How I Help Others Prepare for Salary Negotiations: Research, Research, Research
By: Adam Ross Nelson
Tags: Negotiation, Career Advice, Statistics, Salary, Data Science

How I Help Others Prepare for Salary Negotiations: Research, Research, Research

Introduction

Whether you are seeking a new job, entering the workforce after an absence, or simply want a competitive advantage in negotiating your next raise, one piece of information is critical: What your salary be?

All images prepared by the author, using stock images at Canva.com. Caption reads: When you’ve read 100 books on technical interviews.

While job candidates regularly research company history, social media profiles of prospective bosses (or coworkers), plus job qualifications and expectations, salary research remains a black hole. For example, how many hours have you spent studying for a technical interview? How many blogs or books have you read on about acing technical interviews? Compare for a moment the time you’ve spent on other job search activity but not on researching salary.

According to the results of a recent survey I conducted (available below), better than a full third, 35 percent, of job candidates admit to conducting no salary research at all. One in three job candidates rarely research and compare salaries, and less than one in 10 job candidates “always” research salary comparisons.

Negotiating Salary Is Hard

These findings regarding salary research are as startling as they are shocking. Salary plays an important role in any job-related decision. When evaluating a job offer or deciding to remain with a company — for many, of course, salary is at least as important as job expectations, perks, office relationships.

Negotiating salary is hard. Everything about this topic is hard. For example, merely knowing where to start that salary negotiation is a major obstacle for many professionals. These difficulties are an important reason why more people are not researching salaries. There is another important reason too.

The other reason that leads to insufficient salary research is more fundamental. The fundamental reason relates to another major finding from the above-mentioned survey (which is available via the link at the bottom of this article): the lack of confidence most feel toward researching salary on their own.

Chart prepared by author from data collected through his recent survey.

In the same survey mentioned above (and available at the bottom of this article), nearly two-thirds of those who responded said they had no, slight, or only moderate confidence in their ability to find useful salary comparisons. A small proportion of respondents, just 10 percent, said they were “extremely” confident in their ability to find useful data comparisons. Barely 20 percent said they were “very” confident.

A Lack Of Confidence

This lack of confidence is understandable for several reasons: there are myriad factors and dimensions to consider. For example, differences in employment history and skills sets. The list of complex factors also includes geographic location. In many emerging fields, such as data science, educational considerations are difficult to work through because there is no standard career path for the field.

All images prepared by the author, using stock images at Canva.com. Caption reads: Your desk after you’re done with an intense research project.

Then there are also the roles of bonuses and job perks. When relying on internet sources, it is difficult to know which sources may be trustworthy. Will you rely on chat rooms, social media, Reddit, Facebook groups, or something else?

This lack of confidence is a problem that outside help, from a professional career coach, can solve. Career coaches can help pinpoint salary expectations and help guide you through a successful salary negotiation and other career transitions. As these coaches point out, there is a clear return on investment for those who take the time to conduct salary research.

Just what is that return on investment? The survey referenced above, shows:

Those who conduct salary research are more than three times likely to have six-figure incomes.

Those who use three or more strategies to research salaries may increase their odds of earning a six-figure salary by as much as 15 times.

Of those workers who already have a six-figure income, 90% reported using at least one salary research strategy.

For more information on this survey, see the link at the bottom of this article.

If only one thing is clear from these statistics, it is this: Those who engage in targeted salary research are in good and high-earning company.

Salary Research Is Not Costly

What’s more, salary research is typically low cost, requires moderate effort, and requires relatively small amounts of time. As you research salaries, keep in mind an important point: A single salary does not tell the complete story of salaries for your industry. Finding what one other person earns, or what another single organization pays for your role, is not necessarily a definitive indicator of what you should earn. You need more information.

Salary research, as you will see, is a holistic and multi-part process. At each part along the way through this process, you’ll discover many data points. While discovering each data point, each salary you find simply gives a single data point. In the final analysis, you should combine all the data points before arriving at a well-informed conclusion.

Four Salary Research Strategies

Ready to get started? Here is more information on the four practices you can use to research salary.

