So, you’ve explored your career options, made decisions, applied for jobs and have an offer. How do you begin to negotiate salary and compensation?
Some places and businesses have pay transparency initiatives and laws in place that openly display salary ranges for open job positions.
If not, doing some research can help you go into negotiations feeling empowered – with an idea of what to expect and what you are worth.
Prepare Using GoinGlobal Career Guides
Many of GoinGlobal’s detailed country and city career guides have dedicated ‘Interview Advice’ sections with location-specific recommendations on pre-interview preparation, interview conduct, and post interview next steps. This is where you can go to research salary and compensation during your interview prep and build a foundation for how to negotiate compensation following your interview. The excerpt below is an example of the kind of content and resources you will find in the guides to fulfill your research :
From GoinGlobal’s U.S. Country Career Guide / Post Interview
Salary
You should also research the salary range for the position. This can help you in later negotiations over the compensation package. Many job descriptions include the salary range, and, when searching job boards, you can often filter postings by salary.
There are also other ways of discovering salary bands for certain positions.
- Ask the hiring manager or recruiter.
- Conduct informational interviews with contacts in the company or who hold the same position elsewhere.
- Search salary comparison websites, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, and the salary sections of GoinGlobal’s US and US City Guides.
- Visit the websites of industry organizations, staffing agencies and recruiters; they often provide salary guides and calculators (active links available within the GoinGlobal guide).
In an effort to reduce pay inequity, the federal government and a handful of states and major cities have adopted pay transparency laws, which require employers to disclose the pay range for a position in job postings, to applicants and to employees.
Keep in mind that salary ranges represent guidelines and are only a starting point for salary discussions. Compensation packages depend on many factors, such as company size, location, the benefits included in the package and your experience and skills. Employers are not required to pay a salary within the typical salary range.
Access to GoinGlobal’s resource database is provided through subscribing institutions. Contact your college/university’s career center or library for access instructions.
