#JobSearch : How To Negotiate With Confidence When You Really Need The Job. How can You Negotiate when Your in a Position of Weakness?

When you’re looking for a job, you might feel like you’re in the weak position because you’re doing the asking and hoping employers say Yes. For example, you’re sending out resumes and waiting for interviews, or going on interviews and waiting on offers. If you are currently unemployed and really need a job, you might feel like you have no leverage and should take what you can get.

You should always negotiate. Whether you are conscious of it or not, you negotiate every step of the way in the job search, not just at the offer stage. Each step from the initial application (where you are likely asked about salary expectations) to multiple rounds of interviews establishes your value to the company and career priorities for yourself. (Here are some tips for navigating common negotiation issues for job seekers.) Furthermore, employers expect job seekers to negotiate and respect you more when you negotiate well.

If you are anxious about negotiating, here are five ways to reframe the offer situation so you can negotiate with confidence even when you really need the job:

1 – Even if you feel like you don’t have leverage, your potential employer doesn’t know that

In any negotiation, each side doesn’t know 100% what is going on with the other side – e.g., their priorities, constraints, anxieties. You might feel like you can’t or won’t say No to the offer, but the employer doesn’t know that for sure. Don’t assume that the employer sees how anxious you are.

You can also ease your anxiety by increasing your leverage all along your job search. A competing offer is just one form of leverage, so don’t worry if you don’t have another offer at the exact same time as this one you’re negotiating. Being close to an offer, or having multiple leads in play, is also leverage because they represent other potential options. Having a strong network that you can tap (even if it’s for contract work to tide you over till a full-time job materializes) is another form of leverage.

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2 – The employer also has something to lose if you say No

You feel like you really need this job, but remember that the employer also really needs to hire. This new addition to staff will cost money. It takes time to recruit and onboard. The hiring process takes people away from their day-to-day work. Clearly, the employer wouldn’t be doing this if they also didn’t really need something out of it – i.e., someone like you to fill the job.

The fact that you got the offer means that they want you, not someone else. So if you say No, they don’t get their first choice. If you say No, the search has to start all over again. The employer has to wait that much longer to get this much needed position filled. The employer also has something to lose if this offer story doesn’t have a happy ending, so they are just as invested as you in making things work.

3 — The right compensation matches the position, not just your specific situation

Maybe you have been underpaid before or you’re unemployed and therefore starting from a salary of $0, and this makes you uneasy about asking for any more money at all. A good way to reframe this negative head game is to remember that the right compensation matches the position being recruited, not the candidate. Whenever you discuss salary, bonus or other cash compensation with the employer, highlight any data that shows what the market commands for the role. Tie your request to the market, not your situation, especially if your salary history doesn’t match what the ideal compensation should be for this role.

4 – Don’t assume that the employer is trying to take advantage of you

You will have a more collaborative and effective negotiation if you assume the positive for the other side – i.e., that they, like you, genuinely want to come to agreement. If instead you assume that the employer is trying to take advantage of you, then you’ll approach the negotiation in a guarded way. This might show up in your attitude and be perceived as hesitation, or worse, declining interest in the role.

The employer made you an offer, which means they want to work with you. You also want to accept the position (if the offer is right!) and work with them. That shared agreement – you both want to be there – should be considered more important than anything else you’re negotiating and currently in disagreement about. Focus on the agreement you already have in common and how you can get to agreement on everything else. You’re working together, not against each other.

5 – If you don’t get what you want now, you can always try again

Even if you do everything right, the employer might still say No. If you are issued a best and final offer and you want to take it, then accept it wholeheartedly. Do a great job, and remember that you can negotiate at a later time.

Forbes.com – December 13, 2020 –  Caroline Ceniza-Levine