Negotiation Skills Company, Inc.
 
Negotiation Skills Company, Inc.

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If I'm Offered A Promotion, How Should I Negotiate My Salary

From: Angela, Bogota, Colombia

Question: Currently, I am applying for a promotion in another department. How may I negotiate the salary, knowing that for the director's position in general the bank has several salary levels. In other words, how should I approach the question in case of being promoted?

Response: If there are different salary levels for people with similar job titles in your bank, clearly you need to find out what salary is normal in the department into which you hope to move. If you have applied for an opening created because another person has left the position, try to find out how much they have been paid.

If the previous person holding the job was there for a long time, it may not be realistic to expect to receive the same level of pay they were getting -- at least when you start. It may be that peoples' salaries increase by a predictable percentage for each year on the job.

If you are applying for a new position, it may be more difficult to find out the normal pay range for persons holding that job. You should learn all you can about the general salary levels for people at the bank holding the job title for which you are applying. If you can talk with some of them to find out whether their salaries reflect education, experience, age, or other characteristics it may be easier to develop an idea of how much is appropriate for yourself.

You should also take a look at your new job situation: your new salary should reflect the responsibilities of the new position -- will you have to work longer hours? will you be responsible for overseeing the activities of more people? will the job require that you work with different kinds of assets or with assets that have a greater value/price than those with which you currently work?

What about your situation as an individual? How much money do you need to feel that the pay reflects your new value to the bank? Do you have financial needs you hope the new salary will reflect -- rent, education costs, other lifestyle issues?

Once you have added all these factors together, you should have a better idea of the range of pay that will satisfy you. In other words, unless they offer you more than X, it may not be worth changing your job.

Having settled on a salary range, when you are asked how much pay you want, you should offer your boss (or whoever makes the salary decision) a range. For me it is easier to think in US dollars, so that is the example I'll offer: Say you want to make at least $25,000 per year. When you are given a chance to tell the boss how much you want to be paid, you should say you are interested in 'something in the high 20s'. The 'high 20s' is between 25,000 and 30,000. That gives the boss some negotiating room -- yet sets the minimum level at a rate which you find acceptable. If the boss responds by saying, "I was thinking in the low 20s (20 to 25)," then you will need to negotiate quite carefully to make sure the final figure is at a level that you can accept.

I hope this is helpful to you and wish you good luck.
Steve

The Negotiation Skills Company, Inc.   P O Box 172   Pride's Crossing, MA 01965, USA   
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