While this adage rings true in many aspects of personal and professional life, sometimes when it comes to pay negotiations, falling victim to Tiara Syndrome, aka hoping your efforts will be recognised based on merit rather than power of persuasion, is a common mistake.
This is because technical excellence alone isn’t enough to get you noticed and your employer isn’t likely to offer you more money out of the blue unless you ask for it.
3 jobs hiring across Germany
- Kundendiensttechniker (m/w/d), Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH, Berlin
- Senior Verification Architect (m/f/d), Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, Munich
- Change Program Manager, EU Workforce Staffing, Amazon TA, Munich
Ideally, your employer will have a structured pay review policy in place whereby your pay is reviewed annually in line with your professional achievements for the previous year.
But it’s worth noting that even if they do have proper HR practices in place, you still need to know how to negotiate to achieve the best package and an increase in remuneration.
Here’s how to take a more strategic approach.
Anchor the negotiations
While traditional wisdom may suggest that you should allow your employer to make the first offer and then counter it, making the first offer aka “anchoring” the negotiations is increasingly being recognised as the best move.
However, in order to do this, you’ll need to do your research beforehand. Benchmark your salary against industry standards—StackOverflow’s European salary calculator can help as can anecdotal advice from your professional network, particularly if they work in similar roles.
You should also take benefits, pension contributions and stock options into consideration as these can significantly increase your take-home pay every month.
And if you’re looking for tips on how to negotiate, Stanford Business has several blogs which offer insights into the process, as does Harvard Law School which has a number of free reports and guides on negotiation.
Maintain your composure
When negotiating your salary, it’s important to say as little as possible, maintain your composure and let your manager do most of the talking. For example, if you suggest a figure first and they say it is too high, ask them for a salary range.
This way you can then ask them to explain what you would need to do or achieve to earn the top end of the salary scale. By asking your manager to explain their expectations about your salary you will be able to leverage your achievements and successes to boost your argument, based on their guidelines and KPIs.
Or, if you want your employer to state the salary range first before offering your own salary expectations, make sure you’ve done your homework about salary benchmarks and industry averages so you can highlight how your skills and experience are in line with a higher salary package.
For example, you could say, ”Senior developers in Berlin with my tech stack typically earn between €80,000 and €110,000. How does my experience align with your expectations?”
Keep a long-term perspective
While it’s frustrating to feel as though you aren’t progressing financially in your current role, you should consider what else your job provides from a career progression standpoint.
If you’re working for a cash-strapped start up that offers employee stock options and you’re confident that it could be the next big household name in the next five years, a couple of thousand euro now doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
However, if you feel as though your career progression has stalled in line with your bank balance, it could be time to reconsider your next steps—according to career planning website Zippia, the average pay boost when changing jobs is 14.8%.
