The other side

[Guest guest]

Hi Folks,

This is an Article that I came across, thought it might helps us.

 

Salary Negotiation

 

 

Ask any IT professional which is the most dreaded phase of an interview and

the answer in unison would be the ‘salary negotiation’. Even though the

salary is one of the key attractions to join a company (besides a good job

profile and work environment), yet, it is the most ‘dreaded’ and ‘delayed’

part of an interview, be it from the candidate’s or the company’s side.

Discussing such an essential part of an individual’s professional life can

be quite a hair-raising experience for many people. And, this fear at the

back of the mind is not just limited to first-timers, but the uneasiness

spreads to the top and middle levels of management also. Industry studies

indicate that 60 per cent of IT professionals are bad salary negotiators, as

they are not able to come forth with their requirement. Avoidance of the

issue is so rampant that the usual joke which goes around is that between a

company and a candidate it is ‘phele aap, phele aap’, as no one is ready to

discuss it first. Neither does the candidate want to give a straight answer

as to how much salary is he expecting and nor does the company reveal how

much they are willing to pay, during the first interview.

 

Though a tedious process, “salary negotiation” is believed to be the

toughest and the most crucial part of one’s career-chart as the salary,

which he/she has negotiated with the employer becomes the benchmark for

his/her next move. For if the move i.e. salary negotiation, is not handled

properly, the person spoils his/her chance of a possibly “higher growth” in

future. So, how good are you as a negotiator ?

 

Most industry experts believe that to negotiate first, an individual needs

to extensively assess himself or herself. The individual needs to know his

strengths and weaknesses and how far he would be able to fulfil the ‘desired

’ responsibility. He needs to do a thorough research of the company’s

compensation package available at the similar level (for which he/she need

to talk to the people in the company). The homework can prove to be a very

critical factor during the negotiation. And lastly, the person should be

able to ‘market himself’. All these factors play a very important role not

only during salary negotiations but also help in increasing the increments.

Agrees PK Gupta, Director of Engineering, Legato Systems, who feels that

unless an individual knows his core competency, he would not be able to put

a right value to his skills. And unless and until he is able to value

himself correctly, there are chances of being paid less. “I have seen so

many cases where an individual even at the top level has not been able to

get his worth in terms of salary, just because he was not able to sell

himself,” he says.

 

According to industry experts, things are smoothest at the lower level of

management, as there are hardly any salary negotiations happening at this

level. But, things start becoming complex with each addition in the

hierarchy. “In case of the entry level, the scales and grades are reasonably

clear and most of the companies follow the set standards. Most of these

candidates are hired through campus recruitment programs and there is a

certain kind of image which a fresh graduate, engineer or an MBA carries

with himself when he joins the company. The effort is always there to live

up to that ‘image’, make him look good without going overboard in terms of

salary,” says Sanjay Agarwala, Director, Eastern Software Systems (ESS).

 

But, the real discussions or negotiations start at the middle and the top

levels of management. The general complaint of a candidate at this stage is

that the company is reluctant to talk about the salary and keeps them

hanging in between for quite a considerable time. “They will talk about

everything, job profile, responsibilities, previous experience, but never

discuss salary. And even when they will raise the question, it will always

put you at a fix as to how much salary to quote?” says Rahul Ahuja, an IT

professional with five years of experience, who has recently given three

interviews in top software companies.

 

However, the companies are of the view that there is a 30-40 per cent hike

if a professional shifts from one company to another, and most organisations

comply by that standard. “The salaries are not discussed upfront and a

longer time taken since a company wants to understand an individual as to

whether he or she will fit into the workculture. It is not that companies

are reluctant to part with the salaries, but the amount of the salary also

depends on other factors like an individual’s personality, his past

performance and previous salary, whether he would be able to meet the

variables set by the company?” says Sameer Wadhwan, Vice President- HR, HP

India.

 

Agrees Salil Sankaran, Country Manager of Optimos India, who feels that

besides these there are other factors also which influence the salary

negotiation process in the case of the middle level managers like project

managers and project leaders. “First and foremost, the person should be a

good communicator, open and adaptable to changes, not just a techie but a

good manager and also have good self-marketing skills. Besides this, we also

look at the past salary and work experience while negotiating the salaries.

If the person is good, the negotiation can increase anywhere between 40-80

per cent,” he says. In the case of Legato Systems, the company tries to test

a person through a lot of case studies and has 5-6 rounds of interview

before coming to a discussion. According to Gupta, the different negotiation

rounds vary from salary, to stock options, to relocation allowance (if the

person has shifted from a different city). Whereas, in case of HP the salary

negotiation can take anywhere between a half-an-hour to even a week’s time

depending how flexible is the person in negotiation.

 

In the case of the top management level, salary negotiation forms an

essential part of an interview, as the company is not only keeping an

individual who will be heading the company, but will be charting its future

course of growth. At this level, the negotiation is not just limited to

salary, but there is negotiation in terms of his position in the company,

current responsibility, share of responsibility and vision for the

organisation. Industry studies also indicate that in this stage (top level)

in 95 per cent of cases, the individual is able to get a higher salary

through negotiation. According to PK Gupta, Director of Engineering, Legato

Systems, “Negotiation varies from company to company. In case of top

companies, the individual always has this assurance that he will be paid

rightly and he can negotiate on other factors like bonuses, stock options,

taxation and other employee benefit schemes.”

 

However, there are a few cases also, where these professionals can settle

down for a lower salary compared to their present one. According to industry

experts at this level, the individual may settle for a lower salary if the

work profile and the environment are suitable to him and there is a lot of

developmental scope within the company. Industry experts agree that the

salary negotiation process is not a very difficult and intricate one. There

are two golden rules which an individual needs to keep in mind to be a good

negotiator. The first and foremost step is to ‘assess yourself’ and then

‘market well’.

 

Besides self-assessment, says Wadhawan, an individual should also know what

is the risk factor involved, what kind of investment assurance will he get,

how realistic are the goals offered to him, what is the current loss (if he

shifts from one company to another in terms of salary and stock options) and

how aggressive is going to be the payout?

 

So, next time when you want to negotiate your salary, wait for a while,

think of your strengths and market yourself to the fullest. Probably the

trick will work!

 

Regards,

 

Prashanth Krishna

Future Software Ltd.

Chennai 35.

91 44 4330550

 

 

 

-------------------------

Register Chinese Character Domain Name- ONLY US$17/year!

100 Chinese Domain Names are registered every minute!

Time is clicking, what are you waiting for?

Go to http://www.chinese-dns.com Register NOW!!!

 

Verisign¤¤¤å³»¯Å°ì¦W²{¦b¼ö½æ¤¤¡T

¨C¤ÀÄÁ³£¦³100­Ó¤¤¤å°ì¦W³Qµù¥U¡M±zÁÙ¦bµ¥¤°»ò©O¡S

¨C­Óºô§}¬üª÷17¤¸/¦~¡T²{¦b´N¨ì http://www.chinese-dns.com µù¥U¡T