When discussing salary, keep in mind: the higher it is, the more hopes the employer places on you / E. Kuzmina / Vedomosti

Picture this: A candidate has been hired and their future boss offers them a very satisfactory salary. Enough money to pay for their children’s education and spend a vacation at a prestigious resort. The temptation to shake the boss’s hand and agree is great. But this is a mistake, warns Daniel Porot, managing director of Porot Associations and author of 101 Ways To Improve Your Salary. His advice: “Always discuss your compensation in detail. People associate your skills with your salary level. The higher the salary, the better the skills.”

Anne Pritham, a partner in the employment law department at Stephenson Harwood, believes that a candidate should always try to negotiate salary. “This can be a key issue for a new employee: they need to be on the right salary scale in the company. This will greatly affect their financial position in the coming years, and will also protect them from a legal point of view. Even if an employer has found a reason to reduce your salary, it will be extremely difficult for them to do so legally. Even the fact that you are not getting a salary increase while others have received a raise can be considered illegal. That is why it is so important to set out a realistic and objective amount of your salary when talking to an employer,” she explains.

Indirect clues

Pritham draws attention to factors that indirectly indicate the size of the increase to the stated salary that the candidate may ask for. “Think about the position you will take during negotiations. And to do this, find out the answers to the following questions: how long has the company been looking for an employee for this vacancy? How quickly do they need to fill this position? Were there other suitable candidates?” the expert advises.

She suggests turning to headhunters and recruiters for help: “Don’t be afraid to ask them questions like, ‘Do you know how much top managers are paid at this company?’, ‘What level of pay do you think I should expect?’”

Some employers want a person to clearly demonstrate how they can benefit the company. In such cases, the candidate must prove why they are asking for a certain salary. Talk about your achievements: reducing operating costs, directly impacting profit levels, skillfully reducing staff, increasing cash flow, or contributing to the company's development.

It’s also worth remembering that in some industries, such as the financial sector, there are legally-mandated salary and bonus caps. It’s best for a candidate to find out what these caps are in advance, to avoid appearing ignorant or greedy. Pratham adds: “Be patient. After all, a top manager’s salary must be approved by the company’s remuneration committee, the board of directors, or a non-executive director. Without this, many companies cannot make a formal, legally binding offer to a candidate.”

Praitem explains that you shouldn't pretend that you have other offers. Sooner or later, the employer will find out the truth, and then they will have reasons to doubt your honesty. Sometimes candidates cite the salary they received at their previous place of work and offer to pay the new employer more. However, it is worth remembering: perhaps the company has internal salary restrictions and simply cannot pay the required amount. The restrictions may be related either to the structure of the salary fund or to legislation.

Too much hope

When discussing salary, do not forget another important circumstance: the higher the salary, the more hopes the employer places on you. The requirements may be too high, and you will show poor results faster than you could in another situation. It happens that managers retroactively regret the high bar they set for themselves at the very beginning. Especially now, when the employer can fire an employee with relative impunity for any trifle in the first two years of his work in the company.

Richard Lindsay, director of internal trading and finance at recruitment firm Communicate, advises candidates: "Don't ask for a high salary just because you want to. You can ask for a raise if you feel that your salary doesn't match your contribution to the company. Perhaps you are working longer hours because of lazy or absent colleagues. Then you have every reason to ask for a raise."

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