Negotiation Workshop Slides for Grad Students & Postdocs (GCS)
Slides from Graduate Career Services’ Negotiation for Grad Students & Postdocs workshop.
Table of Contents
Workshop Outcomes
By reviewing these slides, you’ll learn how to:
- Develop a negotiation mindset centered on self-advocacy
- Identify useful online tools for salary research, minimum salary requirements, and budgeting
- Determine your negotiation terms and priorities
- Create effective talking points for negotiations
Negotiation: Reasons to Not Negotiate
- You are really happy with the terms of your offer.
- You really need the job now (i.e. you won’t be able to pay your rent next month otherwise).
- The employer has explicitly made it clear that the offer is non-negotiable.
Negotiation: Reasons to Reconsider Not Negotiating
- You are afraid there will be repercussions, like the offer will be rescinded.
- The thought of negotiation makes you anxious.
- You feel that the employer does not want to negotiate.
Negotiation: Reasons to Negotiate
- Empowerment: You’ll gain access to more money and/or other resources in your new role (and likely throughout your entire year).
- Adaptability: You’ll develop or strengthen a skill that is valuable to you throughout your career (and life).
- Equity: You’ll make it easier for the next people hired at the organization, especially if you share one or more marginalized identities.
Negotiation Process: Steps
- Initial Offer Call
- Preparation Time
- Negotiation Meeting
Negotiation Process: Initial Offer Call
Setup
After the final interview round, the hiring manager or HR lead will call you or send an email asking you to schedule a (video) call soon.
What to Expect
During the call, the caller will talk through an overview of the terms of the job offer, such as salary, start date, and benefits.
What to Do
Be enthusiastic, be grateful, and do not verbally commit or accept the job offer.
Thank them, request the offer in writing, and schedule a negotiation meeting.
Negotiation Process: Preparation Time
Setup
You will likely have a few days between the initial offer call and the meeting to prepare.
What to Expect
During this prep time, it is strategic to develop a negotiation strategy.
What to Do
Use the following tools and strategies to determine your terms:
- Talking points
- Walkaway number
- Salary range
- Priorities
Negotiation Process: Negotiation Meeting
Setup
The meeting can be 15-60 minutes, with 30 minutes being common.
It can happen via call, video call, or in person.
What to Expect
Practices vary from case to case, but whoever requested the meeting (usually the candidate) leads the conversation.
What to Do
Keep the conversation upbeat and positive.
Use the terms you identified during prep and pacing strategies to get an updated offer.
Negotiation Terms: Types
- Walkaway Number
- Salary Range
- Negotiation Priorities
- Talking Points
Strategy: Walkaway Number
Your “Walkaway Number” is the minimum salary you would be willing (and able) to accept.
Easy way to estimate/determine your number is to use a budget and the after-tax 50-30-20 budgeting rule
- <50% of income goes to necessities
- ~20% of income goes to savings
- ~30% of income goes to wants
A good walkaway number is one that is ≥ double your necessities costs
- Nerdwallet Budget Worksheet
- Estimate $ amount of necessities, wants, savings
- Take Home Pay Calculator
- Calculator.net Take Home Pay Calculator
- ADP Take Home Pay Calculator
- Estimate/determine after-tax income
- Test different salary/location combinations in the Take Home Pay Calculator
- ID salary with a take-home pay that is (slightly) more than total of necessities, wants, and savings
- Estimate your monthly expenses (necessities, wants, savings) of your proposed post-UCLA lifestyle using a budgeting tool. Important factors to consider are:
- Estimate $ amount of necessities, wants, savings
- Determine a minimum “take-home” (after-tax) monthly salary
- Amount should be slightly above total of necessities, wants, and savings
- Using a Take Home Pay Calculator, test different salary/location combinations to estimate a pre-tax salary that corresponds to minimum after-tax monthly salary
- Your walkaway number is the pre-tax salary whose after-tax monthly salary is slightly above the total of your monthly necessities, wants, and savings
Strategy: Salary Range
You may be asked to provide a salary range during:
- Application process
- Interview process
- Negotiation process
Do your research beforehand
- Salaries for similar roles in similar locations
- Jobs in CA, CO, NY must include pay range in job description
- Public institutions (public universities, federal/state/city government jobs, etc.) must disclose salary information
- Some non-profits and other organizations also disclose
- Glassdoor.com
- Estimate $ amount of necessities, wants, savings
- Indeed Salaries
- Salary.com
- only job title and location specific, but offers more analysis
- Paysa.com
- *These and other online salary tools often use self-reported data, so gather as much data as possible to get the best sense for salary range.
