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4 Tips to Effectively Negotiate a Job Offer

It is exciting when the job search process pays off and you receive an offer. However, this is also a critical period – if you accept an offer that doesn’t meet your needs and don’t negotiate, you could hold yourself back from fully realizing your earning power.  Maintain a positive relationship with your potential employer, and still effectively negotiate a job offer with these tips:

1. Do Your Homework

Preparation is your key to success in a job offer negotiation. Dive deep and use online salary research tools to compile market value compensation ranges for your job, skills, experience, education, geographic location, etc. Doing your homework and knowing your market worth will give you a starting point on your baseline requirements and give you objective data to come back with if the employer offers you compensation that is far below. For example, you could say something like, “Based on research of similarly qualified professionals, $XX,000 salary would be more aligned with market value.”

2. Communicate Your Value

Job offers are business decisions, so be ready with convincing facts that demonstrate why you are worth more than the employer may be offering. Don’t get caught up in what you “deserve” but focus on their perspective. Communicate the value you would bring to the organization by describing your specific strengths and the benefits they would bring, such as saving them money due to your previous professional accomplishments of implementing financial recommendations that reduced expenses.

3. Think Beyond Salary

Often hiring managers don’t have much flexibility in terms of how high of a salary they can offer you beyond their budgeted range. However, they will typically have more wiggle room in other areas so when you’re negotiating, think beyond salary. If their salary offer is on the lower side of what you want, see if there are additional valuable perks they can provide, such as schedule flexibility, additional paid time off, or remote work options.

4. Keep Your Cool

It is crucial to keep job offer negotiations as calm and unemotional as possible. Coming across as defensive or argumentative can sour your professional relationship before it truly begins. Keep your cool – stay as mild-mannered and matter of fact as possible throughout the discussion so it doesn’t become adversarial.

Land Your Dream Job

Are you ready to make a professional change? IFG can be a valuable resource to assist you in making your next career move. We are a premier accounting and finance employment agency and our mission is to work closely with candidates to achieve their professional goals. Contact us to learn more about how we can help with your job search.