5 Negotiating Tactics When Seeking a Pay Rise

1. Wait
Listen to what your manager has to offer first. You never know, she might offer you a sum straight away that is higher than you want! If nothing materialises then you have to speak up.


2. Have a Scale
Set yourself a 'salary sliding scale'. Make sure the lower figure in your scale is still a number you'd be happy with. Pitch at the higher end of your scale. Then if you need to negotiate backwards - towards your middle, or even your lower figures - you'll still be happy with the outcome.


3. State Your Case, Don't Justify It
If you go to great lengths to explain why you're worth what you're asking for, you will sound unsure and this will dramatically weaken your position. Be polite but direct and keep your communication succinct.


4. Accept Only When You're Happy
If you aren't happy with an offer you are made, you don't have to accept it. Say you're unhappy straight away. You might get a surprised response but at least your manager will know you're serious. If you say nothing, or accept an offer that you believe falls short, you simply confirm that the valuation she has made of you is appropriate.


5. And If You Still Don't Get What You Want...
If nothing can be done, and you have to settle for the pay rise you've been offered, don't stop negotiating! Ask your manager to put in writing (email is fine) that your salary will take priority when salaries are next reviewed; request alternate compensation instead such as flexi-time; or seek alternate opportunities such as a performance bonus.


Rebecca


Read Similar Tips from Rebecca:

Are You Entitled to Ask for a Raise?

Asking for a Raise: A Tip From Suze Orman (Oprah)

Understand Your Value


Read This Fab Article By Dona DeZube:

10 Questions to Ask When Negotiating Salary

Are You Entitled to Ask For a Pay Rise?

Laura* and I have just reached the 'Assertiveness' segment of her coaching program and we were talking about pay rises.

She asked me, "But Rebecca, am I entitled to ask for a pay rise?"

The question made me inwardly gasp.

"What do you mean exactly Laura?" I asked, to be sure I understood her correctly.

"Well I've never asked for one before and I wondered whether I can ask."

I work with clients at all different stages of their careers. And when it comes to pay, some are negotiating multiple layered packages involving their base pay; flexi hours; and performance-based bonuses whilst others, like Laura, are unsure whether they should be asking for one at all.

"What makes you think you wouldn't be entitled to a pay rise?" I asked.

Laura stopped for a while. "I don't really know. I've always just been too scared to ask."

If there is one thing I've learnt from both personal experience and years of coaching corporate men and women, only you can determine your value and worth.

If you decide you're never worth a pay rise then that's up to you but remember, it's just your fear keeping you safe from potential rejection.

What if you do ask for a pay rise? What are the potential consequences?

A potential pay rise!

More importantly what if you don't ask? Surely the consequences are a whole lot worse.

I'd love to hear your stories and experiences having asked for a pay rise. Have you experienced this 'fear' of potential rejection? How did you manage it?

Rebecca  

* Laura's name has been changed in view of client confidentiality.


Read More Strategies from Rebecca:

5 Negotiating Tactics to Ask For a Pay Rise

Asking for a Raise: A Tip From Suze Orman (Oprah)

Understand Your Value

Is Income Linked to Fulfilment?

5 Tips to Maintain Credibility When Under Fire

Your Personal Brand is one thing. Your Personal Brand under fire is another.

The true test of your Personal Brand comes when you're faced with a crisis:

• Perhaps you have been challenged on a report you have written
• Maybe someone has questionned your leadership technique
• Or someone seems to be trampling your values

Whatever the crisis, it's important to check in with yourself to decide how you want to respond.

And that's the important thing, to check in with yourself first.

All too often, people respond in an empassioned knee jerk way: do first, think later (or not at all).

To maintain your credibility it's vital that you think first and then respond.

Even if you're under pressure to make a decision... you just have to think very, very quickly.

Here are 5 steps to get you focused:

Think

1. What are the absolute facts here?
2. What assumptions am I making?

Respond

3. Ask your counterpart for specifics: you don't want to react to a generalised statement.

So, for example: if the challenge you were faced with ran something like this:

"I think this report you've written is littered with errors."

Instead of assuming he means the entire piece is littered with errors, ask for some more information:

"Ok, to be clear, can you point out exactly what the errors are?"

4. Now, based on his reply, reassess the facts and ask yourself if your counterpart is justified in his claim?

5a. If so, offer to correct the error quickly - speed is important; you don't want an issue lingering on.

5b. If no, push back assertively!

When have you felt challenged and how did you respond? Did you think and then do? What were the outcomes?

- Rebecca

New Product Launch! Is Your CV Doing You Justice?

Are you:

* someone who has emailed your CV to many recruiters, only to have heard nothing back?

* aware your CV needs to stand out and be a sales tool, but you don't know how?

* keen to leverage LinkedIn too, but don't know which buzzwords to avoid?

