How to Negotiate your Salary coming out of School!
Obviously, we are not in times where walking up to an employer and asking them for “More Money” would be a smart move! The COVID-19 crisis has screeched all hiring and businesses to a halt. It will be interesting to see what the world will look like at the other end of this crisis. It will be particularly interesting to see what the economy looks like! This episode is geared to those just coming out of school, or new in their career, and we try to answer the question of “How do I negotiate my salary?”
To listen to the full podcast, click below:
The best advice I can give someone coming out of school or new in their career when negotiating their salary is to first understand your bottom line. What salary do you need to earn to live the lifestyle you are living? Also, understand if that is a reasonable lifestyle for someone just starting out. Is it 50K, 70K, 100K? In the beginning of your career, you have little leverage, and while I am not suggesting that you settle, I am recommending that you strongly consider the trade off between salary and experience. You can’t take experience away once earned! That may mean taking a job that doesn’t pay as much, or even a job that may not be your ideal just to work your way up the corporate ladder.
As the economy recovers from COVID-19, what will the job market look like? A month ago, we didn’t have enough people to fill the jobs that existed, and now we have floods of people headed to the unemployment line. This will no-doubt impact your reality coming out of school, much like it did for those coming of out of school in 2008 and 2009. This is not a cautionary tale- it is intended to keep you grounded in the fact that we will recover from this, and your experience is what will give you the leverage to ask for more money!! So, be thoughtful when taking that first job!
Thank you for listening to SurviveHR. Steve and I are both grateful to have this platform and we very much appreciate you taking the time to support us! We both love helping students coming out of college or those early in their career. Please let us know how we can help—feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn!
