Salary Negotiation Checklist

If you’re not competitive, you may want to go back to the drawing board to see what you can do to attract the right candidates…

Your candidate has all the skills you need and more, so what are you waiting for? The only thing left is to talk about money. Salary Negotiation can be overly complicated and emotional for both sides, but it doesn’t have to be. Rather than approach the conversation cold, here are some things you can do as a hiring manager to make the negotiations work for everyone.

Do your research.

Job seekers will be advised to review pay rates, so you should too. The best resource is salary.com, which will give you the salary range for the job title in your area. It also includes information on benefits. You can determine whether you’re paying a competitive rate and where the job seeker might start negotiations. If you’re not competitive, you may want to go back to the drawing board to see what you can do to attract the right candidates.

Work on your budget.

If you do determine that average salaries in your area do not match what you expected, it may be time to reconsider your budget. Know that you will get what you pay for, so if someone is willing to accept a lower salary, the person may also have performance flaws. Know that your candidates have a budget too. They want to be able to earn enough money to keep up with their bills and save for their future.

Determine whether not hiring the candidate would be a mistake.

If you can’t come to an agreement during the salary negotiations, you may have to make the decision to move on. But before that happens, determine whether your business would suffer if you do not hire this candidate. Other changes in the way you do business may turn out to be more costly than hiring this employee.

Have a backup plan.

If the negotiations stall, you need to have a backup plan in place. Is there any compromise that you can offer? Can you meet in the middle? If the person doesn’t accept your offer, do you have another candidate in mind? How long will the hiring process take if you have to start over? Create the right plan so you don’t have to start from square one.

Do you have tips and tricks for positive salary negotiations? Learn more about tools to help manage your payroll.