Get Paid What You’re Worth: Salary Research Essentials

Erin Schwartz (00:04):

Hello everyone. Thank you again for being here today. My name is Erin Schwartz and I’m the marketing acquisition director here at iHire. I want to offer you a warm welcome to today’s webinar, Get Paid What You’re Worth: Salary Research Essentials. Before we get started, I’d like to point out some features on our webinar platform that put you in the driver’s seat. The widgets you see allow you to move and resize windows and explore content related to today’s presentation. As Lori mentioned, you can find the ask a question widget and submit your questions at any time during the presentation. Only our producers will see the questions and we’ll answer as many as we can after the webinar. Lastly, keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for a recording of the webinar. With that, I would like to welcome today’s presenter, Lori Cole. Lori is a Certified Career Coach and Advisor, Brand Ambassador, and Content Creator. With over 20 years of experience in staffing and recruiting in the online world. Lori’s past successes at iHire include directing the customer success team, the outplacement team, and the career advisor team. She’s always looking for ways to make life easier for our job seekers. Before we begin our presentation, let’s start with a quick poll.

(01:21):

All right, folks, what is the most challenging thing about negotiating salary that you’ve come across to date? Is it knowing what salary you should ask for? Understanding the total compensation packages that are available, comparing multiple offers or knowing when you should accept or make a counteroffer.

Lori Cole (01:47):

Alright, I’m going to go over today’s agenda. We are going to talk all about the critical first step in salary negotiation and understanding what you’re worth. There’s a lot that goes into determining your ideal salary, and we’ll show you how to come up with that magic number by understanding your current market, understanding your specific value, determining your own financial needs and the benefits that you must have researching every company before you start negotiating and knowing how to make counter offers successfully.

Erin Schwartz (02:33):

Thank you, Lori. Before we dive in, let’s take a look at those poll results. Oh, wow. I know for me, my biggest challenge has always been knowing what salary I should ask for. So definitely I’m not alone, and that also happens to be a great lead in to our first point, which is researching similar roles in your industry. Lori, can you tell us a little bit about why this is important?

Lori Cole (02:58):

Sure. Staying informed is important as a candidate and a job seeker. Knowing the going rate for your skills really helps you to walk into negotiations with confidence and knowing that you’re being paid fairly because really nobody wants to discover that they’re not being paid fairly after you’ve already signed the cover letter. So doing your homework upfront really will educate you on market rates and give you the confidence that your expectations are realistic. Location also plays a big role because salaries and pay vary a lot depending on where you live and the cost of living can be a huge factor. So for instance, what is considered fair pay and maybe New York City might be very different than a small town in the Midwest. So how do you figure out what the right salary range is? Well, you’re going to start with the job ads. More and more job postings now are including those salary ranges right within the listing.

(04:16):

So that gives you transparency and makes it really easy to spot trends in your field. Another great tool are the salary calculators iHire has one built into our platform and it pulls data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, plus we use our own universe of proprietary data so we can give you a realistic range for your role and your location. Also, we’re going to pepper this presentation with AI tips. If you’re not using AI in your job search, you’re really missing out on a great tool other than I hire. I think it should be your BFF of your job search. iHire first ChatGPT second, but use AI tools to speed things up. They’re really great at pulling together massive amounts of data to give you current and accurate salary benchmarks. So what you would do is plug in your location, job title, and experience level and see what comes back.

(05:32):

So let’s go over this prompt and don’t worry about writing all of these prompts down because you are going to get a copy of this presentation tomorrow. So you’re going to be able to go back, read it word for word and copy it and paste it into ChatGPT or whatever AI tool you’re using. So don’t worry about frantically writing this down, but this is the prompt you’ll use because all about being successful with the AI tools is the way you prompt them in writing good prompts. So what is the average salary range for my job title with my years of experience and in my location? Please include variations based on industry, company size, and any relevant certifications or skills that could impact your salary. I’m seeing lots of emojis, so I’m thinking that there’s a lot of you out there using AI tools and ChatGPT for this. So good for you. That’s great

Erin Schwartz (06:38):

ChatGPT is definitely one of my BFFs for sure. Yeah, me too. Just to reiterate, Lori, what you said, you should figure out how to strategically leverage generative AI through every step of this process. It’s such a huge game changer in terms of the job search. I also wanted to comment on salary transparency. I was just reading an article the other day that said salary transparency is at an all time high with employers. I think the stat was nearly 50% of all jobs now have salary data, and we know from our own internal data pulling our own job seekers that this continues to be year over year the number one thing that is the biggest thing they’re looking for in a job ad. And it’s great that employers are finally listening.

