Salary Negotiations

(Received in mail)
What is it that makes all of us sit up and take notice whenever there is any shard of information available on salary? What is it that makes us wonder our next probable salary? Why is it that information on our salary figures results in our most expressive moments? Either ecstasy or disappointment or relief. It is because a salary is a quantifiable self-evaluation of our worth. The perplexing part then is why do most of us go into salary negotiation without half as much of a plan as in preparing for interviews or preparing resumes or planning for a job switch. Or to put it more bluntly, do many of us actually indulge in a process of planned negotiation at all. It is indeed confounding why salary negotiations are never thought of as a scientific process and are instead regarded as the closing remarks in an interview deal. Especially strange when you consider the stark fact that it is `salary' that often results in your choosing to close the chapter in a company - unhappy and unrewarded.

With the increasing professionalism in the approach towards their career and their jobs, it is important that professionals appreciate the worth of salary negotiation as a skill that needs to be honed and sharpened. It is an exercise in the optimisation of a professional's worth in quantifiable terms. It is a win-win situation as an employee gets his market's worth and an employer is able to reap the dividends from a happy, performing employee. The employer is also able to retain a happy employee for long, thereby saving attrition, replacement and new induction costs.

How do I Begin
Negotiating with Employer
What does negotiation mean to you and the employer?
How to Negotiate
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