Ploymint

Negotiating salary can be a scary thing and is crucial to what kind of lifestyle you want to maintain over the duration of your employment. Salary requirements for recent college grads is often a mystery. If you’re unemployed, this apprehension multiplies, and this especially applies to recent college graduates. While the desire to get any job may seem tantalizing, getting the best possible salary right out of the gate will mean multiplying returns down the road.

While you are navigating your career, the salary you made at a previous job means can make for powerful negotiating leverage when taking on a new position. Your experience in a higher-paying position solidifies a meaningful salary in your next position, especially if you can collect good references that speak to your value as an employee.

Here are a few tips to help meet your salary requirements at the negotiating table.

Experience Matters

If you can get a paid internship while you’re in college, the skills that you there will be invaluable when your prospective employer is looking for new talent. Being able to handle tasks from your internship may even turn into a full-time position down the road.

Either way, once you gain experience from a paid position you will be able to ask for similar salary in your initial job out of school, if the duties and responsibilities are similar. Never negotiate lower than your previous salary unless your are completely changing industries. Regardless of what the pay scale is for that job, being honest means that you’ll not be on the losing end of the negotiation.

Don’t Worry, They Can Always Say No

While you don’t want to have an astronomically high ask, asking within in the industry average (or even on the high end) is totally acceptable for the position you are looking for. Check out websites like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Salary.com, or Glassdoor. These three resources will give you the most accurate salary range for your intended position. On Glassdoor, you can even see some salaries for specific companies you may be applying to.

Negotiation is just that, a negotiation. If you are asking for too much money then the company will come back with a counter-offer that you can either take or leave. Depending on your value, companies will vie for your talents and skills.

Underbidding Makes You Lose

It’s not often that companies will give you a higher salary than you are asking for upfront. Underbidding is also just bad in practice because it shows a prospective employer how much you actually value yourself. Giving them an accurate or higher end estimate of what you are willing to get paid shows them that you are confident that you will be able to maintain the duties required for the job.

Ever hear the term “overqualified”? People say it’s a myth but it really isn’t at all. If someone working in astrophysics with a PhD applies for minimum-wage job it immediately sends up red flags to the employer. By asking for a much lower salary or job position than you are used to, an employer may begin to question your inherent value.

Flexibility

Let’s be honest, if you just graduated college, you probably have more experience working in the University Bookstore or the local pub then you do in your intended industry. While you always want to make the most out of your degree, you also need to maintain a level of flexibility as to not ruin your chances of actually landing the job. Being unreasonable in any step during the job search often spells out your doom, and it applies here as well.

In the end, negotiating a salary is an easy initial step towards your career. The challenges you encounter when you actually land the job should live up to the salary your are requesting. Accuracy and honesty will ensure that you are making a good salary in your industry, but are not overvaluing yourself and putting yourself in a position that is possibly too much to handle. Remember, a salary is just a number, it’s the skills you acquire on the job that really matter.