I learnt the art of negotiations a little late in life; specifically during my 2nd
company. There are 3 things I always remember to do.
1. Always remember never to quote a direct number when the
HR asks for your expectations. A direct number means
that your expectations have a cap and the HR will try to
drop your compensation as much as possible from that number
citing various reasons. Just reverse the question and tell them
that you expect to be paid fairly according to current market
conditions and your skillset. A number of people have also said
that we should not reveal the CTC. I absolutely agree, but in
India that will become a pain point while negotiations happen.
So if pushed i reveal my CTC but not beforehand.
2. Before you apply for the cream of the top companies according
to you, get an offer or two in hand already. That gives you
bargaining chips. Most of the times the HR will ask for a copy
of the offer from the competition to verify the counter
offers. Never give it to them. Its a simple moral and
professional relationship that dictates not to share one
company's offer with another. Convey this clearly.
3. The paywall ceiling you think is impassable can be broken.
Make no mistake, candidates break it daily. Never
underestimate your worth;know what you're worth. If an
HR tells you we can pay only 10lakhs or our company has a
policy of maximum 30%, don't lose heart or take it up on your
ego. Show them why your worth the 100% hike and you will
get it. It maynot work always but hey what's the harm in taking
a shot and giving your best?
There are hundreds of other unwritten rules i keep in the back of my mind
when I start job hunting. I take a 6 month prep time even before I have my
resume out on the market. I try and prepare for every aspect. I ensure that
not only am i good at what I do, I also remember to market my skills as the
best in the business. Your skills are important but so is your personal brand.
There's one thing i do which a lot of my friends thought was useless but it
helped me, so who's to say what's right. I know the personal details in brief
for the person who's interviewing me and everyone who follows. People have
a lot of data lying around on the web and in most cases its not difficult to
build up a small personality profile to gauge their likes, dislikes, their way of
thinking, their opinions and little things that matter.
Let me give you an example. In one of the companies where I was
selected, the HR was from Pune. The job offer was for the location of
Hyderabad. When I got to work on gauging his personality based on his
Facebook posts, his tweets and his Instagram photos, it turned out he loved
the Ganpati festival, the dhol, the music and the nostalgia of Pune. However
he wasn't in India for a good 5 years now and missed all this. During the
negotiations round, i steered some parts of the conversation into how i am
going to miss Pune and all that it represents if I decide to take up this offer
and move to hyderabad. We talked about Pune for a good 10 min before we
came back on track. In those 10 min I had managed to build a rapport with
him on a personal level and it was increasingly difficult for him to stick to his
30%hike rule. He said, he would call me back in a day. No prizes for guessing
that i got the hike i was asking for and not 30%.
Negotiation in one way means that you gotta persuade someone to give you
what you think is the best for you. If you have cleared your technical rounds
with flying colours then its just you and your skills of persuasion that will help
clear the final hurdle. Hope this helps you up your game in some way.
Cheers!!
Edit: One week and 16K views!! Even my best answers didn’t rise
this fast. I should be answering more salary related stuff i guess :P
