being unemployed i know beggars can't be choosers but i want to choose a job i can get the max $ out off. i'm applying to mostly entry level sales jobs w/ set hourly pay+commission.ot my b.s.+a few years of sales/management experience but never negotiated salaries. i've gathered that it's best to attempt negotiations after u're offered the job or made sure they're interested in you. after that i'm kinda clueless as to how to approach it,get more etc. can u help me out t-dub?

5/14/2009 6:31:52 AM

If you cannot spell the word negotiating
then I don't advise you to negotiate

5/14/2009 6:52:02 AM

sorry made the thread way too early in the am and firefox didn't catch.lol it i even looked at it and said that's not right. let's carry on like i had spelled it correctly.

5/14/2009 7:53:06 AM

don't write a letter.

5/14/2009 8:24:09 AM

not saying you absolutely can't negotiate right now, but it is an employer's market right now and unless you have some unbelievable skillset, being a hardass about negotiating could lose you the job.

5/14/2009 8:26:36 AM

1) Go to salary.com to get a range. If your job's range is 30K to 40K and you were thinking 50K you are probably wrong.

2) Do NOT under any circumstances say a number without having information from them. Ask them for a range. I was in a position where I said a number once. Their range was much higher than what I had thought, so I low balled myself.

3) Ask for a range for the position and place yourself on the range accordingly. In the previous example if they say the range is 35K to 45K if you are stellar ask for 46K if you aren't confident settle in the middle.

A friend's girlfriend just used this advice and prevented herself from being very embarrassed and ended up with a little money outside the hiring range. They liked her though.

5/14/2009 8:31:25 AM

no need to be a hardass, but once they've made an offer, it's when you can negotiate. At this point, the worst they can do is say no. Unless you're a dick about it or something, they're not going to rescind the offer just because you tried to negotiate.

Hell, if it's a sales job, it's probably a good thing that you're negotiating.

5/14/2009 8:33:07 AM

I was able to negotiate some with my first job by pointing out the lack of benefits and getting and extra grand here and there for lack of vacation days, healthcare, 401K matching etc.

5/14/2009 11:51:36 AM

If you cannot spell the word negotiating
then I don't advise you to negotiate

5/14/2009 12:10:14 PM

dat 190% alternate spelling

5/14/2009 9:50:49 PM

Quote :

"no need to be a hardass, but once they've made an offer, it's when you can negotiate."

i agree - i guess it's a good idea to get an early start but it seems kind of pointless until you see some #s

5/14/2009 9:59:14 PM

Quote :

"i want to choose a job i can get the max $ out off"

That is one thing you do NOT want to say to an employer. "Hi, I'm here to make money. If somebody else makes a higher offer, I really have no interest in your specific company". Hell, you don't even want to be in that mindset right now, or else it WILL come out during an interview, even if indirectly.

As other's have said, you can negotiate once an offer is made. If they ask up front before an offer is made, you can give them a ballpark range rather than a specific number.

5/14/2009 10:20:16 PM

The best way to go about this is to know how much you're worth. See how much entry level folks make in your field, set a salary target for yourself based off of where you lie in the range (a good GPA + experience + professional memberships/interest in your field will get you more, depending on your field I guess). If you get offered a job at or above where you think you lie in the range, you should probably accept the offer (that salary.com info is pretty accurate for this area). If it's way low, negotiate within reason up towards your target salary.

For instance, if you think you're worth about $43,000/yr, but they come back and offer you $37,000/yr, you're probably going to get a strange look if you ask for $43,000/yr (almost a 20% increase). In a case where they really lowball you, but you like the look of the job, negotiate the pay up within reason (ask for 10% or so, maybe $40,500 in this case). If they were to offer you $41,000/yr and you wanted to try your luck at $43k/yr, go ahead and say you were wondering if they could improve the offer. Be able to take a hit to your pride and your ego when they say no. From there, figure out whether or not the offer is worth it and whether you'd be happy working with them for that amount of money and take the job. Or be like me, don't take the job, then land something several months later with pay and benefits that are 50% better.

