New job, same company, new salary
I have been offered a different position in my company that I consider to be a significant step up -- at the very least, a good challenge for me. I am friendly with my soon-to-be boss and he is a laid-back fellow who essentially hand-picked me for the job, and in our initial offer meeting he said not to be afraid to discuss money with him, etc, etc. He made me an offer of current salary+10%. This is lower than I was expecting, although I hadn't based my expectations on any truly hard data. There are other people with the same job title in the group I will be joining but it feels awkward asking/discussing this with them. I told new boss I wanted to discuss further after the long weekend and said that was fine. I will be moving from a product support role to a product management role. The issue I am having is that I have no idea what the salary range is for my new title, and it sounds like my offer is based on what I am making now and not necessarily on the actual range for the new job. I don't want to be locked into a lowball salary. We have not yet discussed bonus. Could be the same as my old job -- 1% -- or it could be tied to product revenue once I am up to speed on the products I will be handling/developing. But it is the base range that is the real unknown here and I don't think it's realistic to call up HR and say "hey guys, what's the range?" My plan is to counter with current+20% which would put me at what I envisioned as the low end of the range that I made up in my head. I'm not sure how much the salary charts out there apply to this particular job in this company although there are plenty of "product managers" out there to use for comparison. I do plan to bring in charts from this site and others, though. Any other ammo I should bring? I performed extremely well in my current job and expect to do the same in my new job, but I don't know if I can use my successes in my current job as reasons I should get a higher salary. I could ask for a six month review/revisit of salary but that would put me at year-end review anyway, so that would be redundant. Base pay is really the only thing I'm interested in discussing; my PTO is pretty well determined by corporate policy and is decent enough that I don't feel the need to ask for more. Would rather have the cashflow. Any and all advice appreciated! In essence, this is a promotion and that makes it tricky. First off, they're putting you into a job that no one else will hire you for because you haven't done it yet. That's a great opportunity even if the salary stays the same. Secondly, there are usually complex formulas for promotions. They want to bring you into the new range, close to the midpoint, but not so close that you can't get a raise down the road. Because you haven't done the job before, they're not going to bring you in over the midpoint for sure. So, I would start by asking the boss where you will rate on the range for this job and if there's any wiggle room to go a bit higher. If not, then I'd still take it. If nothing else, you'll have a higher title and more experience next year to take elsewhere if you don't like how the compensation is going at that point.
Tess I wouldn't bring in any other outside data to justify a larger percentage. What some external salary survey says has absolutely nothing to do with you, your qualifications, this particular job or it's particular requirements. Besides, for every "survey" that says jobs like this should pay X, there's another survey out there someplace that the company could produce that will show that jobs like this should pay -X. Since salary is negotiable, I'd build my case around highlighting how my experience, training, skills, past job performance, and education were a great match for the requirements of the job - especially since you were "hand-picked." I'd also say that I was anticipating an increase in the current salary +15% range and see what happens, (my guess would be that you'll settle for something in between the two percentages. I'd also ask for a performance and salary review in six months, which will give you plenty of time to learn the job and demonstrate what you can accomplish and, hopefully, justify another upward jump in salary. Then you'll have demonstrated that you not only can do the job, but that you can make the job worth even more to the employer based on your performance! Make sense? Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert
Listen to Paul.... He's right--do not bring in any outside salary data. I know, as do many others on this board, what happens when you try to base your desired salary on salary.com or other external surveys. They whip out their data indicating that what they're offering you is well within the "market" range for the job. Build your case on what you bring to the job, how well you match its requirements, etc. | |
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