Employers: your obvious goal is to hire the very best available employee at the lowest salary in your budget, right?
Wrong.
Not a 100% wrong but sometimes “you get what you pay for” and a better goal may be t0 hire the best employee at a salary that is mutually agreeable.
Here are the top 5 salary negotiation tips that you need to know right now:
1. Make your highest and best offer first. If you are really serious about hiring an outstanding employee, then nothing can be more insulting to an employee than a “low ball offer.” If your intent is to make a low offer and then raise it if the person declines, you have already created an adversarial tone. If you are serious, make a serious offer.
2. Incentive Bonuses Are Not For Everyone. Most people (if they are being honest with themselves) are doing their very best to be successful and should not need an incentive bonus to achieve better results. If someone needs an incentive to be successful than be very careful about hiring them unless of course if this works to your advanntage, such as in a Sales position where commissions are involved.
3. Ask for a current pay stub to verify a candidate’s current salary. Before you make an offer, you want to be absolutely sure that you are not overpaying the going rate. Trust, but verify salary quotes.
4. If you are the hiring authority make the offer, yourself. Most people want to hear offers from their bosses mouth and not from HR or even an outside health care recruitment firm. Enthusiasm sells. So when you make an offer, do it with excitement!!!! “It gives me great pleasure to extend an offer and to be a part of our team!!!”
5. When you make an offer, give 48 hours for a decision. If a candidate has made it this far (offer stage) and has probably had 3-4 interviews with you and your staff, then emotionally he or she has a pretty good idea whether or not to accept. Time kills all deals. If you extend an offer and ask for a decison in 7 daysm then guess what? The decision will be in 7 days. If the offer is declined than you have wasted 7 days!!!
Comments?
I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc.
I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com