1) Use Your Own Personal Network

Get ready to network! This strategy is useful for those who are in the middle or latter part of their career. Mid and late-career professionals likely developed an extensive network of co-workers, former associates, old bosses, favorite instructors, and mentors who are well-entrenched in their industry and have broad visibility and experience with salaries. Now is the time to put that network to work for you.

Your personal network may include people who are involved in interviewing, making job offers, and ultimately hiring employees with similar skill sets and job descriptions.

Of course, this brand of communication requires discretion. Going in cold and quizzing anyone about their compensation may feel invasive. It’s generally taboo to talk about salary and money. The opportunity to discuss the subject of salary may not come about naturally. Below are suggestions on how to break the ice in ways that will not feel invasive.

When, for example, on the other hand, you are maintaining or reviving your interpersonal connections, the opportunity to chat about a specific topic (in this case salary) can help bring a sense of purpose to your discussions. By being clear and upfront with your contacts that you have an interest in chatting about this topic, you will bring a sense of purpose to your networking efforts. Another helpful step is to look for ways to share what you learn through your conversations back with your contacts. Let your contacts know that you’d be happy to share with them the combined results of all your discussions.

If you promise to deliver the results of your conversations, be sure to follow through. This way, when it is time to reconnect again another time, your contacts will remember that you also provided them with value through your discussions.

As it turns out, while some people may not hesitate to share salaries, others might. Once you’ve established the topic, specific questions that do not pry for personal information are to ask:

What salary ranges are they seeing?

How are those salaries growing (or not)?

What factors are impacting pay and compensation?

How have you noticed employers tend to respond on counter-offers?

2) Pick Up The Phone & Call Human Resources Professionals

Human resource professionals — recruiters, hiring managers, and others who are in the business of hiring data professionals — are typically well positioned to understand what the salary landscape looks like.

Those in human resources are often broadly familiar with salary expectations and for good reasons. They often play (or may have previously played) a direct role in making job offers, monitoring merit increases, and assessing pay based on salary audits. These professionals know how salary is sometimes also based on feedback from employees, C-suite executives, and legal counsel.

Recruiters, hiring managers, and others who are in the business of hiring professionals can be a valuable source of pay rate intelligence.

What is the best tactic to take here? Often direct to the point is best. Simply get a human resource professional on the phone. A logical place to start would be those with whom you already have a connection within your own personal network. Look for human resource professionals who can tell you about the salaries they are offering. You can also ask for referrals from your own network. Ask members of your network something like “Hey, I’m doing some salary research and I want to speak with human resource professionals. Can you help me connect with a trusted human resource professional who might help me out?”

It is also okay to contact recruiters, hiring managers, and human resources professionals that you do not yet already know. Upon reaching these new contacts, ask and see if they will share with you information about salaries they have recently offered (or advertised). This form of outreach (cold calling) could also be the start of building a mutually beneficial and long-term relationship on which you might both rely down the road.

If you use this strategy, prepare to hear a disappointing ‘no.’ If the first contact says ‘no,’ don’t give up. Keep going. Within a reasonable amount of effort, this strategy will likely turn up a new contact who will provide useful information.

All images prepared by the author, using stock images at Canva.com. Caption reads: The mood when a recruiter reaches out your way. Despite the awkward start for some of these conversations, recruiters can be a valuable source of information.

In California, Transparent California makes it convenient to search salaries by name, job title, and employer, and details both regular pay in addition to total pay with benefits included.

Another valuable resource is any recruiter who may have contacted you in the past. You may have previously rolled your eyes at one of many well-intentioned recruiters who wrote you via LinkedIn. But, these recruiters can also be a helpful resource in multiple ways.

Most mid and late-career professionals in a data-related field have received at least a few contacts from recruiters. Check your email history and your message history on LinkedIn for recruiters who may have reached out to you at any point throughout your career. It may have been years since they contacted you. However, they reached out to you at least once. At least at one point in your career, they were interested in speaking with you. Their contact with you was likely highly transactional (they were looking to sell you as a candidate to their client). It is never too late to respond to such recruiters with your own, admittedly transactional, request.

