- Mabel Chan, Co-founder, Albert's List
- Artur Meyster, Founder, Breaking into Startups
- Erin Wilson, Co-founder, Talent Engineer, Hirepool.io
- Abbie Isidro, Creative and Marketing Recruiter - Beauty, Aquent
- Noah Wisna, Head of Talent and Operations, 10 x 10
- Prepare. Do research up front.
- What are you worth?
- What does the market demand?
- Sites for salary research
- Consider timing.
- Don't start off talking about salary (don't seem money motivated)
- Before talking about money,
- talk about skills and knowledge
- build rapport
- Consider your minimum, what you need to survive in the bay area
- Consider what would make you feel excited to take the job
- Either way, try not to give the first number
- Ask the recruiter to give a number first.
- It may even be above your range.
- The less technical the job or lower the level, the more pressure to get a number from you first.
- If you answer with a number or a range, be sure to ask back: what range are you working with?
- Say something like "I value money, but I'm more focused on the opportunity. What did you have in mind?"
- AB168 is a law that prohibits any employer in CA from asking what you made at your last job
- You can say "What I was making and what I'm looking to make are two different stories."
- The law also requires them to provide a range
- time this question well; avoid coming up on a "friction point" too early in the process
- If you're getting questions that make it seem like the job is below your pay grade:
- Ask for salary range, saying "I don't want to waste your time if this level isn't a fit for me"
- Be interested in the role and the company; don't come across as money-motivated
- If you have an offer, you can say something like
- "I just got a competitive offer; I want to continue the process, but I don't want to waste your time if you're not in range"
- You can ask: "What does someone with my experience make at your company?"
- If you want to ask about salary in the first call, make it an afterthought:
- "Just before I go, do you have a range or a number -- just to make sure we're in the same ballpark?"
- Don't say no right off the bat. Say "Let me think about it."
- Use the offer as leverage to expedite your process with other companies you're working with.
- The offer is "instant social proof" that companies want you
- Understand why they made the low offer
- "I'm thankful for the offer. Could you tell me what I did well, and what I could have done better?"
- Ask for other benefits
- bonus
- equity
- time off
- remote work
- Look at the salary: would you be content?
- Look at the overall package
- how long / expensive is the commute?
- what are the benefits?
- how much pto?
- what's the work/life balance?
- do you get meals / coffee?
- Think about whether the low salary is the only reason you're not interested
- Usually there are other reasons too. If so, turn down offer gracefully.
- Always counteroffer!
- 86% of women and 51% of men take the first offer and don't negotiate
- Believe you are worth more.
- Don't be intimidated by "wish list" job descriptions
- Don't convince yourself that you're worth less because you don't meet all their qualifications
- Be prepared. Look back on your previous review (or hiring process if there was no review). Focus on outcomes.
- Look at the job description, and list completed tasks to show your manager what you've done.
- Show evolution / growth in your current role
- tasks you've taken on that aren't in your job description
- projects not assigned to you, but that you helped with
- Get a peer review (colleague writes a letter on your behalf)
- Six months before your review
- set goals with your manager
- get feedback periodically from manager on goal progress
- share successes and failures with manager
- At the annual review, you can say "Look how far I've come! Now let's talk about the compensation piece."
- Print out salary ranges from online research, bring to review and leave with your boss as ammunition to take back to the CFO
- If you've been mentoring colleagues, use that as evidence that you're ready to be a senior contributor to the team
- Ask for benefits other than salary:
- work from home one day a week
- budget for continuing education
- Understand how the company evaluates performance and gives raises
- Earn your raise according to the company processes
- Understand the company dynamics
- Were you denied a raise because they're strapped for cash?
- If so, then you can bring this up later when the budget is less tight
- Follow company profitibility and milestones
- "I see you've opened up new offices, hired (some number of) new people."
- Use as a reason to re-open raise discussion
- When they ask you to take on more, you can say "When the scope of responsibility grows, compensation should grow"
- If they say no, say "I understand. Can you explain why?"
- If you don't agree: "I don't agree, and here's why."
- If there still isn't agreement: "You've made a decision about what you can pay me; now I need to think about my investment in this company."
- If it's for budget reasons, use that in the future
- get it in writing that you would have gotten a raise if not for budget constraints
- If it's because of skill level / performance, set up a plan
- say "okay, I understand, what will it take to get me there in time for the next review period?"
- keep track of accomplishments / successes
- save laudatory emails
- ask for a re-review in 3 or 6 months, instead of a year