Monthly Archives: March 2015

Recruiting Tips

Negotiating Your Salary

Before we go any further on this subject, just remember:

“DON’T FREAK OUT……… and BREEEEEATHE!!!”…

OK, so now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s think seriously about why the subject matter of “salary” is almost guaranteed to make your palms all sweaty, your heart beat faster and your tongue get tied?  Simply put, it’s because the majority of us know 2 things:

1)  That we’re at the pointy end of the process and therefore, we’re in the hunt for a job offer.

2)  That by getting the salary negotiations wrong, that we might completely stuff up our opportunity of getting the job or alternatively, that we might miss out on that extra few $$$ that enable us to go on a nice holiday/buy a new car/pay our rent/etc.

In my opinion, salary negotiations tend to make us nervous for one main reason:  FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out!  We want to feel valued and suitably remunerated for the work that we are going to undertake and as much as we all say “it’s not about the money”, the reality is that happiness and satisfaction does not pay the rent or feed the kids!  COLD-HARD-CASH does!!!

So with all of this in mind, here’s some advice that may (or may not) assist you with your next salary negotiations…

The Time To Think About Negotiating Is When:

You’ve been offered the job…
Ideally this should be in the form of a written offer, but a verbal offer under the right circumstances is also OK.  There is absolutely no point in negotiating prior to the time of an offer as ultimately you don’t even know if you’re going to be offered the position and therefore why frighten the employer off before you get the job?

My Dad always said to me, “the purpose of a job interview is to be offered the job.  Once you’ve been offered the job, YOU can decide whether or not to accept it”.  It’s advice that has served me well over the years as it provided me the patience to hold out until I was playing from a position of ‘power’……….once you’ve been offered the job, you know that the employer WANTS you, so that is when the power has switched from them, to you.  This said, it doesn’t mean that you can afford to abuse that power by being disrespectful to or inconsiderate of their needs and budgets!

If the offer is not quite what you were expecting, now is the time to put together a supported and well thought out counter offer.  By supported, I mean a counter offer that you are able to articulate and demonstrate that you are worth with reasoning and examples of what you bring to the table!

You can articulate & demonstrate your value to the (new) organisation…
Key to this part of the process is that you understand the following:  as much as the $$$ are personal to YOU (rent, petrol, food, private school fees, etc.  etc), the amount the company is going to pay out is personal to THEM (budgets, parity amongst peers, market constraints, competition).  In other words, BOTH parties are approaching this from a selfish perspective.  With this in mind, instead of making salary negotiations about YOU…
“I need an extra $5,000pa because I’ll be paying tolls to get to work and my petrol will go up by 50 bucks a week”, make it about THEM…
“My previous two roles demonstrate how through some advanced marketing techniques such as <blah, blah, blah>, I have added over $50,000 to the bottom line of those organisations.  With some minor tweaks, this is something that I am confident that I would be able to achieve for you, so would you please consider an extra $5,000pa which would greatly assist me to meet my financial obligations?”

You need to demonstrate why you’re worth more $$$ and the value that you bring to the table that will make their additional investment in you worthwhile.  And always keep in the back of your mind the acronym:  WIIFT – What’s In It For THEM?  The “THEM” being the employer!  If you approach your negotiations from THEIR point of view, you have a far greater chance of providing them with the information that they require to be convinced to pay you that little bit more!

You know YOUR worth and the VALUE of the job…
The old saying “Beggars can’t be choosers” comes to mind here because there are times when for whatever reason, an income is better than “no” income and so rather than rock the boat, you need to accept whatever offer is placed in front of you, even if you think that you’ve been a bit/a lot underdone in the remuneration department!

The trouble with this is that it won’t take long until you come to resent, despise or even detest your job which is generally going to lead to a level of disassociation and lack of care.  Neither of which is going to do you OR your employer any good.

So, if you think that the offer is underwhelming or it has made you cranky or annoyed, then you need to think about mounting a strong case (articulate & demonstrable) as to why you are worth more money to the organisation.  Worst case scenario is that they don’t employ you – but if you weren’t going to be happy there and commenced with a chip on your shoulder, you were probably better off not being there in the first place!  Again, all of this is on the proviso that everybody’s personal situation is different and only you can make that call.