A happy relationship with a well-respected recruiter can be a professional asset. This form of outreach (warm) could also lead to a mutually beneficial and long-term relationship.

3) Use State And Federal Databases That Collect Salary Figures

State and federal agencies are valuable sources of income information. The federal government maintains many sites where you can research salaries by job, location, and more. Many state agencies make salary research surprisingly easy.

Keep in mind that many states and agencies will publish salary information on third-party sites, such as newspapers and industry publications, and many of these resources make the data freely accessible.

All images prepared by the author, using stock images at Canva.com. Caption reads: TFW… you realize the internet publishes public salaries.

States themselves and many state government watchdogs make salary data readily available, and in most cases, you can search salaries for specific people. The Texas Tribune, for example, maintains an extensive and up-to-date list of state employees, their titles, their departments, and their salaries, meaning you can search by position, department, or name.

In California, Transparent California makes it convenient to search salaries by name, job title, and employer, and details both regular pay in addition to total pay with benefits included.

Aggregate sites like govsalaries.com publish similar information, though in many cases the data are a year or two old. Because the data are sometimes dated, it is sometimes important to adjust based on estimated rates of pay increases.

For the federal government, there are similar salary research tools. Examples include federalpay.org, govsalaries.com, and fedsdatacenter.com. As with some of the state pay aggregators, these pay data may be two more years old.

4. Search the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is a unit of the United States Department of Labor and is the primary fact-finding agency for the government when in the field of labor statistics. The agency states that it publishes regular updates on the U.S. Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, and U.S. Import and Export Price Indices, and provides household data, unemployment statistics, labor productivity, occupational employment projection, layoff statistics, and more.

Of most interest to those conducting a salary search are data related to salaries and salary statistics. According to sites like Investopedia and results from scholarly studies, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics are considered highly accurate, objective, relative, and timely.

The BLS provides salary information in many forms. You can find national compensation data, employee benefits, wages by occupation and areas, earnings by demographics, earnings by industry.

A word of warning: While the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides an enormous amount of information regarding pay, the site can be complex and appear hard to use. Therefore, it is useful to look for user guides, and YouTube tutorials showing how to extract the information you need from the site. There is also a detailed help and tutorials page.

Conclusion

Whether you are embarking on a new journey in your career or simply want to come to a negotiation table armed with excellent reasons for a pay raise, knowing how your salary ranks against others in your company, city, state, or industry is key. Understanding how other employers in your field pay for similar work will keep you abreast of industry trends and lead to better decision making. At a minimum, obtaining a baseline for salary negotiations should include:

How many years of experience you have.

The industry you work in.

Your current gross annual income.

Your available perks, including health insurance.

Your educational qualifications and any relevant certifications.

The sort of employment contract you have (if any).

All images prepared by the author, using stock images at Canva.com. Caption reads: When you get that raise that was otherwise so long overdue.

Before you go into any salary negotiation, you must objectively determine how much someone in your position should earn. Salaries range widely based on industry, seniority, and geography. Your compensation research should include not just your take-home pay but also factor in benefits such as retirement plan matching, health savings account deposits, transportation, meal allowances, training, and more. It should also include factors related to how in-demand your skill set is — if you find your industry is currently awash with unemployed workers, you may have a harder time negotiating a favorable salary.

Salary is not the only measure of a job’s worth. According to my own personal tally of clients and informal surveys, as many as half of all workers may consider other factors more important than salary.

For example, as you review the results of your research, realize that salary alone may not tell a whole complete story. Some may accept lower pay to live in a more attractive city. Others may forgo higher salaries in exchange for access to training and promotion opportunities (or other non-monetary benefits) that are not available elsewhere.

As others may well know, salary at almost any level cannot make up for a dysfunctional workplace, an awful boss, and your overall happiness. Is the work intellectually engaging, enjoyable, and meaningful? Despite the importance of other factors, salary is often the first point of discussion between candidates and employers in the job offer process.