Negotiating the Salary

Some people dwell incessantly on the salary negotiation process. Some see it as an example of game theory applied in practice and posit a variety of strategies. I’ve seen a range of advice from various folks, much of it contradictory:

• Never be the first to quote a number
• Ask for a salary range for the position up front
• Instead of a number, provide a range for your desired salary
• Say you’re looking for a ‘Market’ salary
• Look for an X% increase over your previous/current pay
• Ask them to make their best offer
• Let the recruiter negotiate for you

Some of this advice makes sense in some situations and not in others. Some people are happy to just take a reasonable salary and be done with the negotiating. These may be the same people who hate shopping for cars.

If on the other hand if you see salary negotiation as a game, let’s examine what is possible within the tight restrictions of salary negotiation. For instance, it generally makes sense to ask for a salary range for the position up front, just to make sure no one’s time is being wasted. Of course, it’s within the company’s rights to withhold that information, just as you are free to withhold your own salary history.

Assuming though that you are willing to quote a desired salary when asked, what should your strategy be? I’d say that depends on whether you consider yourself to be currently underpaid, fairly paid, or overpaid. If you are unemployed you should probably put yourself into the underpaid or fairly paid brackets depending on the length of your unemployment.

If you feel you are underpaid, you should shoot for what you think is a fair (i.e., prevailing) market salary and de-emphasize your current pay. As I’ve noted previously, you can say that you are leaving your job to look for a fair market rate; that would sound perfectly reasonable to the hiring manager.

If you feel that you are fairly paid, you should state that you’re looking for an increase over your current pay. Then you are free to wrangle over the increase amount.

If you feel that you are overpaid (uh, sure…), you could state that you are looking for at least as much as your current pay. That signals to the hiring manager that you’re open to receiving the same pay if necessary, but it’s an absolute floor on what you’ll accept. If however you’re willing to even consider slightly lower pay than what you’re making, say that you are ‘open’ or ‘flexible’.

If you have no idea whether you are underpaid or overpaid, you can rely on your recruiter to haggle on your behalf. If you are not working with a recruiter, I recommend that you simply ask the company to make its best offer.