How To Negotiate a Higher Salary

So you are finally at the last round of interview, the interviewer or recruiter brings up the salary and she or he is ready to offer the job to you. But the problem is you don’t feel comfortable with the salary amount that has been mentioned by her or him. You like the company, you want the job but there is one issue that is troubling you, you expect the salary to be a little higher than the offer. The right thing to do when you are offered a job with a salary lower than your expectation is not to decline it right away but tell the interviewer or recruiter to give you few days as you need time to consider it and ask the interviewer or recruiter if is it possible for the company to offer more than the said amount.

How to negotiate a higher salary

• Find out about the job industry salary
Before you mention a specific number of expected salary to negotiate, make sure you search for the information about the salary for the job position. That way you know if the salary was offered to you and your expected salary is not lower or way higher than the market. Visit our salary guide.
• Mention higher number
When you have compared the salary that was offered to you and how much is the average salary in the industry, now it’s time for you to prepare the number you want to counter to the interviewer or recruiter. For example if you receive a job offer to be a mechanic for SGD 2.800, you should negotiate with a number higher than that, like SGD 3.500 so when the interviewer counter your number it will be still a little bit higher than the initial offer.
• Show your value
Don’t just mention the number to negotiate the salary offer but you have to show your value too, it means what you can offer to the company that other candidates can’t do. For example you have a skill that is not really required but it’s good to have the skill and the company prefers someone with that skill. Explain about your skill and how you used it in previous jobs also what was the result of what you had done with the skill.

Salary negotiation email example

Dear (recruiter’s name),

Thank you very much for the job offer, I feel honored and appreciate your decision to hire me. I really am excited to work at (the company) as a (job position). Before I accept the job offer, I would like to share (mention your value in detail for example: fixing and maintenance not only for production machinery but also vehicles so if there are any troubles with the company’s trucks I can handle them too). As you have mentioned before the salary is (initial offer) but I am seeking a salary for (your expected salary).

Conclusion

Don't sell yourself short if you know your skills and experiences will bring tremendous benefits to a company. Salary negotiation is possible even after you got a new job offer. Some things you have to do are, comparing the job salary with another similar job position from a different company and see how much they offer for the job, mention that salary amount, and show your skills that are very valuable to the company.

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