Salary negotiation is an art, mastered by very few. You are recruited based on whether or not you have the required work experience, qualifications, and skills. These factors determine your pay package as well. Which is why, you should never hesitate to demand a fair pay for what you bring to the table.
However, salary negotiation can be tricky if you aren’t well prepared for it. Sometimes, you end up asking for too much or too little money. Here, you have some salary negotiation tips that can help you come out on the top.
How to recover after you’ve asked for too little money in an interview?
Every person who has interviewed for a job and negotiated their pay package will have embarrassing, funny or sad anecdotes to share. Most of these anecdotes include asking for too much or too little money. It helps to be prepared for either of those 2 scenarios. Here’s what you do if you’ve sold yourself short:
1. Acknowledge your misstep
It can be embarrassing to find out that you’ve sold yourself short by quoting a lower number than what the company had planned on paying for that particular designation. Don’t give up yet. It’s not too late to make it right. The first thing to do is to acknowledge your faux pas with a good sense of humour.
Tip: Be straightforward with the interviewer and tell them that even though you quoted a lower number earlier, you wish to change your offer after some consideration. If you are still not sure than don’t quote a number. Instead, ask for the industry standard pay for your job profile. This way, you can’t go wrong in negotiating your pay package.
2. Market your skills
You need to prove to the interviewer that you’re worth the money that they had originally planned on offering. When there are many vying for the same position, it is true that the one who best meets the required job qualification and skill set gets the job. Marketing applies not only to products and services but also your job skills and qualifications.
Tip: Impress the interviewer by exuding confidence in yourself and your abilities by stating several examples of the good work you had done in your previous job.
Related: 5 Ways to Be a More Skilled Worker
3. A good plan
Come up with a good plan on how to renegotiate your salary. You can ask more questions about the various responsibilities involved in the new job. After gathering sufficient information on what is expected of you, convince the interviewer that you’re the right person for the job and that you’re worth the money they had originally planned on offering.
Related: 7 Smart Questions to Ask at the End of an Interview and 4 Not So Smart Ones
Tip: If the interviewer ends the interview after you’ve sold yourself short, compose an impressive ‘Thank you mail’ wherein you can renegotiate the pay package by mentioning the new responsibilities you’ll be taking up and how that deserves a reasonable remuneration.
4. Ask for time to consider
Once the counter offer has been made and you realise that you just lowballed yourself, you can ask for some time to consider the offer. Use this time to see how much you missed the mark by, admit it to the interviewer and make a new proposal.
Tip: Since your ask is already low, you may not get a very good increment on the original offer. You can ask the interviewer if there is a possibility of an increment in the near future; maybe after probation is over.
5. Explore other options
We’re not talking about approaching other companies but about what you can get from the current company other than a salary. Just because you made the mistake of asking for too little doesn’t mean you have to get stuck with the offer made. There are other ways in which you could improve your situation.
Tip: Negotiate on things other than your salary. A good place to start would be incentives, growth opportunities and skill development. If you manage to add these extras to your package, you can still hope to recover the situation.
Related: 5 Tips for Dealing with Life When You Don’t Get the Promotion You Were Expecting
6. Wait for the next performance appraisal
This is more of a long-term plan but if you can hold on, then waiting for the next performance appraisal would be a good idea too. It will give you some time to organize your reasoning for asking for more during the appraisal.
Tip: Make sure you mention that you had been hired at a lower package and would like to have your salary revised to meet industry standards. You can even cite your performance since you joined the company as proof that you are deserving of one.
Settling for the initial salary offer is easy but not conducive to fulfilling your dreams or achieving job satisfaction. Now that you’ve learned some useful tips on how to recover from tricky salary negotiation situations, hope you’ll be well-prepared for your next job interview. All the best!
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