Penelope Trunk
Knowing how to negotiate is just one part of the process. Penelope Trunk offers four more ways you can get the edge during your next interview.
1. Research the company
Comb through every section of the company’s Web site and memorize it as if you were cramming for a test. Unlike a test, though, you won’t have a chance to spout the six facts you learned about the company during the interview. Instead, there will be a random, fleeting moment when a relevant fact you gained from the site will be the perfect response to something the interviewer says. To find the right comment for that moment, you’ll need wide knowledge and good judgment.
2. Prepare stock answers.
Most interview questions are standard and, surprisingly enough, have standard answers. Learn these answers before the interview and be prepared to deliver them with a special flair so they don’t seem rehearsed. There are three or four good books that list interview questions and how you should answer them. Try The Complete Q&A Job Interview Book by Jeffrey B. Allen.
3.Prepare to close the deal.
Leave nothing open-ended when you walk out of the interview. This means saying at the end, “I would really like this job. Do you have any reservations about hiring me?” This is scary to ask, but closers get the contracts, and you need to be a closer in interviews. Risk hearing any reservations because it’s better to confront them and fail than to never try.
4.Practice, practice, practice.
Ask your friends to help you with a mock interview situation. Or try your career counseling office of your college. Career centers are evaluated based on the career success of their graduates, so most centers are happy to field your phone calls, no matter how long ago you graduated. Ask someone there to do a mock interview with you. The feedback you get will be very useful.
Excerpted from Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success by Penelope Trunk; Reprinted with permission from Warner Business Books; www.amazon.com
Negotiate Your Salary
June 2010
Don’t be afraid to negotiate your salary. Once you get an offer, you know you’re the top candidate. So have some confidence. People who have the most successful careers are those who are not afraid of negotiating. Get comfortable asking for more with this four-step process.
1) Don’t disclose your pay requirements during the interview process.
The first person to provide numbers establishes the range. If you give a number first the interviewer will either tell you you’re in the same ballpark or you’re too high. If you ask for less than the interviewer is considering, you’ll probably get it—and never find out that you could have earned more. When asked about your desired salary, your first line of defense is to say you’d like to talk about salary once you have an offer. If an interviewer persists, say you’d like to know the range the position pays. Whatever number the interviewer gives, you can say, “That will be a fine starting point.” (Then you will ask for more later.) If the interviewer continues to ask, it’s okay to say that you’re not going to give a number right now.
2) Get the whole offer in writing before you ask for more.
Get the full offer in writing specifying the exact pay elements—including any performance bonuses—so you know what you have to work with during your bargaining. Once you have a written offer, ask for a night to think about it and come back with a counteroffer. You may hate confrontation or feel that you’re a poor negotiator, but you have nothing to lose and you’re likely to get more money. Remember, almost no one loses a written offer because they asked for more money.
3) Go home and strategize.
To know what to ask for in negotiations, you must know the pay range for your position. Check out salary surveys online and in trade journals. Do not quote any numbers from surveys conducted more than two years ago. Talk with friends in similar jobs or recruiters who regularly fill this type of position in your geographic region. Show the hiring manager your research and remind her why you are worth the top of the range. If you are fortunate enough to find out that your offer is already in the high end of your salary range, then propose taking on more responsibilities so you can ask for slightly more pay.
4) Know yourself.
Each person is compensated in different ways—and not always monetarily. For instance, if you love what you do, you may not mind earning less than your neighbor who has the same degree. Likewise if you have a shorter commute. Friends can advise you, but you will be the one working at the job, and you must decide if you want it, regardless of the size of your paycheck. Decide what’s important to you and what trade-offs you’re willing to make pay-wise, but be honest with yourself. Don’t give up being paid more because you hate negotiating.
Excerpted from Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success, by Penelope Trunk. Reprinted with permission from Warner Business Books, www.amazon.com.