Strategy: Negotiating Beyond Salary
Money
- Salary
- Relocation
- Signing bonus
- Student loan repayment
- Commute reimbursement
- Child care reimbursement
- Gym reimbursement
- Stock options
Benefits
- Paid time off (PTO)
- Vacation
- Personal
- Sick
- Insurance (medical, dental, vision, life)
- Retirement (and match)
- Family Leave
Working Conditions
- Start date
- Remote work
- Flexible hours/scheduling
- Company equipment (car, computer, phone, etc)
- Job Title
- Professional development funds or opportunities
- Review the lists of non-salary negotiables (money, benefits, working conditions, etc), brainstorm other factors, and write down any that you Need to Have. Often include:
- Start date, location, sponsorship, insurance
- Repeat the process for factors that you would Like to Have. The Like to Have category can often include factors that speak to longer term goals, such as:
- Retirement and matching, professional development opportunities
- If you would not accept a job offer without one of these factors, move that factor to the Need to Have category.
- Remaining factors can be placed in the Nice to Have category.
During negotiations, be firm about your Need to Have list and flexible with everything else.
Strategy: Talking Points
- Negotiation meetings can happen over the phone, via Zoom, or in-person. If at all possible, have the negotiation meeting in-person.
- Regardless of the format, having some talking points about your qualifications and/or the role prepared better allows you to advocate for yourself in the moment.
- Effective talking points usually demonstrate a connection between a role responsibility, your skills/research, and ways you can benefit or add value to the organization.
“I know I said $75k during the interview process, but after learning more about the role’s cross-departmental work, I’m thinking in the $85-95k range.
With my experience teaching across multiple disciplines, I could lead the marketing team’s efforts in creating accessible resources for diverse audiences…”
“After learning more about the role, particularly the volume of projects I will be managing, and factoring in my experience managing up to 6 projects at a time at the Bruin Lab, I am looking for somewhere in the $90-100k range.”
Follow up may include: “That experience would allow me to jump right in to improving…”
“Based upon what I’ve learned about the role through the interview process and my research into Position Title salaries in the LA Area, somewhere in the $75-85k would be a good fit.
In particular, with my experience working with X population, I would be able to reach a brand new client base and expand our services into…”
- Write down your most relevant skills to the job, particularly:
- Skills in which you have extensive experience
- Unique skills
- Identify what job roles/responsibilities the skills are relevant to
- Brainstorm some language on how you can benefit the organization, like:
- Jumping in quickly, not needing extensive training
- Technical expertise
- Developing relationships with new industries, organizations, populations, etc
- Leading current projects/bodies of work
- Introducing new types of projects/bodies of work
- Practice!
Strategy: Temperature Tango
- Open with a low pressure, usually informational, question.
- Ask about your most important negotiation priority, such as base salary.
- Your first ask should be about whatever is most important to you.
- Ask a low pressure question.
- Use another low pressure question to lower the tension in the conversation.
- Repeat for up to three negotiation priorities.
Warm Up
Candidate: Thank you for sitting down with me! I am excited about the prospect of joining the team and I just wanted to go over some of the details of the offer.
Employer: Sure, what questions do you have?
Candidate: Can you remind me how parking works? Is there a lot onsite?
Employer: Yes, we have a lot onsite where you work and as part of your hiring paperwork.
Hot Topic 1
Candidate: Great! Thank you for clarifying. My second question is regarding compensation. As I was looking over the offer, I was wondering, is this salary negotiable?
Employer: Yes…potentially.
Candidate: Thank you for letting me know. I’ve researched current compensation for positions in this industry and calculated my budget. Given this and my skills in A and experience in B, I would be most comfortable accepting a salary of C.
Employer: I can’t get you C, but I could maybe get it up to D. Would that be acceptable to you?
Candidate: Thank you, I appreciate your flexibility. Could I take some time to consider D in the context of the full offer, and I’ll follow up shortly.
Cool Down 1
Candidate: My next question is about the training curriculum. Can you tell me a little bit more about what it would look like?
Employer: Of course! For the first year you will be rotating every three months to a new team. At the end of the year, you will choose your permanent position.
Candidate: Thank you for the information! I am excited about this system and the way it allows me to make an informed decision about my permanent projects.
Employer: Yes, we have found it to be really effective.
Hot Topic 2
Candidate: My next question is about professional development funding. I see here that you are offering $X. I have done my research and I know that organizations in this industry typically offer $Y amount of professional development funding.
Employer: Unfortunately we have a set budget for professional development funding and we will not be able to increase it. Will that work for you?
Candidate: Thank you, I appreciate your flexibility. Yes, D would work for me, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the team.
Cool Down 2
Candidate: Just one more question, when last we spoke you mentioned that I would be assigned to one of two offices. Do you know which one it will be?
Employer: Yes, it will be the one at the end of the hall, near the rest of your team.
Candidate: That’s great! I am looking forward to being in the same space with my teammates as I get started.
Employer: We are as well. Our other recent hires have really benefited from being able to ask their more experienced colleagues questions as they are being onboarded and we would like for you to have that opportunity as well.
Closing
Candidate: Thank you for taking time to meet with me today and answer my questions. I look forward to hearing what you find out about the salary.
Employer: Yes, it was a pleasure speaking with you as well. I will get back to you about the salary in the next few days.
Candidate: Wonderful! Looking forward to it.