10 Salary Negotiating Mistakes to Avoid

Not much makes job-seekers more anxious than negotiating--or even discussing--salary. After all, you might ask for too much, ask for too little, or otherwise sabotage your own chances of getting the best possible salary. Negotiation will go more smoothly if you know what landmines to avoid.

When it comes time to negotiate salary for a new job, make sure that you don't make these 10 key errors:

1. Being unprepared. At some point, employers are likely to ask what salary range you're looking for, possibly as soon as their first contact with you. If you're caught off-guard, you risk low-balling yourself or otherwise saying something that will harm you in salary negotiations later. It's crucial to do your homework ahead of time so that you're ready when the question comes up.


2. Negotiating before you have an offer. There's no point trying to negotiate before you have a job offer; after all, the employer still hasn't even decided if they want to hire you. Your leverage will be far stronger once someone is certain that you're the one they want.


3. Relying on online salary sites to give accurate information. While salary sites might seem like the most obvious way to figure out what to ask for, these sites are frequently unreliable, in part because the job titles they list often represent wildly different scopes of responsibility. Professional associations in your industry might do more reliable salary surveys, but even then, you're more likely to get the right range by talking to people in your field.


4. Discussing salary in your cover letter. Some candidates announce their salary requirements in their cover letters without being asked, and some even include their salary history on their resumes. There's no reason to talk money at this stage, and doing it unprompted at the application stage can come across as naive.


5. Citing your finances. Salary conversations should be solely about your value to the company, not about your own finances. Employers don't pay people based on financial need, so don't cite your mortgage or your kid's college tuition as a reason you're asking for more money.


6. Asking for too long to respond to an offer. It's normal to request a few days to consider an offer, and sometimes employers will give you a week or so. But if you ask for much time beyond that, you risk signaling that you're not excited about the job, but might settle for it if you don't get any other offers. That's a good way to lessen the hiring manager's enthusiasm and bring into question your own.


7. Not factoring in the benefits package. Salary is only one part of a compensation package; you also need to factor in benefits like healthcare, retirement contributions, and paid leave. After all, if you'll be paying significantly more for healthcare or receiving fewer paid vacation days than you're used to, that might cancel out part of any salary gains you hope to make. On the other hand, being able to work from home or having an on-site day care might be benefits that make it worth it to you to take a slightly lower salary.


8. Underestimating happiness as a factor. A higher salary generally won't make up for a job where you'll be miserable, so think carefully about factors other than money: the work you'll be doing, the people with whom you'll be working, the company culture, and even the length of your commute. It might be worth giving up a bit of extra pay to ensure that you're happy going to work every day.


9. Listening to bad advice. Negotiation advice that worked a few decades ago isn't always effective now. In fact, some of it can hurt your chances. For instance, delaying the salary conversation as long as you can or refusing to name a figure first--common advice in previous generations--can backfire today by turning the employer off and making you look like you're playing games.


10. Not negotiating. Whatever you do, negotiate. If you simply take the first salary you're offered, you'll never know if you could have received more by simply asking.

10 Things You Should Never Say to Your Boss

Saying the wrong thing to your boss can really damage your career. From refusing to work with a colleague to bragging about your irreplaceability, here are 10 things you never want to say to your manager:

1. "Can you write that down for me?" When you're talking about the details of a project, writing notes to consult later is great. But you need to take them yourself, not ask your boss to do it for you.

2. "I just booked plane tickets for next month." Never book time off without clearing it with your boss. There might be a major project due that week, or she might have approved others to have that time off and therefore need you around. Check with her first before you do anything irreversible.

3. "My bad." There's nothing more frustrating than an employee who has made a mistake and doesn't seem to think it's a big deal. When you make a mistake, take responsibility for it, figure out how you're going to fix it, and make it clear that you understand its seriousness. Responses like "my bad" sound cavalier and signal that you don't take work seriously. Don't use it for anything other than the most minor mistake (like spilling something in the kitchen, which you then promptly clean up).

4. "I can't work with Joe." Refusing to work with a colleague is an unusually extreme statement and may mark you as difficult. Instead, try something like, "I find it hard to work well with Joe because of X and Y. Do you have any advice on how I can make it go more smoothly?"

5. "I don't know what you'd do without me." No one is irreplaceable, even the head of your company. Statements like this mark you as a prima donna who feels entitled to special treatment ... and will make a lot of managers want to show you that you're wrong.

6. "Do this, or I quit." Whether you're asking for a raise or requesting a day off, don't threaten to quit if you don't get your way. If you don't get what you want, you can always think it over and decide to quit, but if you use it as a threat in the negotiation itself, you'll lose your manager's respect and poison the relationship.

7. "I have another offer. Can you match it?" Using another job offer as a bargaining chip to get your current employer to pay you more money may be tempting, but it often ends badly. First, you may be told to take the other offer, even if you don't really want it--and then you'll have to follow through. Second, even if your employer does match the offer, they'll now assume you're looking to leave, and you may be on the top of the lay-off list if the company needs to make cutbacks. If you want a raise, negotiate it on your own merits.

8. "What's the big deal?" Statements like this are dismissive and disrespectful. If your manager is concerned about something, you need to be concerned about it too. If you genuinely don't understand what the big deal is, say something like, "I want to understand where you're coming from so we're on the same page. Can you help me understand how you're seeing this?"

9. "I can't do X because I need to do Y." Don't say that you can't do something your manager is asking of you. Instead, if there's a conflict with another project, explain the conflict and ask your manager which is more important.

10."That's not my job." Protesting that something isn't in your job description is a good way to lose the support of your boss. Job descriptions aren't comprehensive, and most people end up doing work that doesn't fall squarely within that job description. (That's what "and other duties as assigned" means.) You want to make yourself more valuable to your employer, not less.

Source : Yahoo India