(Personally, I would choose [and have] being a little disgruntled about the pay over my family starving to death.  But I also made a conscious effort to be GRATEFUL to my employer for providing me with an opportunity to be able feed my family!  For me, it’s all in the head – look at the positives and consciously ignore the negatives)!

You have a figure in your head that you’re not going to go beneath…
If you have a $ figure in your mind that is your lowest cut-off point and the offer comes in at or below it, then you have two options:  1)  walk away or 2) negotiate.

For me personally, option number 1 isn’t even an option!  Why?  Simple:  because by walking away you are NEVER going to get closer to a figure that you’re happy with!  You’re admitting defeat without ever giving yourself a fighting chance!

So, if option 1 doesn’t exist, you’re only left with option number 2:  NEGOTIATE!  I personally believe that people often take the “non-option”, number 1 because they are too nervous or lack the confidence to negotiate.  The irony is that even if you completely stuff up the negotiations phase and the employer knocks you back, what have you lost?  If you’d walked away, you would have ended up with nothing.  And if you negotiated and stuffed up and you ended up with nothing, you’re in the same spot.  However, by negotiating, you’ve given yourself an OPPORTUNITY to achieve your desired figure.  And surely even a 1% chance of success is better than a ZERO % chance?

So, if you’re going to decline an offer – don’t!!!  NEGOTIATE.  It is as simple as that!

The Time NOT to Negotiate Is When:

You’ve already said “Yes” to an offer…
Sounds obvious right?  But would you believe that it is not uncommon for people to go home and sleep on it (read:  chat to their significant other) and then come back and ask for more money?

Why?  I think probably because with the benefit of hindsight, they’ve gone home and done the math on what it costs to live and what the new role is going to cost them to accept (additional parking/travel costs; longer hours; whatever) and so the proverbial ‘light bulb’ has gone on and they’ve suddenly realised that they can’t justify accepting the job at the figure that was offered. Other times, it’s simply because they have gone home and gotten greedy overnight because they’ve realised that they shouldn’t have taken the first offer that was put on the table.

Either way.  If you’ve accepted an offer, my advice is to stick with it!  You don’t want to start off a new role on the wrong foot and the last thing you need is your employer wondering from day-dot if they’ve made the wrong decision!

A final offer has been made upfront…
If you are informed that the offer on the table is the employer’s first and final offer or their best offer, then you need to think long and hard about whether or not you are willing to take the job at that rate.

A negotiation has the potential to look disrespectful and inconsiderate of their ability to pay more.  However, if you’re going to feel under appreciated then you are better off thanking them and declining the role.

This point here is one of the most precarious ones in the negotiations phase as it flies in the face of one of my points above about negotiating to give yourself a 1% chance of success as opposed to walking away, thereby giving yourself a 0% chance.  However, there are times when you are better off not embarrassing yourself, or the employer by simply thanking them and declining.   And, at the risk of sounding somewhat philosophical – “what will be, will be”.  If the stars align and you were really meant to get that job and the employer wanted you and only you, they might just come back with “something” that may not be monetary, but that might incentivise you to take the role so that you can start in the position and make/save the company so much money that they have no option other than to pay you more!

The marketplace doesn’t justify more money…
Let’s face it, there are always certain parameters around the value of a job that are inextricably linked to a range of factors that may include:  budgets; market rates; the economy; unemployment rates; competition; etc; etc.

With this in mind, if you have done your research and you are a professional in this type of a role, you will know ‘roughly’ what the job is worth.  So, if you can’t justify more $$$, how can the employer?

I once had a Manager tell me that they wouldn’t work for anything less than $250,000pa, but due to the state of the industry this person applying for roles in organisations that at their upper-most limit could only afford to pay in the vicinity of $70-75,000pa due to their size and annual revenue. When I approached this Manager, their response was along the lines of:
“If they are going to pay peanuts, they’re going to get monkeys and then they’ll never grow any larger”.  This particular individual was so caught up in their own ego that they hadn’t stopped for long enough to consider what the EMPLOYER (you know, the one that was going to be forking out the cold hard cash) could afford.

