On Thursday, November 29th, the Career Development Center (CDC) hosted a career competency workshop called Salary and Benefits Package Negotiation. The CDC has formulated a series of five workshops that cover helpful topics within a 10-step career planning process, and this was one of them. A student may choose to attend all five workshops or just the ones that cover topics that are of interest to them. All SBS students have access to these workshops as a part of their tuition!
While there was a lot of interesting and important information, some key takeaways and advice from this workshop include:
- The typical formats for negotiations are either in-person, over the phone, or via email.
- It is illegal in Massachusetts for a future employer to ask what an applicant’s previous salary was on an application or during an interview!
- 4X as many men negotiate compared to women; 51% of men vs. 12.5% of women said they pushed for a better salary.
- Prior to an interview, perform market research to gain an understanding of the salary range for similar jobs in similar areas with similar experience either on https://www.payscale.com/ or https://www.onetonline.org.
- Ask the interviewer what the company has budgeted for the position. AVOID providing the first salary amount. If you must provide a salary amount, then provide a salary range (usually a $10K range).
- When negotiating, support yourself using phrases such as, “Given the many responsibilities of the job and the prior experience, I am wondering if we might be able to get the salary closer to $XXK, or in the range from $XXK – $XXK?” Pause and wait for the interviewer to respond after your question!
- Make it clear to the interviewer that you are interested and appreciative.
- Always ask for the offer in writing, including any updates to the offer.
- Remember to take time making your decision. For example, if you asked for a $90K salary and the interviewer agreed to that amount, then you should accept the offer! On the other hand, if the interviewer agreed to a smaller amount, then you can ask to have a few days to make a decision based on your financial needs.
- It is important to think long-term when negotiating a job offer. For example, a $4K salary increase achieved through negotiation can result in an additional $22K over a 4-year period.
All of these takeaways can be used to help in negotiating a salary or benefits package. If you want to learn more, keep an eye out on Handshake for upcoming events in this series— I highly recommend attending!
–Tiana Maria, MSA ’19