Just like you, there are a whole lot of people who are looking for a good raise in their salaries, but don’t know how to go about it.  Many people are afraid to negotiate or don’t know what to expect. A lot of people just accept the salary offered to them without even trying to negotiate. This is mainly because you don’t know your worth, or feel your competition is better than you, which in reality may not be true.  Remember “All that glitters is not gold”.

The first step you need to take to protect yourself from being underpaid is to Understand Your Market Value and the Market Rate of the Job Skill That You Are Looking For. Finding the market rate of the desired Job can be found easily by having a quick web search, you could look it up on reliable portals such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor or PayScale and have a fair idea about the salary benchmarks of a particular sector or jobs.

To find your market value all you need to do is understand your core competencies like your strengths, skills and knowledge that may help you have an edge over others.

There are 3 ways through which the employers determine salaries:

• Individual Equity: This is based on your strengths, knowledge skills, qualifications and your unique talents through which you could add value to the organization.

This is where you have the advantage in negotiation.

• External Equity: This is based on the market rate of the particular sector. The value other organizations would pay to a certain candidate for a particular job.
• Internal Equity: This is based on the fair pay policy of the organization internally. The co-workers are paid similarly in order to promote equality amongst all employees.

The Human Resources determine your salary based on these 3 factors.

Tips to Salary Negotiation

• Understand your salary requirements: Determine minimum salary needed to meet your financial obligations and the ideal salary needed for a desired lifestyle. Moreover you also need to have a realistic idea about the market Pay or market value of your desired job.  This will help you have an accurate figure in your mind to your ideal expected salary
• Consider benefits and bonuses: Statistically 30% of your salary is from the benefits package. Hence it is very important to look carefully in ur benefits package, the benefits may include: retirement, gratuity, medical insurance, bonus, housing allowance etc. A lot of times the salary offered becomes more lucrative due to these benefits.

Negotiating your salary:

The most important aspect while starting your negotiation conversation would be to start with a strong position. Here you pay attention to your individual equity and highlight your strengths and skills, and new ways through which you could contribute to the offered role. Your strengths may include any additional courses you might have taken up, extra knowledge needed for a particular job, a good experience in a particular segment and a professional network that would add additional value to the job and grow the business or your certificates showing your achievements at your previous job.

Before you start your negotiating pitch, be prepared with a small exercise, examine and list down your skills, knowledge and qualifications. Some of these three attributes may meet the expectations while some may exceed the expectations of the employer or the job role. In my opinion, plan your pitch emphasizing on the attributes that exceed the expectations, this could give you an upper hand in negotiating your salary. Highlight your accomplishments that would have a positive impact on adding an overall value you bring to the company.

I know some of you might be thinking all along, you are a fresher and none of these ways would help you showcase your strengths. But a college graduate also has ways to highlight his/her strengths. You need to show your zest to learn and enthusiasm to give in your 100% at the job, you may talk about the projects undertaken at college, show your in-depth knowledge in areas concerning the job. Most importantly put your best foot forward while negotiating and be confident in your approach.

Ultimately once you have negotiated well and when finally things start working in your favor, it’s normal to jump with joy, but hold on, review that offer carefully for all you know, you might find ways to ask for more. If not so, go ahead and sign up, you surely deserve it!