My peeps, let's talk about salary negotiation.

I recently read a LinkedIn post by Jordan Sale, Founder of 81cents, in which she explained the long-term impact of negotiating your salary only once in your career.

Apparently, if you only modestly negotiate your first salaried job it can lead to a million-dollar difference in lifetime earnings.

This is true even if you never negotiate again. 😳

Wow wow. So just negotiating one time in your career can make a huge difference in your income over time.

Imagine if you negotiate every single time (which you should)! 

Pretty convincing stat if you ask me. As a reminder - everything is negotiable.

Today I want to share a simple script you can use to negotiate your salary or anything else. 

Now, you may be wondering: "Can I even negotiate in this current job market?"

Yes! 

Companies are still negotiating and there is always a time and place for strategic negotiation.

Don't let this wild market stop you from negotiating an offer. 

Remember, if you've reached the offer stage of the interview process, the company really wants you to join the team and is hoping to strike a deal with you so you'll take their offer.

They've spent a lot of time and money trying to find the right candidate and now that they found you they really hope you'll accept the offer.

Companies also expect you to negotiate, in fact, they are negotiating with you whether you are doing it with them or not. 

So it doesn't hurt to negotiate every time. 

The more often you do it, the better you get at it and the more comfortable you feel doing it. 

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Sidenote: Check out Module 5 of my workbook to get in-depth negotiation scripts and tips to leverage throughout the interview process.
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When you really break it down, negotiation is simply a conversation and a series of questions. 

Overall it's a lot less scary than it seems.

Here is a simple script you can use to kick off negotiation conversations: 

"Thank you again. I'm very excited about the potential of joining the team.

It's been a great experience talking to everyone and I really appreciate the time everyone took to meet with me. I reviewed the offer. After doing some research on the market rate for this role and title, and based on some of the ways I believe I can bring immediate value to your team, I was targeting a salary closer to X. Is there any way you can move the base salary closer to that number?"

That's it. That is how you start, by simply asking good questions. 

Make sure to pause after the question and listen for an answer.

Silence and pausing can be very helpful strategies in negotiations so use them to your advantage.

Depending on their response you can rebuttal by asking for adjustments to other parts of your offer (bonuses, equity, benefits, etc) until you feel like you've negotiated the most important parts of the job for you.

Again EVERYTHING is negotiable, so simply asking and putting multiple options on the table helps the company strike a deal with you. 

Think about the 4-5 things that are most important to you in advance and ask about them right at the first verbal offer call. 

You can do it!

Other quick negotiation tips:

• Always negotiate over the phone, never over email.

• Use leverage whenever possible.

• Ask where your role is leveled because it has the biggest influence over the salary band

• Build a strong relationship with the hiring manager so they advocate for you internally.

• Make sure you demonstrate how much value you'll bring to the team throughout the interview process.

• Understand the different parts of total compensation and ask about each of them

P.S. Module 5 of the Be Your Own Recruiter workbook teaches you in detail how to set yourself up to strategically negotiate your offer. Check it out!