Salary negotiation might be the most dreaded part of every interview — but that doesn’t mean you should skip it.
Executive negotiation coach Jacob Warwick has guided clients through high-stakes negotiations, transitions, and exits, and he encourages people to give salary negotiation another try, even if it hasn’t gone their way previously.
He told Business Insider that if candidates let one bad experience shake their confidence, they risk giving themselves a “10% haircut” in their next role. Early in your career, especially, he said, it’s normal to lose a lot of these negotiations — but that’s no reason to stop asking.
“You have to get really comfortable in the uncomfortable,” said Warwick, who has worked with executives, athletes, and Hollywood talent.
Warwick, who is also the CEO of career advisory firm ThinkWarwick Global, said interviewing is really about selling yourself to a prospective employer. Like anything else, it’s something you can improve at over time.
These are the four common mistakes he sees job searchers making when negotiating:
1. Focusing on the past
Warwick said that candidates shouldn’t be focused on their past or current salary. They should focus on the value they bring in the future. He said that the pay you got in your last role is “a zombie number,” and you don’t want it to follow you around.
In some states, it’s illegal for hiring managers to ask what you made previously. Even if it’s not illegal, it’s best to avoid sharing this information. Not only will that amount taint the recruiter’s perception of what you should be paid, but it will lock you into a fixed mindset of what you deserve.
2. Letting the hiring manager control the interview
Warwick said that candidates shouldn’t let the hiring manager control the interview process. That means they should ask questions throughout the conversation. It’s important to clarify why you’re in the room and sell what you offer, he said.
Rather than emailing the recruiter after the call and asking them about next steps, Warwick said candidates should share at the end of an interview what they’re looking for in next steps and who they’re interested in talking to next.
For example, the candidate might suggest connecting with a couple of team members to better understand how they’d work together, and even propose a final conversation with a top executive and ask if there’s anything that should be relayed.
“Eliminate some of the cognitive friction by saying, ‘I’m going to have value by talking to these people, and I’ll give you value based off what I learned,'” Warwick said, adding that any candidate who does the work to understand how everyone works together has already differentiated themselves.
3. Waiting until the end to negotiate
Negotiating your salary begins much sooner than you think, Warwick said — but not necessarily by communicating your expectations in the first conversation.
“You don’t negotiate once you get the offer,” Warwick said. “Most of the work is already done.”
Warwick said that everything that you’ve done up until the point of getting an interview communicates your value. That includes everything from how you interact with the recruiter to the headshot you have on LinkedIn.
Warwick said that the candidate’s task throughout the entire interview process is to convince the hiring team that they’re so good at understanding what needs to be done that there’s no real competition. At that point, the company won’t want to settle.
“We’re differentiating you through that entire process. I call it driving a wedge,” Warwick said.
4. Asking for feedback after it’s over
Warwick said it’s important to get feedback throughout the interview process.
“You’re asking for that along the way,” Warwick said. “And that teaches you how to sell.”
The coach said that you should ask questions like, “What are other candidates doing that I’m not?” Or ask the hiring manager if there was something they left out of a response that concerns them.
That forces the recruiter to have a conversation in the moment so you can defend themself.
Warwick added that one good trick is to ask the interviewer to coach you. For example, if the next step of the interview process is speaking to the CEO, you should ask the interviewer if there’s anything you should bring up or say on their behalf before going into that call. By putting the recruiter in a coaching position, they’ll be more likely to root for you.
“What do coaches want the most? Coaches want their players to succeed,” Warwick said.
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