If you are graduating soon and have completed several job interviews, probably you are now in the stage of negotiating with your potential employers about your employment package. This ABC News video features an interview with Nicole Williams, the author of Girl on Top. She gives female audience some good advices for negotiations, but I believe her suggestions can apply to all audience as a whole. Here are a few of them:
1. Get over “the guilt.” It is fine to ask for more if you know you deserve more.
2. Practice negotiations. Practice makes perfect. (Isn’t negotiation just like job interviews and job preparations in this sense?)
3. Keep in mind that negotiation is a two-way communication. It is not a good idea to make the other party lose its ground or turn him/her into a “loser.”
4. Always put yourself in the other party’s shoes. Negotiation is about what you can bring to the table and what value you can create at work (Isn’t it similar to resume writing or job search tips in general?). One should never talk about what s/he needs or wants in negotiation because nobody cares.
5. Be aware of what you want. Negotiation does not limit to money. One should also consider other “values” associated with a job. For example, are there opportunities for building relationships, developing skill sets, and gaining more experiences? What technological gadgets does the company provide at work?
What are your experiences in negotiations? What suggestions would you like to share with us?
1. Get over “the guilt.” It is fine to ask for more if you know you deserve more.
2. Practice negotiations. Practice makes perfect. (Isn’t negotiation just like job interviews and job preparations in this sense?)
3. Keep in mind that negotiation is a two-way communication. It is not a good idea to make the other party lose its ground or turn him/her into a “loser.”
4. Always put yourself in the other party’s shoes. Negotiation is about what you can bring to the table and what value you can create at work (Isn’t it similar to resume writing or job search tips in general?). One should never talk about what s/he needs or wants in negotiation because nobody cares.
5. Be aware of what you want. Negotiation does not limit to money. One should also consider other “values” associated with a job. For example, are there opportunities for building relationships, developing skill sets, and gaining more experiences? What technological gadgets does the company provide at work?
What are your experiences in negotiations? What suggestions would you like to share with us?
Interesting article, I agree with a lot of the points that she is making here.
ReplyDeleteBut then I begin to wonder, why don't we encompass these types of business skills into our course curriculum at Syracuse Unviersity? Is the Whitman School of Managment offering any forums? Or is this something that could be offered in the mandatory freshmen Gateway course? I feel like that course has a great potential to prepare Freshmen for the next few years at college, and by teaching basic business skills such as negoitiating, we might be able to help them mature all the faster.
There are so many articles, and "professional" claims on what to do and how to do it videos. All of them seem to have the same trend; practice practice practice....The more practice you have, the more comfortbale you become in asking. You will look more confident and the interviewer won't see how nervous you are.
Get acustom to asking for something more...
In this specific article, she states that we "should build it as a muscle," when you need it, it will be there and ready to work. Great analogy to help people visualize how often you truely need to practice these skills so that you don't loose them. You can not simply go to a workshop in the beginning of January and expect to be as fresh and skilled in the area momths later. Re-visiting issues, and continous training is imparitive.
Looking at it from both angles is also an area to focus on. Just as previously mentioned in other blogs, doing your research on the company will give you the competitive advantage over the other potential employees. You can differentiate yourself by walking into the interview and saying, I know that your compnay needs this, I'm willing to give you X,and Y that you are looking for, but also Z; but in return, I believe I deserve...."
All of the tactics that she has mentioned in her report, as well as the few mentioned above would behoove anyone in need of a negotitaion.
Good point. We plan the HPM 300 Leadership & Career Management class to address some professional issues, like creating resumes, writing cover letters and networking letters, interviewing, social-media job search tactics, evaluating job offers, etc. Meanwhile, I agree with you that we can do more to prepare our students. That is one of the reasons why I wrote this post to address the issues that I don’t have time to discuss in class, or at least not in all of the classes I am teaching.
ReplyDeleteI also feel higher education should not limit to learning in the classroom. In addition, learning should be a two-way street. How much knowledge a student acquires from a class largely depends on how seriously a student views a class --- that's why some students learn more than others. Sometimes, I feel I actually learned more outside of the classrooms by working/talking with a professor and other classmates, or by helping those students who fell behind. Helping those who fell behind could be a new challenge for A players. Do you want to the A player who helps others?