4 Ways to Stop Getting Low Salary Offers

4 Ways to Stop Getting Low Salary Offers 4 Ways to Stop Getting Low Salary Offers If you are running into the constant problem of getting offers that are way below your salary expectations, this post may be for you. Low salary offers are not always the result of companies being cheap or trying to lowball job candidates. Sometimes, it comes down to the very ways you are presenting your arguments for a higher salary. We explain further some ways to stop getting low salary offers. 4. Start making yourself indispensable at your current job This obviously requires having a job. It is a highly proactive move to think about what you are doing at your current job. Are you constantly turning down chances to improve or take on new tasks and responsibilities? People who generally make themselves indispensable at a company are the ones who eventually get paid more. If they are not being paid more they at least have more leverage to seek better pay when they start searching for new work. The more you know how to do and the more important you are to a company, the more you deserve to be paid. In addition, due to recent law changes around the country and depending on where you live, your salary history cannot be used against you during negotiations. 3. Evaluate if you are not communicating well during salary negotiations We all work in a global work environment and being misunderstood during salary negotiations is quite possible due to the varying costs of living around the United States. For example, a person living in New York City making $100,000/year only needs to make $41,000/year to maintain the same style of living if they chose to live in Richmond, Virginia. You can check your own cost of living changes here. More so, you need to make sure you are communicating your expertise in a field, your ambitions in the company, and your capability to do the job. There are times when we get so caught up in the frustrations of a lowball offer that we forget salary negotiations are more than just communicating how much you want to be paid. The company obviously sees something that you do not. 2. Evaluate if you are being realistic about your expectations If you are constantly receiving low salary offers you cannot negotiate yourself out of, it is time to be realistic with what is happening. It may not be the time to modify your behavior. It may be the time to learn new, relevant skills. Start asking yourself some questions like these When is the last time I took a business class on anything? Am I missing certifications or degrees that would make me worth more salary? Am I expecting too much money based on the job title alone? Can this company afford my salary expectations? Staying relevant in your career makes you more valuable. Plus, the reality is job titles are interchangeable and appear in every industry. But some industries pay much less than others. For example, a Project Manager in a nonprofit organization makes an average $48,000/year while the same job title in the banking industry makes an average $78,000/year. 1. Improve your negotiation skills This one sounds so simple, yet it is one of the hardest skills to learn. Knowing what to do in a negotiation is one thing. Finding out how to apply it to your interviews is the real challenge. Here are the 10 skills you need; the basics of “what” to do: Flexibility Patience Resilience under pressure Indifference to outcomes Communication skills Critical thinking Creative thinking Maintaining your “poker face” ie. suppressing emotions or non-verbal cues Awareness of deceptive tactics Vision to predict outcomes of your choices There are so many reasons to get emotional these days. We have social media telling us how to behave like everyone else. We know others must deal with low balling companies, ageism, racism, and gender bias. However, if you come across as easy to manipulate because of your feelings, you may start finding the salary offers to be consistently low. Above all, you may be exhausted with the low offers so much so that you are willing to accept anything that comes in the form of a job opportunity. Accepting what people offer “just because you feel lucky to have a job” is a mindset that will lead you down a career path of low, poorly negotiated salaries.