There is pretty much always a limit on what an employer can AFFORD to pay.  And if you can’t recognise that, then there’s a mismatch way before the negotiations phase even begins.  Accordingly, I would suggest that you are probably unsuitable for the position in the first place.  It’s one thing to be looking to take on a new role at a higher level, with a bigger salary.  But it’s a whole other thing expecting an employer to pay you because of what you “believe” you are worth (and even more so if you are unable to justify, demonstrate and articulate your worth)!

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Whilst the above thoughts and suggestions are based primarily on negotiations for new roles, a lot of the basic principles remain the same if you were to be negotiating a pay increase – the main focus being your ability to articulate, justify and demonstrate why you should be earning more money!

It is also always important to remember that you aren’t doing your employer any favours and more importantly, YOURSELF any favours if you remain in an organisation where you feel undervalued and under paid.  If you’re not happy where you are, you have two options:

– Put Up and Shut Up (ie.  stop bitching about it) OR
– Move On

And if you’re moving on, make sure that you leave without burning any bridges as you just never know where and when you might come across your employer (or someone that knows your employer) again……….Funny story:  as a Manager in hospitality, I once had an employee that asked for a night shift off 2 hours before her shift was due to commence, which I knocked back as I could not find cover for her at such late notice (although I did try).  She then called in sick and posted photographs of her at a party on Facebook, which resulted in me personally completing a 18 hour shift to cover her.

The next day, she turned up to work and before I could even approach her she came in to my office and started hurling abuse at me because I had been investigating her on Facebook!  The amusing part of the story was that I wasn’t “friends” with her on FB and so had NOT seen the pictures of her partying the night before – but thanks to her admission, I did do some investigating and managed to obtain those photos for her file.  Needless to say, she and I then had a very serious chat about her on-going employment.

The above in itself was quite amusing – but the really funny part of the story is that after storming out of my office that day of our chat screaming “I quit” along with a number of profanities that I have honestly never heard come out of a “lady’s” mouth she walked in to a retail venue in another suburb a long way from where I had worked with her, asking for a job.  The new General Manager of this particular store was none other than yours truly and when I was informed of this particular person’s name, a name that I will never forget, I felt that it would be appropriate to personally accept her application.  Her face was a picture…

…KARMA???!!!

And a very clear example why you should never burn bridges!!!

Uncategorized

Words That Should NEVER Be Used On a Professional Resume…

Was it your Mother or Grandmother that used to say?:

“Never say never!”?

Well now it’s White Now saying it!

Here are some words that I suggest should (dare I say?), NEVER be used in a professional resume and some of my reasoning as to why:

“Various”…

As an adjective, “various” really is a bit of a nothing!  It doesn’t add any oomph or pizazz to a resume!  “I worked on various projects” or “I’m conversant in various software programs”.  It really doesn’t mean much at all.  In fact, I invariably make various noises out-loud when I read the word various on various resumes!

The next time you’re thinking of using the word “various”, ask yourself this:  ‘What’s the difference between:
– Worked on various projects, AND
– Worked on projects?”.  If you reach the same conclusion that I did, “various” will soon be in your deleted items folder!

Thinking the above through a bit further, what’s preferable is that you SPECIFY the projects that you worked on.  Reading the above doesn’t really tell the reader anything about you at all, but if you said that you had work on projects that have included (for eg): a $4.5m refurbishment; the acquisition of 3 other licensed premises and the development of a 10 year, 4-phase business plan that is currently in its second phase; then the details are far more impressive than having done some various projects.

“Visionary”…(or “Transformational”)…

It’s funny how some words seem to be so very “in” and visionary is one of those in-words that has stuck around for a while now.  What does it actually mean to be “visionary”?  More importantly, how do you PROVE that you’re “visionary” in whatever it is that you do?

Personally I’d much rather see something in a resume about how you can demonstrate that you have developed a plan (a vision), articulated it to your team and delivered it to the stakeholders…….which resulted in blah, blah blah (Insert:  $XXm increase in turnover/savings; % greater visitation rates; reduction in injuries; improved brand recognition; etc; etc).

“Expert”…

This is another one of “those” words.  You know, the one that sounds great in theory, but in reality makes you sound like a bit of a tosser as it makes the claim that you’re ‘brilliant’ in a particular area.  In fact, you’re so good in that area that you’re an EXPERT.  And yet when the resume-reader digs further there is absolutely no supporting evidence.

