Negotiation

I knew that networking and virtual networking were important to my career but it seemed impossible. I got my PhD at a small university, hours away from the closest city. My industry network was smaller than my academic one; which I felt I could count on one hand.  I was invisible to industry and had no job prospects.   I knew I wanted to leave academia after my PhD instead of doing a postdoc, but I was so uncertain around what I wanted to do. I felt I had no opportunities.  On top of this, my significant other was looking for…

Early on in my industry career, I did my research on salary negotiation. I knew there were things to look out for: suspicious behavior or comments from the employer that would raise red flags. But I didn’t actually think I’d have to deal with any of this. I thought if I followed the rules of salary negotiation, the employer would appreciate my strength of character. Shouldn’t an employer appreciate an assertive PhD who knows their value? Many employers do, but this one did not… Here’s what happened. I was contacted by a recruiter for a position at a startup. My on-site…

Did you know that, according to Robert Half, 70% of hiring managers don’t expect job candidates to take the first salary offer? Instead, they expect you to negotiate. Employers are competing over talented candidates just like you, which means you have plenty of leverage for negotiating. That being said, it’s normal to feel anxious. It takes courage to speak up for yourself and ask for something better than what you’ve been offered.But there is no such thing as a professional salary negotiator.You can’t hire someone to waltz into the corporate office and advocate for a better salary on your behalf.If…

No job offers, no network connections, and definitely no industry experience. For 2 months after graduation, I was utterly without prospects. Sitting around with my degree in hand (which was feeling heavier all the time), I was waiting for life to happen to me. It seems ridiculous now, but as a PhD, I came out of my studies thinking I was some kind of industry employer magnet. I thought that if I just filled out a few applications, employers would be pushing each other out of the way in the struggle to hire me first. I probably don’t have to…

What do PhDs have to lose by avoiding salary negotiations? To be blunt, and even a little obvious, the answer is money. Lots of it. According to a survey by Jobvite, 84% of negotiators enjoyed higher pay than the baseline offers they were given when they accepted the job. What’s more, only 29% negotiated at all. But consider that about a fifth of those who negotiated received 11-15% higher pay than the baseline offers. So if it’s not clear by now, negotiations are a pretty big deal, and this sentiment is firmly backed by statistics. For those who don’t negotiate,…

Many companies want to pay you as little as possible.This doesn’t mean they don’t value you, but a company is always focused on the bottom line and every dollar spent is an investment. According to a report by Robert Half, 70% of hiring managers do not expect the job candidate to take the first salary offer. They expect you to negotiate. So that means they are offering you less than what is possible. The same survey found that 55% of candidates are negotiating their salary. Are you? The market is currently a candidate driven market, meaning that according to the…

When you don’t ask for a higher salary and employer will know that you are inexperienced and they will know that you don’t really know your value. A report by CareerBuilder shows that 52% of employers stated that the first salary offer they give candidates is lower than what they are willing to pay. They are trying to get you to work for them for the least price possible, but remember you are valuable. Don’t accept the first offer.Negotiation is brand new for most PhDs. But, remember, there was a time that research was brand new to you, and now…

Employers expect you to negotiate your salary. This is a normal part of a job offer and if you don’t negotiate you are losing out on earning thousands of dollars more every year. CareerBuilder reported that 52% of employers stated that the first offer they give candidates is a lower salary than they are willing to pay. They are leaving room for you to negotiate. But, if you just accept the low salary they initially offer you, you will never know what they actually would have been willing to pay you. Plus, your fears of the employer turning down your…

Negotiations are the final - and often the toughest - part of the job search process. You want to earn a salary that makes you feel valued and the company want to stay within their budget. Because negotiating creates what many see as a stressful situation, most people don’t even try to negotiate their salary. A survey by Robert Half, found that 61% of people do not negotiate their salary. That means that the majority of people are missing out on thousands of extra dollars they could be earning by simply asking a question. Don’t be one of those people.…

Many, many PhDs are scared to negotiate. Or, they just don’t know how to negotiate, so they don’t do it. CNBC reported that only 29% of job seekers negotiated the salary for their current position. This is a terrible mistake. All of these people who are not negotiating are losing out on substantial salary increases they could be gaining. For example, on average when someone did negotiate their salary, they gained a 13.3% increase in salary. That means that if you get an initial offer of $75,000 and you gain a 13.3% increase, you will earn an extra $10,000 per…

Negotiating increases starting salary by an average of 13.3% (Glassdoor). That means if your initial offer was $80,000, simply engaging in a basic negotiation could raise your salary to above $90,000. All you have to say is, “Thank you so much for the offer. I am so excited to join the company. But, I was hoping for a high salary. What’s possible?” That simple sentence can earn you $10,000. But, the majority of people don’t negotiate. Only 46% of men and 34% of women negotiate their salary (Robert Half). The vast majority of people are completely missing out on the…

If you fail to negotiate, you will lose out on thousands of dollars. On average, not negotiating will result in you missing out on $7,528, or a 13.3% increase in your stating salary (Glassdoor). Over time, missing out on this initial salary increase will cost you hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. An economist from Carnegie Mellon University told NPR that when graduate students don’t negotiate their initial salary, they are missing out on $1 million to $1.5 million dollars over the course of their career. Asking a simple question could earn you more than a million dollars!…