Preparation For the All Important Salary Negotiation
The first step in your preparation should be to determine your market value. There are a number of things to be considered here; the one over which you have most control is what you can do for an employer. This, as discussed earlier, should have been your central focus throughout the interviewing stage. By the time you have become immersed in the negotiations, there should be no doubt about your qualifications and your value should reflect this.
Unfortunately, there are many areas over which you can exert little or no control, and these have a powerful cumulative effect. Ranging from the general health of the economy to particular functional industries, and locations, these will help define the parameters of your market value. Economic issues such as inflation affect the real value of your income as the general ebb and flow of the workplace drives the demand for specific functions (salespersons, engineers, and so on) and industries (home, electronics, health care, and the like). The greater the demand, the greater the value in the marketplace. Succinctly, make certain that you can place your current specific situation, in context with the large, general one I order to get the best estimate of your market value.
Functions, companies, industries, and geography also help to define your market value in more direct ways. A particular position, Human Resource Manager for example, will have a different market value relative to how it is perceived in each of these categories. Ask yourself the following questions:
�How is the function viewed (i.e. prestige) in each category?
�What is the size and strength of the organisation?
�How does the organisation rate is compensation programme?
(In developing a total, integrated programme a Compensation Manager may place salary range for particular positions within the framework of th (more…)