Determine Your Worth Before Salary Negotiations

Prior to salary negotiating, it is very important to know exactly what your market value is. If you do not know exactly what your market value is, then it is like being blindfolded and not knowing what salary to ask when you ask for a raise or try to negotiate the best salary in your next job.
Without doing your legwork, your employer will probably suggest an increase that you find disappointing. While people around the world negotiate salary every day, not many of them are able to get the most out of salary negotiation!
Research ahead of time is critical before approaching your boss for a raise, or before putting your foot forward in salary negotiations at job offer time. It is like a card game. Do not reveal your cards too soon. In this case, your cards are personal secrets like how much you made in your last job, or how much money you'd like in the new job, or how much of an increase you'd like.
You should know what salary you can expect before you talk about it with your employer.
If you are asking for a raise, or even looking for a new job, do your full salary research on the Internet first. There are great sites like Salary.com or Salary.Monster.com who will disclose salary information in some detail for free, or greater detail for a small fee.
One challenge is understanding the reliability of the source of the information. If a resume website is reporting salary ranges as reported by their list of job seekers, it may not be as precise as if the salaries are reported by the human resources department of the firms that are seeking to recruit personnel.
If you are not worried about being forward with others, you may just outright ask. I recommend using some tact in this approach, but it is less offensive than it once was. You might just discover inside intelligence about the salary range for that job.
The best source of information is a trusted friend who works in HR. You may find out that the company pays well, or you may find out that they are cheap. Any way you can find accurate information will be helpful.
One source of information that is invaluable are research reports published by the salary research consultants. These consultants survey HR departments nationwide, or in specific regions, and get very specific salary data for hundreds and hundreds of job titles in each region. The current version of these reports are very valuable to job seekers, but they are hard to find. If you do find one, you are very luck because current data is worth its weight in gold!
Salaries are often reported on the basis of a salary curve. Take for example, a software developer in a given city with very specific experience in Microsoft technology. They may earn $70K or $80K or more. The reporting will show the percentage of workers who are earning in the top end of that range, middle of the range and bottom of the range. It is very clear based on the chart.
In order to determine where you lie in the salary range, you need to figure out your percentile. This is the measure to which you believe in yourself and your abilities, combined with your tenure, experience and proven status on the job. If you feel you are honestly a high performance employee, give yourself a higher rating. If you know you have less experience or you are new to a job, then rate a little lower. Be honest in your self assessment.
If you don't genuinely know, you might ask for some honest feedback from a trusted co-worker, or from a friend in a similar position elsewhere.
Numbers speak loudest when dealing with employers and bosses. If you want to earn a larger salary, you need to make them understand you are worth it because you either cut costs, improved business efficiency, or drove profits. You know the work you do, and if there are quantifiable facts, use them to your advantage. If you don't relate directly to the bottom line, think of other quantifiable facts (e.g. a teacher with a high rate of students on the honour roll). This is the best way to communicate your value.
Best of luck to you in your next salary negotiation.

Trevor Davide Grant is a project manager in the IT field and has extensive experience in salary negotiation. Trevor has worked for global telecom, electric utilities, software development consulting, and a prominent social network. He has learned how to negotiate a salary in the most effective way. Learn great tips on the topic of negotiating salary at www.HowToNegotiateASalary.com.

Article Source: http://www.c3careerarticles.com

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