Doctors that possess a doctorate in a particular field have a right to declare themselves an ‘expert’ in their specific area of expertise, but unless you’re a Doctor of something, I would argue that it is immensely difficult to prove that you’re an expert in anything, except maybe being a little bit full of yourself.

“Seasoned”…

As a bit of a foodie, my first impression when I read this in a resume is that you mean that you have been salted and peppered to perfection.  Once I get that somewhat disconcerting thought out of my head, I tend to wonder what a “seasoned” anything might look like other than possibly……old?  Is this the image that you want to portray?  If so, why not just say that you’re old or maybe, to put that in a more positive light, talk about your ACHIEVEMENTS that you can demonstrate throughout your career and let the reader draw the conclusion about whether you’re old and ready to be put out to pasture or experienced with the necessary skills and, more importantly, demonstrated track record that the reader just has to get you in for an interview to speak to about the job?

“Results Oriented”…

This one always makes me smile as people all too often talk about being “results oriented” and yet at no point in their resume (or often cover letter as well), do they provide SPECIFIC DETAILS of the results that they have achieved.

Achievements have to be QUANTIFIABLE and should ideally correlate to the job that you are applying for – let’s face it, employers are generally approaching the recruitment process from the viewpoint of, “what’s in it for me?”.  They want to see what you’ve done in your past, how successfully you did it and then they want to picture you doing the same for them!  If this happens, you have a far greater chance of being invited to an interview.

Employers also don’t want to have to think too hard about how your achievements align to what it is that they have advertised for – so make it easy for them!  Use the words that they have used in their adverts and edit your resume to respond to the main points that they are looking for.  And most importantly, make sure that you can back these up if and when you get invited to an interview.

Finally, remember:  your achievements are what separate you from the resumes that the reader reads before yours and all those that s/he is going to read after.  One GM does pretty much the same as another GM, as does one Cleaner from another.  What makes one GM/Cleaner/DM/CFO/Marketing Manager/<insert role title here> different from another is what they ACHIEVED whilst they were in that role.

“Very”…

Surely there is an adjective that you can find to go in front of whatever word it is that you want to emphasise that is going to give you more impact than “very”?  Just about anything would be very much better than “very”!

“It was a very successful financial year” OR “the success of FY14/15 can be measured by the following exceptional results:  Revenue +$6.2m.  Expenses -21%.  EBITDA +19% and an overall nett profit of $7.6 million”.  You choose…

“Synergy”…

This was a buzz word about 8 to 10 years ago and at the time, was fresh, current and when used appropriately, even clever!  However nowadays it has been overused to the point where it has lost its impact – “responsible for the synergy of the department”; “developed a synergistic work environment” and “amalgamated two venues due to their synergy, resulting in a win/win for all parties”.  And incidentally, “win/win” is a bit (a lot) cliched nowadays too!

“Out of the Box”… (or “Creative”)…

If you were genuinely “Out of the box”, you’d have thought of something a little more “out of the box” to write down.  ‘Nuff said!

Here are some other words to avoid:

Love – “I would just love to work in an organisation…blah, blah, blah”.  And I’d LOVE to be in the Bahamas doing anything other than reading resumes.  But I’m not, so let’s stop the lovin’ and focus on the facts and achievements.  Capisce?

Great Communication Skills – says who?  YOU?  Prove it!!!

Try – as the great Jedi Master, Yoda so famously said:  “Do.  Or do not.  There is no try”…

Detail Oriented – I once had a recruiter say to me about these words on my resume, “You know what this means don’t you?  That I am going to look for errors and won’t necessarily concentrate on the content as much as I should?”…

Skillful…  Capable…  Innovative…  Experienced…  Team Player… References Available on Request…  Creative…  Highly Motivated…  Capable…  Skillful…  Pro-active…  Salary Negotiable…

Hopefully the above has given you some food for thought and possibly even put a little smirk on your face.  Ultimately there are no specific ‘right and wrongs’ when it comes to the use of the above words and others like them.  There is however, in most cases, a better way for the sentence to be structured for greater impact (you know, for more “Ah!” moments rather than “ARGGHHHHH” ones)!

Best of luck with the writing of your resume and please remember – if you would like us to have a look over yours, please give us a call at the office on 02 9807 1806 to discuss how we can assist.