Lori Cole (07:26):

Yeah, I think with the research that we’ve done, the employers will get 30% more applications if they put that salary inside their job posting. So it’s only to their benefit to do it, and then it benefits the job seeker as well. So that’s a good thing.

Erin Schwartz (07:45):

Yep. All right. So now that we’ve talked about how to research salaries for similar roles in your industry, but that’s just the starting point, right? The real question now is how do you figure out what your unique value is? Lori, can you walk us through that?

Lori Cole (08:01):

Yes. Now that you know what your going rate is for someone like you, it’s time to figure out your own salary range because that just gave you an idea of somebody kind of with your skills and experience and job titles. But we want to narrow this down to what does someone exactly like you make? So we want it to reflect your experience, your skills, and your qualifications. So one of the things to think about is what you’ve accomplished in your career so far. How have you made a difference in the roles that you’ve had and what wins have you had that prove your value? You’ll want to write all of those things down because those are really good starting points to start preparing some interview answers as well. Don’t forget your credentials, things like your degree, any licenses and certifications all add weight to your ask.

(09:05):

Then look at the skills that set you apart. Now, I have a coworker, Laura, who always talks about what makes you a unicorn, and that’s kind of the way you have to think. Ask yourself, what makes me a unicorn? What do I do better than most? Maybe you’re a natural problem solver, an exceptional leader, or just the kind of person that really can understand in master new tools in record time, getting clear on what makes you unique, helps you to put a fair market value on yourself. Another thing that you could do, you could map out your salary range or salary history over time, but you’ll want to keep that for your own reference. You should never give that to a prospective employer because it’s none of their business. So here’s your AI tip. Try running your resume, your cover letter and your LinkedIn profile through an AI tool, and to pull out, it’s going to pull out your unique selling points or what makes you a unicorn.

(10:14):

You might be surprised, it could surface some strengths that you didn’t think about or it could highlight some gaps that you could work on. But just make sure that if you’re using a tool, you have it locked down so that it’s keeping your personal data secure and it’s not using it to train. And that’s a setting in your AI where you can say, don’t use my data to train. So here’s your example. Prompt, analyze my resume and identify the key skills, achievements, and experience that makes me stand out in my field. Highlight any unique qualifications, certifications, or accomplishments that could justify asking for a higher salary compared to the industry average. So yeah, that is a super thorough prompt and you’ll be surprised at what it gives back.

Erin Schwartz (11:10):

A couple other things that come to mind with generative AI and ChatGPT. Again, just reiterating the importance of data security. There’s going to be a setting and whatever generative AI tool you’re using to help you turn off the model that uses it for learning, that would share your data with other people. If you don’t know where to find it, you could probably just ask ChatGPT or if ChatGPT is what you use, you could probably just ask ChatGPT how you would turn off that feature. Yes,

Lori Cole (11:41):

And it’ll give you step-by-step instructions.

Erin Schwartz (11:43):

And then the other cool thing about ChatGPT is if it’s a long time, BF of yours like it is for me and Lori, it knows a lot about you, and you could also ask ChatGPT to just tell you a little bit about yourself from just the prompts that you’ve entered. And I think another untapped resource too is your friends, your family, the relationships that you’ve kept with past coworkers, current coworkers. Ask them. Ask them for their opinion for the three words to describe you for something they remember about something you achieved. Really lean on them because I’m sure you would do the same for them.

Lori Cole (12:23):

Yes, absolutely. A lot of times your friends will tell you and you’ll think, oh, I didn’t even know that about myself, or I wouldn’t have predicted that somebody would say that about me.

Erin Schwartz (12:37):

Alright, so now that you’ve taken a good look at your unique value, so your experience, skills, everything you bring to the table, the next step is connecting to that market. Lori, how do you actually turn that into a salary range that you can use?

