How Much Can You Negotiate Your Pay Rate?
It's normal to be excited about a new job opportunity, but it's also normal to want to maximize your starting pay rate. You should try to negotiate your pay rate if you know your worth and believe you should have more. How much you can negotiate will depend on the following factors:
Whether You Have Rare Skills
You can negotiate with your prospective employer if you have the rare skills they need. For example, you might have the skills necessary to do computer work that they might need you to do in a crunch. None of the other employees on that same level might have that. If so, you can try to negotiate for an extra pound or two.
What the Job Market Is Like
The potential employer's willingness to negotiate your pay rate will depend largely upon their needs. You may have more luck if you're negotiating during desperate times than you will when the employer has hundreds of applications coming their way. Try to feel out the current job market to see where you might stand. You can try to push your pay rate up by a pound, but don't try to go too much past the initial offer. You must be careful not to scare the employer away.
If the Potential Employer Wants to Invest in You
If the potential employer sees value in you, they'll be willing to go the extra mile for you. They'll want to keep your wallet full so that you can take care of yourself and your family members. You can help yourself by marketing yourself well during the interview and showing the prospective employer what you've done at other companies. It won't ever hurt to ask if they can offer you more. The worst that will happen is that they will decline your request. If so, you can still choose to work there.
You can negotiate your pay rate and succeed. It's always wise to know your worth to have a reasonable pay rate in mind. Don't ever sell yourself short, because you never know what an employer might be willing to give for your unique services.