7 Things You Can Do to Change the Outcome of a Salary Negotiation

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

As a recruiter and now a career coach, one thing that I have seen is that more effort is placed on having a good resume than on negotiating salary. More effort is placed on interviewing and answering interview questions well than on negotiating. Most of the time, job hunters went into the job offer phase of their search with no plan or thought. It is almost as though they have been worn down by the search that has occurred up until that point and are ready to say, “Yes,” to almost anything. It is as though the possible embarrassment of telling their husband/wife/partner/friends/parents/kids that they are turning down a job offer is more painful than they are willing to accept almost anything they are told and anything they are offered.

It reminds me of running The New York Marathon and feeling exhausted and deciding, “I think I will take the subway a few stops and run across the finish line from there.” No. You persevere and finish the job you trained for so you receive the reward you deserve (I walked most of the last 3 miles when I ran New York, jogging only the last few hundred yards to finish). You don’t stop the effort when you are so close.