Salary Negotiation Conversations

Salary Negotiation Conversations Sometimes people undervalue themselves and this leads to a reluctance to negotiate once there is a job offer on the table. Often they make decisions about salary based on what they feel they need rather than what the market will bear. Here are five tips for better salary negotiation conversations.Base your salary expectations on what the market will bear rather than on what you earned in a previous position. All a salary suggests is what someone was willing to pay you at a particular time. Past salary generally has little relevance to your current market value.Discuss your salary expectations in terms of what is fair and reasonable. Dont ask for a certain salary because that is what you think you need to earn in order to pay your rentinstead give an explanation for why the salary you are requesting is directly correlated to the value you will bring to the organization.Uncover your competition. Before there is an offer on the table, ask the interviewer questions such as Can   you tell me where you are in the hiring process? or How many people are you interviewing for this position? to try to determine how many people you may be competing against for the position. If you discover that you are their only current candidate you will have more leverage during the negotiation process and may be able to command a higher salary.Think outside the box and be flexible. If an employer cant offer you the base compensation you had hoped for, maybe they can offer you a compelling performance bonus, a signing bonus or additional stock options.Do your homework. Review sites such as Salary.com and Payscale.com to help determine your market value, calculate the value of your benefits  package  and assess the overall quality of your offer. Supplement this research with conversations with recruiters and industry professionals to further validate the acuracy of your findings.