​Making a job offer is not a game of win or lose. It’s about finding a mutually agreeable package that makes both you and your potential new employee feel happy, wanted and fairly compensated.

Salary negotiations set the tone for the candidate’s experience throughout their lifecycle with your business. A positive negotiation experience will ensure your new hire steps into the office on day one, excited, positive and feeling valued – All things you MUST nail to ensure you keep a hold of your top talent.

So, what are the most important things to bear in mind when extending a job offer? Here are our top tips for conducting a successful salary negotiation as an employer.

Discuss Salary Range EARLY

Before you’ve even started interviewing it is important that you have a defined lower and upper salary range to play with. And that you stick to them. The lower end of your salary bracket MUST still be in line with your competitors in order to be attractive.

What to know what your competitors are paying? Get in touch for a free salary survey or for a quick win, use Glassdoor.com’s salary app.

Your defined salary bracket might not need to be advertised, but it is important that internally you know your budget – and stick to it.

When you’re starting to shortlist candidates, use those initial discussions or telephone screenings to collect information on what each candidate’s salary expectations are and if applicable, what their most recent package has been. Setting everyone’s expectations early is crucial to successful salary negotiations.

Sell The Benefits 

80% of candidates would keep a job with benefits rather than take one that offered a better basic pay and no benefits. 

55% of candidates would be likely to accept a job with lower compensation but a more robust benefits package.

As you see, money isn’t everything.

Particularly with Generation Z and Millennials, benefits and learning and development opportunities are in the top 3 considerations when deciding whether or not to accept a new job offer. By understanding what is important to your current employees and candidates you can craft a package that enables candidates to live their lives, reach their career goals and help create an engaged and happy workforce. Benefits like;

• Extended vacation

• Healthcare

• Free gym

• Volunteer Days

• Flexible working options

• L&D funds 

• Career Growth Opportunities and Plans 

Molly Howard, Director of Operations at Ovuline suggests asking...

“What else are you looking for in a comp package?... This gives me insight into how a candidate is thinking about comp – if it’s all about money or if there are other things that are important.”

Be Positive

One of the single biggest killers of salary negotiations can be a dead-pan offer. People buy from people and if you’re not excited and positive in delivering the offer, regardless of how attractive it is, the candidate will not receive it well. Be positive, confident and really hammer home that you’re incredibly excited to have this new person on board and cannot wait for them to join the team.

Building up this excitement will not only help get your offer accepted, but it will also help ‘preboard’ your new employee into the business. For more on this, check out our guide. 

Pro Recruiter Tip

Most companies make job offers with round numbers, but psychologically offering something more specific like £61,750 seems a lot more attractive than £60,000. It also gives the impression that you have given the offer some thought and not just pulled a number out of the hat. You only have to walk down your local supermarket aisle to see this approach in practice – 99p vs. £1.

Have a Plan

Some candidates negotiate, others don’t. But if you’re looking for a tech salesperson, the chances are they’re going to want to negotiate and in many ways, you want them to. They are salespeople after all. Make sure you’ve done your research, stick to your budget and set expectations from the beginning and your offer will likely be exactly what your new employee wants and expects.

There is a lot at stake when negotiating salaries, use all of these tips to ensure that you don’t blow an opportunity to hire a top employee.