The Power of Negotiation

The Scenario:
After months of job hunting, countless interviews, research and hard work, you have been offered a role and are at the discussing salary and packages stage. But what you’ve been offered is not quite what you are looking for. Bad negotiation skills can result in a much lower job offer, or can cost you the offer altogether. Here we have some examples of what can be classed as bad negotiating etiquette:

Accepting the first offer:
It is a conversation that many don’t like having and will do anything to avoid, but remember that hiring staff will expect potential employees to negotiate their first offer. Settling for a lower salary or package than what you believe to be worth will affect you financially, and in the long term could lead to you feeling resentful and under motivated in your role.

Revealing how much you are willing accept:
There are times in an interview situation where it is unavoidable to not offer this information. Preparation beforehand for this scenario will help you to handle this, and researching the salary of similar job roles will help.  If you can, always try to be as non-committal as possible, especially in the early interview stages as the earlier you reveal this information, the less room there will be for negotiating.

Accepting or declining the offer too quickly
It’s not unusual for people to want to accept a job offer right away, especially if you’ve been searching for months and have been waiting for feedback for a while. It is also at this point where offers are rejected too quickly due to the salary being lower than expected.
All offers should be reviewed with a clear head, and most employers are will giving you some time to think about the offer. It is within this time that you have the most power and you can use this time to determine if this is the right job for you and negotiate if necessary.

Asking for too much in your counter offer
If you like the job and the employer but the offer is not quite what you hoped, you might consider putting together a counter offer.  Many will try to renegotiate the entire offer and this has been known to cause the employer to with drawer their offer. Try and focus on once part of the offer, for example if the salary is lower than you were hoping for, but you know that this cannot be negotiated, you can focus on other aspects instead such as extra holidays, flexible working or bonuses. It may not be the salary increase you were hoping for, but it will add value to your life in other ways.

Not staying professional
It’s important to not burn your bridges with employers as you never know who will bump into in the future. They have offered you a position within their firm and feel that you will be a good fit. If there is a breakdown within the negotiation and you don’t want to accept the job offer, don’t forget to be professional and polite.

Things to think about within your offer
If this your first job offer, think about if the salary will cover all your costs and give you some spending money. If already employed then does the salary meet your current salary and allow you to cover your outgoing costs? Conducting some research will help you to see if the salary offered fits within the current market rates.
Tip: Try to be realistic with your salary expectation. Higher end salaries will require a higher level of experience so look and see how your skills compare.
How to negotiate your salary:
If your salary is lower than you were expecting, be honest and tell them that it’s and tell them why. From this you can then ask how regularly salaries are reviewed and if there is any flexibility. If there salary is lower than you desire but there are regular reviews or clear career development opportunities, you might consider taking the lower offer to start with the long term benefits in mind.
If you are offered your dream salary don’t forget to discuss what room there is for future growth in earning and career development – as you progress your salary expectation are likely to increase.

Zenopa can help you
Still not comfortable negotiating?  Recruitment agencies can take away all the stress and negotiate the package on your behalf. Recruiters will have built up god relationships with the hirers within a company and will be able to chat openly with them to ensure that you get the best offer possible.
If you’re looking for a new challenge within the healthcare industry and would like to find out more about the role we have available to suit your skill set, you can send the team a message, register your details or browse the latest jobs.