Negotiating a Starting Salary

Authors Avatar

                                                      Negotiating a Starting Salary

                                                                          By

                                                                 Karl Brinkhoff

                                                                 Susan Gifford

                                                BU 330 Human Resource Management

                                                            November 1, 2004

With internet access available to nearly everyone, job seekers are armed with more information than ever before. Information can be obtained for job openings, job descriptions, and even salaries. Sometimes when filling out an application, a box will ask for a salary desired. Some advertisements ask to send your resume with salary requirements. These are sometimes tough questions to answer. How much does that job normally pay? Is the job applicant worth the top pay? This paper will explore the various factors involved when attempting to negotiate a starting salary. Topics such as helpful internet sources will be introduced, along with salary ranges, and helpful interview techniques will be discussed to better position one self to obtain the salary desired.

Some basic concepts should be understood before attempting to negotiate a starting salary. First of all realize that a job in New York City will most likely pay more than the same job in rural Ohio. Geographic locations and cost-of-living play a major role when determining salaries. For example, comparisons were made for an entry level job as a bank teller in Elyria, Ohio and New York, New York. The results were interesting. The median expected salary for a typical Teller in Elyria, Ohio is $20,913; with the 25th percentile being $19,642 and the 75th percentile at $22,645. The median expected salary for the same job in New York City is $24,274; with the 25th percentile being $22,799 and the 75th percentile at $26,284 ().

Supply and demand also play a part. If job candidates are plentiful then negotiating power is limited. However, some fields are in high demand and college graduates in those fields will find they have their choice of employers. For instance, according to The American Almanac Of  Jobs And Salaries, the occupations with the largest job decline are sewing machine operators. This data covers the time period from 1996 to 2006 and they are in decline by 26 percent (xxviii). Conversely, according to Enhanced Occupational Outlook Handbook, the fastest growing jobs are computer related. From 1998-2008 computer engineers, computer support specialists, computer systems analysts, and database administrators are expected to grow by 108, 102, 94, and 77 percent respectively (18).

Join now!

A third concept to remember is that every individual is unique. Every individual has gifts and abilities to bring to the employer. This can be anything from a charming personality which is useful in sales, to an analytical mind which can be useful in the computer field. These personal gifts will also play in role in negotiating a starting salary. With these three basic concepts in mind, how does one go about determining their worth? A good place to start is the internet.

        There is a wealth of information on the internet to help determine your worth. At   a ...

This is a preview of the whole essay