Recent psychological research reveals 10 strategies that will help you hike your paycheck.
Much of the advice you read about how to negotiate your salary is rubbish. It's not just that salaries are a touchy subject and so they're difficult to investigate accurately, it's also that the same old clichs get repeated over-and-over again by lazy writers. But a few recent psychology studies do provide a scientific insight into how to get paid more. Here's what you need to know:
1. Open negotiations
If you don't ask, you won't get. It's surprising how many people hardly negotiate at interview and, during employment, fail to negotiate a pay rise. Initial very low offers may force us to negotiate but those who are always ready to negotiate, whatever the situation, are likely to achieve higher salaries. One early study of graduating MBA students found that those who were prepared to negotiate achieved better starting salaries (Gerhart & Rynes, 1991). It's pretty obvious advice but it's amazing how many people fall at the very first hurdle.
3. Start high
When you mention a number, make sure it's highthat is, high in the context of the industry you work in, obviously it shouldn't be ridiculous. One study of simulated salary negotiations has found that when the anchor figure is set high, the final negotiated amount is likely to be higher (Thorsteinson, 2011).
4. Make a joke
One potential problem with making high opening offers is that employers can take it the wrong way. Tension can be diffused, though, by making a joke about, for example, 'unrealistic salary expectations'. There is evidence in the negotiation research that humourwhen used appropriatelycan be an effective negotiation tactic. Remember that even when framed with humour, a high opening number can still influence the ultimate decision (Thorsteinson, 2011).
5. Compete
Whether you like it or not, negotiating your salary is a game, with all the usual attempts at deception and sportsmanship. So, once the main body of the negotiations are under way, try to dominate them as you would any competitive game. Try to persuade and assert and, if necessary, misrepresent and threaten. Research suggests that competition is a successful negotiation strategy (Marks & Harold, 2011)
6. Collaborate
When negotiating your salary, you don't have to compete all the time, collaboration can also work. Find out what is in the other side's interests. This can be a useful strategy but...
10. Be bold
A personality trait that's central to negotiation is risk aversion: those who avoid taking risks are worse negotiators. Of course some of us are just inherently more risk averse than others. The problem is that high risk aversion is associated with less use of competition as a negotiation strategy, and being competitive works. The fact is that to get the best deal you have to embrace the risk because if you're afraid to risk, you'll get less (Marks, 2011).