Lori Cole (12:53):

Alright, so it’s time to put it all together. You’ve done your market research, your unique value, and it’s time to come up with this realistic salary range for yourself. So the most important number to figure out is what the absolute lowest salary would be that you would be able to take where you would say below this amount, it is just not worth it. And that number should be based on your current financial needs and your situation. Think about your cost of living, your everyday expenses, your savings goals, and the things that you like to spend money on, factor in both your short-term and long-term lifestyle goals. Things like relocating, buying a house, going back to school, or starting a family. And a very simple way to break this down is this 50, 30, 20 budgeting rule. So if you’re not familiar, it’s 50% of your salary should go to needs, 30% of it should go to once and 20% of it should go to savings.

(14:09):

From there, you can set yourself a $10,000 range. Now, if I would say if your salary is under $200,000 a year, a $10,000 range is probably good. If you’re starting to get up to over $200,000 a year, sometimes you can go up to that like a $20,000 range, but the goal is to keep this realistic. So for example, you’d say, I’m looking for a salary range between 50 and $60,000 based on my research, not based on my needs, not based on because I’ve got this house payment or we’re going to Disney next year, or we’ve got this car payment, two car payments we have to make. It is based on the research that I’ve done, not based, you don’t want to tell a prospective employer you need money because of your own living expenses are like, I’ve got a really expensive house payment, or I’ve got two car payments.

(15:15):

So just be careful about that, but you’ll want to keep that range realistic because if you go too broad, you’re going to sound very unfocused, but if you go too narrow, you might be leaving a little money on the table. So if you’re targeting different types of roles, create a range for each of the roles. So if you’re going after a manager’s position, that range might be slightly higher than if you were going after a non managerial position. Maybe you’ve decided that you could accept less for a fully remote position. That gives you flexibility if that’s a big priority for you alongside your salary. Also, think about your benefit must haves or deal breakers like certain health coverage, flexible schedules or hybrid work. And we’ll go deeper into these non-monetary benefits in a few slides. I can tell you I saw a Facebook quiz this weekend and my husband and I were in the car and it said something like, what advice would you give your younger self?

(16:28):

And I said, my advice would be get that 401k account. Every job you need to have a 401k account or be putting money back because a lot of people don’t start thinking about it until later in life and then you’re playing catch up. So just an aside, so the AI tools are really good for budgeting here and testing whether your salary range will actually support your lifestyle and long-term goals. So you can put all of this stuff into chat, GPT, put in your expenses, put in what you think you’re going to make, put in all of the things that your lifestyle goals that you have, and it will give you back a range. And I think that it will also help you with that budgeting for the 50, 30, 20 rule

Erin Schwartz (17:26):

Going through this presentation. I think one of my favorite tips is you don’t have to provide an exact salary number. If someone asks you what your desired salary is,

Lori Cole (17:38):

Provide

Erin Schwartz (17:38):

A range, provide a range, provide a range. That is key. And I think it offers a lot of relief. It relieves a lot of pressure being able to provide that range, I think that’s huge.

Lori Cole (17:50):

Yeah.

Erin Schwartz (17:52):

Alright, so now we’ve defined our needs and set a range that makes sense. But before you head into a negotiation, there’s one more layer to consider the company itself. Lori, how should people approach that part?

Lori Cole (18:09):

Well, you have to research the company. One of the things that really frustrates me during an interview as an employer is when you ask the person that you’re interviewing, what do you know about the company? And if they say, oh, well nothing really just based on what you had in the job posting or they’ll give you some vague, I think this is what you do, that does not start the interview off well. I think that the more you can research the company before you go in, the better off you’re going to be. So look at the things like company size, their financial health, their industry, their location and their benefits package. Ask yourself, does your range still makes sense for this company given their current situation? Is there something about them that’s so appealing that you’d consider a slightly lower salary? Maybe they have very strong growth potential.

