John Borrowman, CPC
Borrowman Baker LLC
Gallatin, TN
It is easy to think that once you have done the hard work of winning an interview, acing the interview and receiving the job offer, that your work is done. In many cases this may be true, as you may have received a great job offer that easily meets or exceeds your expectations.
But, it doesn’t always happen this way and many BV candidates receive offers below their expectations – and then the question springs to mind, “Should I ask for more?” And our answer to that would be that provided that you feel that your expectations are realistic for a BV professional of your grade, then you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by asking for more pay or enhanced conditions.
In fact, a CareerBuilder broad industry survey has shed some light on the salary negotiation tactics of employers and has revealed that 70% of employers ‘will leave some negotiating room when putting forward an initial offer to candidates‘ – which suggests the door is open for you to request a higher starting salary. Remarkably, the survey found that employers would ‘think less of a candidate who didn’t try and negotiate a better package‘.
So, in most cases there is a clear green light for candidates to ask for a higher starting salary. Just in case you needed more convincing of the value of always negotiating your starting salary, consider the broad industry study by George Mason University which found that those who chose to negotiate increased their starting salaries by $5,000, which is a good rate of return for what might total a few hours’ work.
If you are planning to try and negotiate a higher salary, we’d always recommend you check the market and discuss it with your recruiter first to ensure your expectations are realistic or else you risk annoying the employer. Make sure you have evidence to back up your request which should be in the form of some industry specific salary surveys or advertised salaries for BV roles in the market place. Also, make sure you have a detailed, bullet point elevator pitch describing your major career achievements and the value and benefits you can bring to this employer’s business. And finally, be respectful in your negotiation and be prepared to take no for answer, however, if you follow these steps you can put yourself in a great position to negotiate a higher starting package.
If you’d like any guidance on industry salaries for a BV professional do get in touch and we will be happy to discuss the topic further.
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