Negotiating Your Salary. Jack Chapman

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       Chapter 1:

       Million-Dollar Blunders

      CONDENSED VERSION AVAILABLE FOR READERS IN A RUSH, OR READERS NEEDING A QUICK REFRESHER OF MAIN POINTS:

      There are 5 “Lightning Rounds” tucked in between chapter 1 and 2. They cover the Five Salary-Making Rules in a very condensed fashion. If you are in a rush, go to that condensation and come back here later to enjoy the full Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute.

       Calculating the Dollars You Can Make, or Lose, in Those Sixty Seconds of Negotiations

      We spend years thinking about what we’ll be when we grow up. We put thousands of dollars and hours into school to get a degree and then spend weeks on resumes, letters, and ads. We schlep from city to suburb to city, talking to jerks, jokes, and gentlemen about their job openings. We put hours of practice into a sales pitch, hours of research into understanding the company, and two or three nervous days into interviews, straining to beat out the competition. The most important part, the whole reason we started in the first place—getting paid—we often handle in sixty seconds or less!

      For months afterwards, we roll up our sleeves and give our new job every ounce of brains and drive we can supply. But when it’s time for a raise, most of us just accept whatever we’re offered. How many minutes do we spend negotiating the money? Zero.

      However, sixty seconds is all you’ll need to negotiate either a salary or a raise. You’ll learn in this book how to make those sixty seconds count. You’ll learn how to make thousands of dollars in that minute, and how to improve your whole sense of work and worth.

      Consider for a moment how that adds up.

      A modest-to-low annual lifetime wage, beginning at, say, $20,000 a year and ending at $80,000, averages out to be $45,000 a year. Over forty-five years, that totals 2,025,000! So even a simple 10-percent original raise that provides a larger base for all subsequent raises means an extra $202,500 over that time. You could buy a home with just a 10-percent raise!

      That’s just the start. Proper negotiations can double your income. Mishandling negotiations can be a multi-million-dollar blunder.

      And it’s easy to blunder. In my many years as a personal career- and salary-coach, I’ve seen people earning only half their value just because they never correctly asked for more. How would you handle these three situations?

       Million-Dollar Blunders

       Example 1: Mr. Eager Loses the Offer

      Mr. Eager is bright, ambitious, and interested in working hard. He expects to be paid fairly and at the top of his range. His potential employer is looking at Eager’s record. The resume looks good and Eager has just the kind of experience the company could use and some solid examples of making things work right.

      Desirous not to waste his time, Eager pops the question in the most tactful way he can. “Well, let’s see if we’re in the right ball park. I’m looking for a salary in the middle eighties.”

      Mr. Employer figures the amount is okay, but is just a touch put off. He thinks Eager should primarily be interested in long-term work with the company. Eager’s approach makes it sound as if he’s more interested in the money. Well, that’s understandable, but Mr. Employer is also interviewing Mr. Dedicated for the job. Although he doesn’t know what Dedicated’s price range is, it certainly sounds as if he’s interested in the company. “After all,” Mr. Employer decides, “I built this company from the ground up in the last ten years. I want team players.”

      “Well,” Mr. Employer tells Eager, “we might be able to meet that; let’s keep talking.”

      Sounds promising but, when all is said and done, Mr. Employer picks Dedicated. “I want a company man,” Mr. Employer reasons, “and I’m willing to go to the middle sixties to get him. After all, Dedicated must be worth at least as much as Eager.” Eager loses the offer.

       Example 2: Ms. Polite Loses $7,500 a Year

      Ms. Polite knows that women make just over seventy-nine cents to a man’s dollar. She has corporate aspirations, though, and a solid background to build them on. Now that an M.B.A. has been added to the top of her resume, she’s got the technical СКАЧАТЬ