Just about everyone wants a higher salary, but companies rarely hand out raises to everyone. You need to negotiate.
According to a survey conducted by NerdWallet last year, millennials have a lot of catching up to do with regard to salary negotiation. The survey, which relied on information submitted from nearly 8,000 recent college graduates, found that only 38% of respondents negotiated for a higher incoming salary. Meanwhile, 75% of the employers that spoke with NerdWallet claimed that they “typically had room to increase their first salary offers by 5% to 10% during negotiations.” So what does this mean for you? It means that you’re leaving money on the table by not asking for more, and most companies won’t penalize you in anyway for trying to negotiate a little.
So, the first and most important secret to earning a higher salary is just to ask for it. But there’s a lot more to it than that, so read on for six more tips to making more money.
- You’re worth market value! A lot of young people in the job market feel like they’re worth a worth what they’re worth, but you’re also worth a similar amount as the rest of the people doing the same job as you. Just because you’re fresh out of college doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t deserve a market rate. If the industry-averaged starting salary for your position is $50,000, you should definitely feel a bit gypped if you’re only making $40,000.
- Your salary history shouldn’t pin you down. It’s important to use your salary history in your favor. If you leave one job at $60,000 and you move onto a similarly sized company to perform the same role, there’s no way you should be making any less than $60,000. But the inverse isn’t necessarily true. If you’re using your last job’s outgoing salary as a barometer for fair pay, you might end up jumping from job to job without any discernible increase in pay. You’re not worth what your last boss pays you, you’re worth the amount of money that’s commensurate with experience. Now that you’re moving onto a new job, you’ll have had more experience than you did at the last one, so you should try to make a case that you’re worth more now than you’ve ever been before.
- You shouldn’t be the first to name a number. Sometimes this can get awkward, but you don’t want to put yourself in a position of installing your own salary ceiling. If a hiring manager asks what you think you’re worth, you can offer up a vague but assertive response, like, “Considering the amount of experience I have performing this exactly set of responsibilities, I think I deserve a very competitive starting salary.”
- Highlight your experience and accomplishments more than the number you want to make. Salary ain’t nothin’ but a number, so you don’t want to get in a conversation about take-home pay in a vacuum. Instead, talk up your experience, special skills, and the value you bring to the company. You want your hiring manager or boss to throw out the first number if possible.
- Do your research. We all want to make more money, but sometimes we need a little reality check too. You might feel like you deserve $100,000 a year for the job you’re doing, but if the industry-standard is $65,000, you’re probably gonna look a bit silly asking for so much. It’s even more important to do research so you’re not negotiating yourself out of a higher salary. Knowing what competitive pay rates are within your industry and for your specific position can help you confidently negotiate a fair salary.
- Ask questions instead of issuing demands. Rather than saying, “Look, I deserve $70,000 a year because I’m doing such a good job,” you should prod aggressively, albeit in a different manner. Ask questions to try and comfortably put your boss on the spot. Maybe you’ll say, “I’m wondering what I can do to ensure I receive a performance-based pay raise considering my experience and the amount of stability I’ve brought to this position.”
Asking for more money won’t always work, but not asking for a raise will never work. Keep some of the above tips in mind before you ask for a higher salary.