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Sell yourself before talking compensation

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 5/1/05

Every job seeker lucky enough to be interviewed for a position has an essential question on his or her mind: Will they make me an offer?

If so, then the candidate is confronted with evaluating and negotiating the best possible compensation package, which is perhaps the toughest task in the employment process.

And today, with limited hiring still in vogue, that can be a dicey proposition for an applicant, one that requires a thoughtful, assertive strategy carried out with a cool demeanor, according to job counselors and employers.

But it takes some doing because many individuals who routinely negotiate for a car purchase or a mortgage approach the salary issue with some trepidation, said Renee Gilson, senior vice president and managing director of Lee Hecht Harrison, an outplacement firm with regional offices in Boston, Burlington, Westborough, Manchester, N.H., and Providence.

Salary discussions are indeed "an emotional issue for candidates" because they aren't likely to know in advance whether there will be an opportunity to dicker, added Jack Nehiley, a senior vice president in the Boston office of Management Recruiters. "Also, while some employers will be willing to negotiate on salary matters, others will present take-it-or-leave-it offers," he noted.

However, a candidate who sells himself or herself to an employer before delving into the salary issue has the best chance of receiving an offer and then perhaps upping the ante, employment counselors agree.

Mario DiBenedetto, for example, said he followed that route, emphasizing his abilities from the start, when he interviewed for the top financial position in the Boston office of Affiliated Computer Services Inc., which specializes in information technology outsourcing for corporate and government clients. That led to an offer, he said, which was subsequently enhanced through negotiating "in a nice way." He began work nearly six weeks ago as vice president and chief financial officer.

Salary strategizing begins when a candidate does a thorough job of researching a targeted company and the open position he is interested in. A candidate who is contacted by a recruiter will be told the salary range right off the bat because the recruiter is working for a corporate client and wants to find out immediately whether the candidate's salary requirements can be met.

If a candidate is doing the job search on his own, they can surf the Internet and websites like salary.com, which give salary information by job title and region, or network among friends and acquaintances who may know, or can find out, pay levels.

Beware, though, of data gathered on the Internet because it may not be up-to-date, said Rebecca R. Hastings, manager of the Society for Human Resource Management's information center in Alexandria, Va.

"So, an applicant investigating pay rates should be sure to check multiple sources and verify the nature of the information he or she has," Hastings suggested.

With accurate salary information in hand, an applicant should evaluate whether the compensation matches the job description and how he wants to balance his time on and off the job, counselors say.

Although it's sound advice for a candidate not to be fixated on salary at the outset of an interview, "an employer will push the salary button early, wanting to know what a candidate currently makes" and wants to earn in a new job, said Carl Lopes, vice president of corporate employment for Staples, the large Framingham-based office supply company, which has 64,000 employees in North America.

And how a candidate answers salary questions will largely determine whether he is knocked out of the box or is on his way to getting an offer, Lopes said. An applicant who does end up getting an offer from any company should think over the offer for a day, employment specialists say, before deciding to accept it, reject it, or - and this can be a huge challenge - negotiate with an employer for a sweeter deal.

DiBenedetto, 38, of Reading, said he discussed his offer with his employment counselor, Denise King of Drake Beam Morin Inc. "Denise helped me put some things down on paper so that I'd be better prepared when I met again" with the hiring manager, said DiBenedetto, who previously had been finance director of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

King, the district managing consultant New England to the career transition and consulting firm, said, "A lot of these discussions center on clarifying things in an offer. Mario, for instance, wanted to frame things in his mind in terms of, "How are these things going to work for me?"

For DiBenedetto, "these things" turned out to be additional vacation time and a stipend for weekday parking. "What I ended up with was generous and fair," he said, declining to be specific about his perks or salary. A candidate who opts for negotiating a compensation and benefits package will generally find employers to be receptive, particularly if it is an executive or exempt position, according to the results of a survey released in April 2004 by the Society for Human Resource Management. The trade group queried 418 human resource professionals from its membership and 352 employees.

In bargaining with an employer, an applicant should try to figure out from his perspective what "would be the breaking point," said Gilson of Lee Hecht Harrison. A candidate also might explore certain tradeoffs such as compromising on salary in return for stock options or more vacation time "to achieve better work/life balance," said Lucinda Doran, chief executive of Corporate Advisory Group, a Newton human resource consulting firm.

Although there are frequently wide-ranging discussions with executive candidates concerning signing bonuses, stock options, and other incentives, Lopes said, the midlevel prospect, or someone who would be making between $50,000 and $60,000 a year, can also benefit from reasoned negotiations.

"For instance, there could be wiggle room of $4,000 to $6,000 more in salary, increased vacation, and perhaps a sign-on bonus and a stock option of 500 shares for an outstanding candidate committed" to really doing the job, he said.

Edith Mooers, 41, of Melrose, discovered last year that BAE Systems of Burlington was willing to increase her starting salary.

"After getting an offer, I told them that I was expecting a raise, which was true, from Lincoln Labs, so that I needed something extra to come with them," said Mooers, noting that her BAE starting salary was bumped up "several thousand dollars" to more than $75,000 a year.

She began her new job last July as a senior engineer.

The BAE recruiter also offered her three weeks of vacation a year instead of two, Mooers said. "He was very straightforward and honest with me and that made for very pleasant negotiations."

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