Beyond the Interview: Negotiating A Job Offer
Because of the challenging job market, I spend most of my time advising jobseekers about ways in which they can improve their chances of landing a face-to-face job interview. However, one of the trickiest parts of the whole job seeking process is negotiating an employment offer if one is extended. And, for whatever reason, there is a lot of anxiety, trepidation and misinformation surrounding the entire job negotiation process. That said, in her article “Talk About Pay Today or Suffer Tomorrow” the NY Times THE SEARCH author Phyllis Korkki demystifies the process proves some sage advice and debunks some of the urban legends about job offer negotiations.
One of the more important (perhaps THE MOST important) aspect of the job offer negotiation process is starting salary. While many people tend to downplay its importance, at the end of the day, it is always about money. And, there is no reason why a jobseeker should not try to get the best possible salary from a prospective employer. Therefore, it is incumbent upon jobseekers to gather as much salary intelligence about a possible position before the interview and after an offer is extended. Websites like Salary.com, Glassdoor.com and PayScale.com, which list salary ranges based on industry and geography, are a great place to start. However, because these are self-reporting websites, a better option may be to talk with employees working at the company that extended the offer or with others who work for its competitors.
An urban legend that I feel compelled to debunk is the notion that a job offer will be rescinded if the person who received the offer dares to ask for higher pay. Companies spend a lot of time, effort and money to get to the point to extend an offer to the “right fit” candidate. The prospect of starting the job search process all over again or settling for the “second best” candidate is usually not a viable option for most employers. For this reason, I advise persons who receive job offers to not immediately accept them (unless of course they fit into the category of “too good to refuse” which admittedly are very rare even in the best of times). In fact, since this is the last time that a jobseeker will be able to negotiate with his/her employer, I highly recommend “getting as much as you can.” However, as my financial adviser and longtime friend once told me, “the bears and the bulls make money, but pigs always get slaughtered!”
Until next time,
Good Luck and Good Negotiating!!!!!!!!
It had to happen sooner or later and it did. There are now apps that jobseekers can download to their Apple and Android smartphones to prepare for job interviews. Gadget-savvy, Bob Tedeschi wrote a .jpg)
Preparing for and executing a job search can be both intimidating and overwhelming. While most job seekers approach a job search without much thought or planning, there actually is a “method to the madness” of a job search. And, if you take the time to develop a strategic plan, your likelihood of success increases almost exponentially. 
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Professor Vincent Racaniello, a BioCrowd co-founder and virologist who studies the pathogenesis of polio and influenza viruses commented that there will likely be two influenza vaccines offered this fall: a trivalent vaccine consisting of seasonal H3N2 and H1N1 strains and an influenza B strain; and a monovalent one consisting of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 strain.