(19:19):

Maybe you’re getting into the ground floor of a startup. Maybe it’s a remote or hybrid work option, or extremely generous PTO, employer paid benefits, tuition reimbursement, that flexibility that a lot of us are working or looking for in hybrid situations or just work from home situations or a super short commute. So all of these perks is called the total compensation package. So you’ll want to consider the total compensation package. Two roles might have exactly the same title, but the salary you negotiate could be very different based on what additional benefits they’re offering. So doing your homework really helps to make you stand out and you’ll come across as a candidate who is invested in that job and genuinely prepared to talk about your future with the company. AI can really speed this up. And I’ve been going to do this and I haven’t done it yet, but I think that I could create a chat, GPT, like a private GPT or public GPT that would help people research a company. So all you’d have to do is put in the job you’re going for the company, their website, and just have it tell you the things like where are their locations, what are their reviews on Glassdoor?

(21:02):

What are the recent news publications on this? I think that that would be a very valuable tool to help people to do this research and to know what to ask it. But since that tool isn’t available yet, we would use this prompt. So provide a detailed overview of the company, including its industry position, recent financial performance, company culture, and average salaries for job roles. Highlight any recent news growth opportunities or challenges the company is facing that could impact my salary negotiation. I think that’s super important. Include tips on how to align my salary expectation with the company goals and values. I love that part because I know that iHire has core values and if somebody would come in and talk about our core values in an interview and how it aligns with maybe that person’s salary expectations, that would be huge and that would really set you apart from other candidates

Erin Schwartz (22:18):

For the whole kind of job seeking job interviewing process. Every single time you interact with the employer is an opportunity to leave an impression. So when you get to the question about salary where you have to discuss it with the employer, they’re probably using the same tools and resources that you are to research what you’re going to come at them with. And being able to speak to that will leave an impression. And that will mean a lot hiring managers, they really appreciate candidates that have done their research because they know that they’ll apply that same strategic mindset to the job.

Lori Cole (22:57):

Yes, exactly.

Erin Schwartz (23:00):

Alright, so once you’ve researched the company and have a good sense of their pay practices, the next step is what happens when the offer actually comes in? Lori, what should someone do at that point?

Lori Cole (23:12):

Well, before we go into this, I want to tell you, when you’re starting to negotiate this offer, a lot of times you’ll be in interviews and somebody will say, well, what are you expecting as far as salary? Or what are you making now? What’s your current salary? Really none of their business because you are not interviewing for the job you already have, you’re interviewing for their position. So what you’re currently making shouldn’t really even anything they discuss. One of the things that I would always tell candidates as a recruiter is, please don’t be the first person to mention a figure. If they ask you what your salary is or what your expected salary is. Try to say something like, well, I saw in your job posting that it was this range, or I don’t know enough about the job really yet to tell you what the expected salary would be.

(24:21):

I’d like to return maybe to that at the end of the interview or if we go down the path here together, but do what you can to kind of think of it as a pickle ball or a tennis tennis match and just kick that ball back into their court and do what you can to deflect it. Because the first person that starts talking about salary and says a number first usually loses. So just something to remember. It’s so much easier now with these salary transparency laws. So many states are requiring the employers to put this in their job ads. But when you get an offer, and it should be a written offer, you should, verbal offers are great, but written offers, it’s not a real offer until it’s a written offer because you need that to be able to look at the total compensation package.

(25:21):

But if it falls within your range before deciding to negotiate either a higher salary or additional benefits, you’ll want to see if it’s within your expectations. If you’re happy with the benefits and the salary, you could accept it, but we almost always recommend negotiating just a little bit because employers expect this, and it really gives you an opportunity to demonstrate the negotiation skills like Erin was talking about. Every interaction with that employer is an opportunity to impress. So if you are impressing them with your valuable soft skills of negotiation, that’s a great thing. That’s really a mark in your column to your favor. If you’re closer to the bottom of the range, that is really the time to negotiate. You can counter with something closer to the high end of your range, but again, keep the company and the rule and some of their specific factors in mind.

