If you peel away all the layers, youre basically walking into someones office and asking them for money.
This is awkward and scary and weird (Right?
It cant just be me.)
Chair: Erik Von Weber/Getty Images. Money: JESPER KLAUSEN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images. Graphic by Cristina Cianci
and all the studying you do beforehand isnt going to make it less so.
I wanted to know how they did it.
So I asked a bunch of them to lay out exactly how these salary negotiations went down.
The role was demanding, and I was still getting slapped on the wrist for logging overtime.
I also included comparable statistics from theU.S.
Department of Laborto further demonstrate how much I deserved to be paid for the work I was doing.
Im glad I didnt take norather, sorry, we just cantfor an answer.
I quickly learned just how valuable my skills were in the market.
Within six weeks, I had three job offers.
Even though Ive studied negotiation pretty extensively, I discovered I struggled to advocate for myself in the moment.
So I hired a negotiation coach.
I hoped they could get me an offer so I could take the weekend to consider both options.
Then, the tables turned.
I wholeheartedly encourage people to position themselves for the job they wantrather than the one they already have.
I also highly recommend hiring a negotiation coach.
I knew I needed to land a full-time job.
Before the startup, Id done some work in government contracting and communications.
So when a similar gig opened up, I asked a friend to refer me.
The process was untraditional.
When I heard what they wanted to pay me$115,000I simply said no.
Id made $116,000 in my previous position.
I was straightforward about my needs.
And a few hours later, they made me an offer with my desired salary.
About a year into the job, roles responsibilities became more clearly established and additional positions were created.
He agreed with me, and we worked together to make a case to upper management.
Based on the value I was bringing to the table, I felt I deserved a higher wage.
I knew this would require some negotiation with both my manager and the upper management team.
So I started by being gracious; I thanked the team for the promotion and salary increase.
I then presented this case to my manager.
I walked him through my thoughtsusing as many facts as possibleand he ultimately agreed with me.
I liked my job, but another positionretail brand manager for the Asia Pacific regionopened up within the company.
Since this was an internal transfer, I knew I needed my managers support.
Thankfully, my current manager was willing to write me a strong letter of recommendation.
I also knew i needed to gauge what the position paid, so I did some research online.
I was eventually offered the position, and the hiring manager told me Id receive a 3 percent raise.
This was less than I was hoping for, but I made sure not to seem disappointed.
I then mentioned that I was hoping for a larger percentage increase.
I made sure not to turn down the offer and instead emphasized my wish for it to be higher.
The hiring manager came back to me with an additional 1 percent.
I pushed for it to be even higher, and they returned with an additional 0.5 percent.
After that additional 0.5 percent increase, I accepted the position.
I was young and inexperienced at negotiating, but I took a chance and asked for more money anyway.
So I negotiated for additional paidvacation.
This ended up being a great perk for me.