5/15/2009 12:10:37 AM

Also consider asking for more guaranteed money, and be willing to trade it for some percentage of the commission dropped. May be an option if they dont want to negotiate on the salary price.

5/15/2009 9:16:53 AM

This is the worst time to negotiate, take a good job for good money, do a GREAT job for a year and then you will get the money. If you are getting average starting salary for your field, you are doing alright.

ME's this year (3.3+ GPA) are getting 54-58k, with signing bonuses of 0-$6000 across the board. Not sure about other majors tho. Also, I dont know of one ME that asked for more than what they were originally offered.

Moral: It's not all about money. Its sad to see someone chose a shitty job for an extra $1,000 a year over a nice job. I know it happened with a few of my friends this year. Going to a job you enjoy should be worth that at the least.

5/16/2009 11:52:05 AM

nothing worse in the world than going to a bad job - no matter what the money. Always choose the one you can bear to be at for 45 hours a week, choosing the money over better job will cause so much misery in the long run

5/17/2009 11:29:56 PM

Quote :

"That is one thing you do NOT want to say to an employer. "Hi, I'm here to make money. If somebody else makes a higher offer, I really have no interest in your specific company". Hell, you don't even want to be in that mindset right now, or else it WILL come out during an interview, even if indirectly."

I would not give this advice to someone applying for most sales jobs...

5/18/2009 12:47:31 PM

Quote :

"Hi, I'm here to make money"

IMO, that's a good attitude to have in sales involving commission. It shows motivation and eagerness/willingness to perform. (especially if you are selling cars, that's what manager's love to hear...) Just don't come off as a jerk and act genuinely interested about the company you are applying for so they know you are also loyal.

[Edited on May 18, 2009 at 1:15 PM. Reason : .]

5/18/2009 1:14:58 PM

i never thought about a used car salesman negotiating for pay when he is hired. That must be pretty intense negotiations.

5/18/2009 1:23:19 PM

at my current job, during the interview they asked me what I was looking for salary-wise, so I took the salary I was making at my other job and upped it by 10%. They promptly said that I wouldn't get that in this economy and continued with the interview. 2 weeks later I started working there at 11% more than what I was making at my previous job.

the way to get money is to know your shit, know that you know your shit, and be able to prove that you know your shit; and then make the case that you're a worthy investment.

5/22/2009 2:20:43 PM

^ I would never give a number first.

5/23/2009 11:05:44 AM

^well, they did ask for one didn't they and he did get it didn't he?

5/23/2009 11:10:51 AM

yeah they asked for one, said "good luck with that" and ended up giving me more.

I win.

5/23/2009 12:04:59 PM

^ But what if they'd been willing to go even higher?

It sounds like you did right by yourself, especially if you knew what was a good number to begin with.

My approach is to focus on the value you will deliver for the company. When you get their number first, they're saying "this is what we feel the position is worth." Then you can negotiate by pointing to the skills and attributes you have that will bring value, and the things that you will do in the job and what they are worth. It makes it a lot less personal - there's no "I want $XXk".

5/24/2009 7:44:38 PM

^

So So right. ive seen too many people now pidgin hole themselves into as much as 40% less than what they would have been offered had they not given a number first.

5/24/2009 11:13:48 PM

^if someone spits out a number 40% under market value for their position, they haven't done their homework. I've never interviewed for a job where either the salary offered was already known, or I didn't know what the range was. All it takes is a few hours of research and emails to find out.

5/25/2009 12:58:24 AM

^

Note the qualifier as much as. And since when are people right out of school really informed about market conditions? I've seen many people also try to ask outside the high range which can be bad as well. Some jobs just pay more for similar work due to market perception and climate.

I've seen it happen most often when people get out of school with ample work experience and think 50K is all the money in the world.

PS do you bring anything positive or just try to shit on everything? I'm just using an extreme example to try to get people to think about their true worth which is kind of what you were saying but you were an asshat about it.

5/25/2009 9:00:20 AM

I went on salary.com and researched salary range. I also googled the company and found a salary range that wasn't specific to this area but to another one, and since it was higher than what I found on salary.com, I went for it.

5/25/2009 3:35:20 PM