(26:34):

In some cases, companies can’t budge on salary or they can’t budge on other things like 4 0 1 match, but they can budge on things like, will you provide me a sign-on bonus? Will you promise that you’re going to review my salary at the end of 90 days when you see that I’m just killing it and doing a great job for you? You could maybe ask for more paid time off. So there are a lot of factors and things that you could negotiate for that aren’t set in stone, but sometimes the employer does have things set in stone that they can’t budge on. If an offer is significantly below your range and you’ve done your research and due diligence, this could be a red flag about the company itself. So further negotiation may not be worth your time, but if you find yourself in this situation where you’re asked to name your salary requirements first, sometimes they back you into a corner and you can’t help it. So that’s the time when you have your range and you can pull that out of your pocket and say, based on my research for this particular job title, this location, this type of an industry, my ranges between 50 and 60,000. And then that ball is back into their court and you can negotiate from there.

(28:13):

I still have these AI prompts, sorry, sorry, I didn’t scroll down on the page. Part of two super good AI prompts here. So help me create a list of persuasive talking points for salary negotiation. Consider my specific skills, certifications or achievements, the industry average salary for the job title in this location. And the value I bring to the company include ways to handle potential objections and emphasize my unique contributions to justify my desired salary of X amount of dollars. I love the part of the prompt there that says, give me the potential objections and the answers to those objections because that really helps you be prepared. I mean, this is almost like no fare to the employer because you’re going to have such a leg up. And then the second one is compare the following job offers based on salary, benefits, work-life balance, growth opportunities, company culture, and long-term potential. And then if you have multiple job offers, which would fantastic because that’s really where you want to be, be able to choose between two or three different companies. You can put the details of all of those written offers and then chat, GPT will kind of based on what it knows about you and the process that you’ve worked through so far, will be able to tell you what the best offer is based on your needs and what you’ve been looking for.

Erin Schwartz (30:02):

First of all, excellent pickleball reference. Bravo. Thank you. Second of all, I wanted to share a tip that I’ve received several times in my job searching experience, which is it is the time that you’re negotiating with an employer ahead of accepting the role. This is the time to increase your salary. I think sometimes job seekers may kind of shy away and think, oh, well, I can just bring this up after they’ve hired me. But that is almost never the case. This is your time to really get your salary to the place that you want.

Lori Cole (30:38):

Excellent point, because in my recruiting days, we would say, all right, the power has shifted to you now as the candidate because the employer wants you and they’re kind of courting you now. So it really should give you a little bit more confidence that you’re okay to negotiate because they want you.

Erin Schwartz (31:05):

Yes. All right. Well, now that we’ve gone through the entire process together, let’s do a quick recap of the key steps we went through today. So your first step is to understand what the current market is like. Remember to not sell yourself short, but also don’t be unrealistic. You want to come up with a salary range that factors details in such as your unique value, your experience, credentials, skills, et cetera, what your current financial situation and needs are, your must have and non-negotiable benefits. Remember the 50, 30, 20 rule that we went over a few slides ago. Definitely thoroughly research the company before you start negotiating. And this is actually going to help you throughout your entire interview process. It will help you along every step of the way, not just the salary negotiation step. Be ready to make counter offers and stay flexible. Remember, the employer is expecting you to come back with a counter offer. And finally, use ai. Pull up your BFF chat, GPT to help you conduct research, make comparisons, create talking points, et cetera. And with that, we’ll move into my favorite part of the presentation, which is the q and a reminder. If you have questions, please submit them through the q and a widget that you see, and we will try to get through as many as we can.

(32:32):

Alright, here’s a good one. Oh, can you lose an offer by negotiating your salary?

Lori Cole (32:45):

Usually not. But I do feel that I know of a situation where my son did that because who’s going to listen to mom as a career coach, even though this is what I do every day? It’s like, no, I’ve got it. I’ve got it. So I think that where my son made the mistake was he kept going back. He instead of negotiating everything at once, instead of just taking the offer saying, okay, these are the three things that I want to negotiate. He went back one thing at a time, and I think that they got tired of him doing it because they would give in, he’d keep going back, they’d given again, he’d go back again. So that is definitely something that you should not do. So decide what you want to negotiate. Go back in one email or one negotiation session, say, these are the things that are on the table that I hope that we can talk about and see if we can do better with. But as long as you do that and stay respectful and collaborative and just concise, I think that you’re going to be okay.

Erin Schwartz (34:14):

We had a very related question also come in. How many times should you go back and forth during salary negotiation? So what I’m hearing, Lori, is one time, maybe two max, would you say that’s accurate?

