HOW TO NEGOTIATE FOR A SALARY RAISE

If you don’t want to depend on the benevolence of your employer then you must be prepared to negotiate for a pay raise. Otherwise you’ll have to remain dissatisfied with your earnings until your bosses exercise their discretionary powers and raise your pay by whatever percentage they deem fit. With this approach you will never get value for your worth.

Conversations about a raise can feel uncomfortable but they are you must have if you want to be suitably remunerated for your skills and experience. The ability to negotiate for a pay raise is an important skill that every professional must learn.

Here are tips on how to negotiate for a salary raise.

Remain objective

It is easy for emotions to take over when discussion about money is involved. Still, you need to maintain your professional decorum when asking for a salary raise. Focus on why you deserve a raise and back it up your skills and experienced and how you have demonstrated your value to the company on certain projects.

More importantly, go into the negotiations with a value in mind but which you can justify should you be asked to. It helps your case when you know what you want.

Know the market rates

For the best outcome of your salary negotiations, do your research on how much people in your role and with similar number of experience get paid in the industry. This is information you can get by asking around among your networks, LinkedIn and sites like Highersalary.Com.

The amount of money you ask for should be reflective of the market rates but it’s still okay if you want to ask above what the average pay is in the industry as long as you can justify the amount you seek.

Be flexible

The nature of any negotiation is that of back and forth. Expect your employer to give a counter offer or even reject your pay raise request. You won’t get the pay rise easily so be assertive while remaining flexible for compromises.

Before you get there, have a clear idea of what you want out of the negotiations and the compromises you are willing to make so you can steer it towards the outcome you want.

Instead of solely asking for more money, go to the negotiations with a comprehensive package that includes a clear path for career growth such as promotions, education and professional development and other perks like leave days and bonuses. This way you get a number of things you want even if they don’t agree to pay raise for one reason or the other.

Stay in control

A negotiation is a power game and since you started the conversation, you control the conversation and not cede it to the other party.

Don’t be the first one to offer a figure but if you are pressed to state what you want, give a range within which you’d be satisfied instead of a definite figure.

At the end of it all, whether you get what you want or not, the negotiation must come to an end. Regardless of the outcome, remain professional and civil and make appropriate career decisions thereafter.