Negotiating — how to ask for what you want: An excerpt from Erica Alini’s new book, ‘Money Like You Mean It’
Global News
In this excerpt from her new book 'Money Like You Mean It,' Global News money reporter Erica Alini discusses how to negotiate for what you want.
In this excerpt from her new book ‘Money Like You Mean It,’ Global News money reporter Erica Alini discusses how to ask for what you want at work.
You won’t get your work’s worth unless you ask for it. But asking in itself is a complicated and nuanced art, one that requires training, practice, and refinement.
When I got my first real job offer, I had a vague notion that I should haggle a bit. I had just heard from a colleague my age who had bumped up her salary by several thousand dollars per year by negotiating with our mutual employer. So I requested a time to sit down with the managing editor and asked him if he could go a little higher. He looked at me, smiled, and said it was November; I’d be getting a cost-of-living increase in a couple of months. And with that, the conversation was over.
I knew I had to ask, but did not have a clue how to do it. In fact, I didn’t even know what I wanted. Almost every negotiation requires some prep, and the place to start is figuring out what you want. What’s the target you’re aiming at?
This should not be conflated with your financial requirements. Calculating what you need to earn to make a living is important for your own consideration. But your target should be based on a clear idea of what’s fair compensation for the work you’re being asked to do and for the credentials, skills, and expertise you bring to the job. What’s your market value?
This is a nebulous concept. It typically won’t boil down to a specific figure but to a range, like mid-$60,000s to low $70,000s. To arrive at that range, you look at what other people with similar qualifications and job duties are making. Trying to look up that information on the web often isn’t very helpful. The ranges you find online are often so wide they’re useless, and many employers simply will not care about that kind of generic data, says career coach and human resources expert Allison Venditti, who runs Moms at Work and Ready to Return, organizations dedicated to creating equitable workplaces and supporting working women and parents.
Gathering your own on-the-ground intelligence yields far better results, according to Venditti. Talk to people in your industry. Ask your colleagues out for coffee (as long as we’re not in a pandemic, of course). But discussing money is often awkward and delicate, especially in the workplace. How do you ask someone how much they make?
Venditti suggests playing what she calls the “over-under game.” People won’t tell you what they earn, but they will tell you whether they make more or less than a certain amount, she says. If you’re a woman or have other reasons to suspect you’re being underpaid, Venditti suggests adding 15 per cent to the target pay you have in mind when playing the over-under game. Her clients — especially female ones — are constantly shocked to discover colleagues or others similarly qualified are making much more than they are, she says. “I had someone play the over-under game and find out she was being paid $40,000 less than her co-worker,” Venditti says.