Lori Cole (34:26):

Yeah, a couple of times is okay. And it doesn’t mean if you’re close to a deal on that second time and you’re having a good conversation, you’re going back and forth, keep the conversation going. But when you start sensing that the employer is getting antsy or annoyed, that is when you’re going to want to shut it down and say, alright, I think we’re there and accept the offer or dec decline the offer wherever you are.

Erin Schwartz (35:06):

Oh, here’s a good one. Should you approach salary research and negotiate remote jobs?

Lori Cole (35:16):

Okay. You cut out just a little bit there. Should you approach it differently for remote jobs?

Erin Schwartz (35:23):

Yes. Yes.

Lori Cole (35:23):

Okay. Yeah, probably because I know that during the pandemic when people started to exit out of Silicone Valley, a lot of those development engineers were making tons of money. So they were forced to work at home and they thought, well, why am I staying here where the cost of living is probably the highest in the country? Why don’t I move closer to my family or go back home to the Midwest or whatever. And then the Silicon Valley started to say, well, wait a minute. We’re paying you this top of the right rate, top of the line salary here, and your cost of living ISN isn’t there anymore. So as they would hire new people in, I think the norm has become, we’re going to pay you what your cost of living is in your area of the country. We’re not going to pay it based on maybe where our corporate office lives or is. So yeah, know their policy maybe factor in the cost of living and what your target range is, but I think location does matter in the end.

Erin Schwartz (36:49):

I know we talked about this one, but I think it’s an important one. Can employers ask you for your salary history?

Lori Cole (36:57):

They can ask you, but you don’t have to give it to them. I think a lot of states have maybe even said, you’re not allowed in the whole interview process. You are not allowed to ask about somebody’s history, and it’s maybe even illegal. So if they do ask you about the history, try to steer the conversation away from that and to what you expect as a salary. Instead, have that range just solid in your head so that it just practice it so that it just comes off. My range is 50 to $60,000 a year, and that based on my research, so that you have set it enough that it’s very natural to you.

Erin Schwartz (37:54):

When a job listing includes a salary range, why would you ask for anything less than the maximum?

Lori Cole (38:02):

It’s so funny because when I talk to employers, they kind of have a complaint about that. Like, oh, everybody feels like they’re worth the top of the range. It really does depend on your experience, your qualifications. If you have everything they’re asking for in spades and there is nothing missing and you are the perfect fit for that job, then absolutely ask for that maximum top of the range. But if there’s any areas for improvement, if there’s anything that you need to learn, if there’s any certifications you need to gain, just try to be realistic. But it is funny because candidates always feel they’re worth the top of the range, and employers always feel like they’re worth the bottom of the range and they want to give you room to work up. So yeah, it’s a little bit of a dance there.

Erin Schwartz (39:07):

We have one listener who moved to a city with a higher cost of living than where they moved from, but the city they moved to has a lower cost of labor. I’ve found many companies, including my own base, salaries off of cost of labor instead of cost of living. Can you speak to why this might be?

Lori Cole (39:28):

Well, yeah. I think it’s because they want to be competitive in that marketplace. So cost of, yeah, I think it’s because they want to be competitive. They don’t want to pay you more than their neighbors down the street are paying because they don’t want other companies within the area to start raising those salaries and making it harder for them to attract the talent. So it’s almost like a little unspoken thing that happens in your communities where I know I used to run a temp service and the temp in manufacturing, and the manufacturers were always making sure that they were just within 15, 20 cents of the other manufacturing companies in the area, and I don’t think that cost of living went into their equation at all.

Erin Schwartz (40:34):

All right. I think that is all the time we have left for today. We really appreciate everyone who submitted your questions and took time out of your busy days to learn more about how to determine your ideal salary. And another thank you to our presenter, Lori Cole. Remember to keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for an on-demand recording of today’s webinar, as well as an invitation to our next webinar in a few weeks. In the meantime, check out our resource center for more free tips, advice and guidance on salary negotiation. We also have an on-demand masterclass on salary negotiation created by Lori, which you can complete on your own pace to take your negotiation skills to the next level. These are all available for you to check out in that resources widget. Thanks again, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.