* unsure how to position yourself as an expert in your CV?

* starting to realise that your job prospects and future salary will both be limited unless you have an engaging and competitive CV that opens doors?

...then you're not alone!

So many of my clients ask me for help with their CVs.

And despite them being both highly-talented and highly-employable individuals, their CVs simply don't reflect this reality.

And it saddens me enormously because I know these clients have been missing out on opportunities. And often opportunities that they really, really want.

Well, the great news is there is a way to craft a CV and LinkedIn profile that effectively demonstrates the depth of your offering and helps you get those crucial interviews.

I'm pleased to announce the launch of my brand new product:


'Complete CV Building System' 
67 Strategies to Successfully Promote Your Value & Expertise to Land Your Dream Job!'




What you will learn:

Module 1: Content

Module 2: Formatting and Layout

Module 3: The Marketing Module! Sell Yourself Effectively

And there's a BONUS LinkedIn module too to ensure you position yourself effectively online as well.

Read more about this step by step CV building product here!

Rebecca

Women & Their CVs: Their 5 Most Common Mistakes

I read a lot of CVs and I've noticed that women seem to make the same mistakes again and again.

Download for free the 5 most common mistakes women make on their CVs here.

You'll also receive my fortnightly ezine 'Presence' which is crammed with useful strategies and resources to help you raise your profile and get ahead in your career.

- Rebecca

What's The Difference Between a CV and Résumé?

CV
A CV is essentially an in-depth chronicle of your career to date and should be focused largely on your achievements throughout that time. Visit a post I wrote about how to sell the benefits of hiring you here.

Your CV details a reverse chronology of your current and previous roles; the results of your work; and an insight into your training and educational background.

A CV is usually 2-3 pages long.

Résumé
A résumé on the other hand, will be shorter - usually a single page - and is designed with a specific role in mind. As a result, it will 'cut out' any superfluous information that is not relevant to the specific role being applied for.

Which should you use?

Here is Australia, the terms CV and Résumé are used interchangeably.

I use 'CV', partly because it's simply a more globally recognised term and partly because I am a big believer in capitalising on the real estate that is your CV to capture the depth of your offering.

Either way, make sure whichever document you provide is achievement / accomplishment / results focused!

Rebecca

Read related posts written by Rebecca:

The 5 Common Mistakes Women Make On Their CVs (you'll receive our fortnightly ezine 'Presence' too)

Has LinkedIn Superseded 'the CV'?

So do I need a CV when LinkedIn is 'where it's at' thesedays?

According to a survey by Jobvite, 93% of recruiters use LinkedIn to screen candidates. This isn't surprising. Before LinkedIn, recruiters had to keep manual lists and client books to keep track of where candidates were.

Thesedays, they simply have to run a 'search' in LinkedIn for the keywords they are looking for (read my post on LinkedIn keywords here). LinkedIn has made their lives considerably easier.

In Human Resource Executive Online ('Goodbye Resume? Not So Fast, Experts Say") a number of recruiters are quoted on the topic:

Jennifer Hoffman, a principal in Winter, Wyman's Human Resources Search, says this: "A Résumé (Editor's note: they use that term in the US) conveys several layers of information about an individual's background as well as being equally important for a hiring manager in learning about an individual's experience and comparing candidates side by side."

Revi Goldwasser, managing partner of Wall Street Personnel (financial recruitment) says, "For the actual component of 'hiring,' you still need a resume 100 percent of the time. When we submit a resume to a client we need a resume - when the job seeker goes to an interview, we need a resume."


Recruiters in Australia agree:

In January 2012, Human Capital Magazine Online ("The Résumé is not dead; It's just evolving") quoted a number of senior recruitment executives:

Guy Cary, managing director, First Advantage – Australia & New Zealand, said the resume is still important because it allows a candidate to present themselves to an employer the way they want to.

“While the employer may have seen a candidate’s profile on LinkedIn, it may be somewhat generic and not appropriately targeted to the company or job in question,” he said. “A strong resume that represents what a candidate brings to a particular organisation or role is still critically important.”


Summary:

The fact of the matter is, you need both an online and 'offline' presence - which basically means you need a LinkedIn profile as well as a paper version of your profile - in other words, a CV.

The question isn't so much whether you need one or the other.

The question to ask should be: are BOTH your online and offline profiles (LinkedIn and CV) demonstrating your expertise, knowledge and credibility... that's all that matters in the end.

- Rebecca

Read other related posts Rebecca has written:

3 Questions To Help Your CV Stand Out from The Competition
The Number 1 Mistake Women Make On Their CVs
What's The Difference Between a CV and Resume?
The 5 Types of Keyword To Use in Your LinkedIn Profile
The 5 Common Mistakes Women Make On Their CVs (with this download, you can receive our fortnightly ezine 'Presence' too)