as quickly as possible. If this happens, the smart guerrilla remains firmly in the driver’s seat.
Use your recruiter as a sounding board and a platform to launch trial balloons. If the employer gets agitated, it’ll be with the recruiter, not you. If something goes wrong, just deny—deny—deny. The employer may step in to finish the negotiations and the recruiter will still get paid—it’s all part of the game.
■ CLOSING THE OFFER
Get it in writing. Keep notes during the negotiations explaining what was agreed on. Date stamp your notes. When the final draft is completed, read it closely to make certain that the final offer reflects what you’ve agreed. If years down the road you notice a discrepancy, you won’t be able to correct it. You get one shot at doing this right.
When the final deal is done, pay a lawyer to review the terminology of the contract or letter of employment for unforeseen pitfalls (e.g., noncompetition clauses that would force you to move to Alaska if you wanted to pursue your profession with another employer in the future). Employ the lawyer to read the terms and conditions for ambiguity only, not to renegotiate or add to the contract. Most lawyers are deal breakers not deal makers, and you don’t want to kill your deal.
Finally, don’t talk yourself out of a deal—know when to shut up. Once it’s done, it’s done. Move on quickly to another subject.