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Planning your strategy and conducting the negotiation session
Once you’ve received an offer from an employer, compare it with your ‘ideal job preferences’. This is not a description of your ‘fantasy job’ but a list of realistic hopes and desires concerning what you would like from this particular job and employer.

Then, identify those items on your list that were not part of the package offered but that you think are negotiable. These items may include basics such as a mobile phone and laptop, car allowance, health or retirement insurance, and leave or vacation provisions. Other items might be related to your career development, such as subsidised formal education or training to upgrade your skills or job rotations in other functional areas to broaden your knowledge.

Formulate an acceptable compromise position for each of these items – what you would be willing to settle for if you cannot get what you are asking for. Look for ‘win-win’ alternatives, those that benefit you and the potential employer.

Make a list of those items you want to discuss during the negotiation session. Then, for each item, describe your rationale for asking for this particular item as it relates to the need of the job and the value to the organisation. For example, if you have been offered a salary that is below the industry midpoint range (though it may be above the midpoint for this company), highlight that you are bringing to the job a great deal of relevant experience, which will allow you to ‘hit the ground running.’

To negotiate a job promotion or a salary increase, you will need to put forward a business case as to why you should receive what you are asking for. To ask for a pay rise because you need to buy a car or house will not cut it with your boss. First, review the work you have been doing and determine what you have measurably achieved as a result. Second, research the job market by looking at job ads or online salary surveys and talking to your external network of colleagues or headhunters. Make sure you have a good idea of what your skills and experience are worth in your industry. If you have a human resource department, ask them what the company process is for salary reviews or promotions. Equipped with this information, you can then approach your boss with evidence that supports your case that you are a valuable member of the company who deserves a promotion and / or salary increase.

A successful negotiation is one that is well prepared, one in which you are not afraid to ask for what you want, but are also willing to be flexible, and in which you are able to maintain a positive attitude. And at the end of the day, both parties need to be happy with the end result.