For those of you who have negotiated (or renegotiated) job perks and more, how do you think things have changed in the past few years? If you're on the hiring side, what requests seem to be more common these days? (For the hiring peeps: Are there any common requests that always strike you as ridiculous?)

In the past we've talked about

• Negotiating a great salary and other benefits (as well as some other less common benefits, like a tech budget — it may also be helpful to know what vacation benefits others get).
• Negotiating flexible work arrangements, like reduced work hours and/or selling a reluctant boss on remote work (that last link was written a few years ago, though, so I'm guessing it's much easier than it was!).
• How to save $10K a year by using job benefits (and which ones to look at when you're negotiating).
• Whether you can negotiate future maternity leave (before you're pregnant)

What other types of things are negotiating right now? Readers are having an interesting threadjack this morning about negotiating travel requirements (particularly in light of Dobbs); you may also be negotiating how much face time is required in the office, if at all.

Let's hear from you guys — how do you think job negotiations have changed recently?

Stock photo via Stencil.

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When you're applying for a job, do you have to give your salary history? How can you avoid providing it without taking yourself out of the running? More and more cities and states (NYC, California, Oregon, Delaware, etc.) have moved to target the gender pay gap by preventing employers from asking for salary history during screening and interviews, while Amazon and other companies are making the change on their own. (Note that, depending on the particular law, it's still legal for companies to ask for your salary history post-offer.) So let's talk about it today! What are your strategies for answering salary history questions on job applications and in interviews? What do you think about these new laws, and do you live in a city or state that has passed one?

We even got a question recently from Reader F, who had gotten burned by giving her salary history. As she explained:

I had 3 interviews with a large firm. I have 5 years experience in the exact field I was interviewing for. The firm has their 1st year associate salary posted online. At end of the 3rd interview they asked my current salary at my small firm. After pushing I gave it to them — it's $40k less than their 1st year associate salary. Through the recruiter they then offered me my current salary, and then upped by $20k. I declined, citing their advertised first year being way more. Why would this happen?

That totally stinks, reader F, and this is exactly the kind of problem all of the new legislation is aiming to prevent. (In this exact situation it might have been because she was interviewing for a non-partner track position — without knowing more about the job as listed and negotiated it's hard to say.)

The best defense is a good offense — and knowing how to respond to salary question. Here are a few recommendations from career experts on how to carefully navigate the salary question:

• Alison Green (of Ask a Manager) recommends answering the question during an interview by simply giving the salary range you're seeking. If you're pressed to reveal more, Green advises giving a response like, “I keep that information confidential, but the range I’m looking for now is…” or “My previous employers have always considered that information confidential, but I’m seeking…” (Readers shared a lot of their own suggestions when Green asked for their advice recently.)
• When asked for your salary history during an interview, inquire about the position's salary range and/or say that you're willing to accept a “competitive” offer. 
• Preempt the request for your salary history in an interview by finding out what's a reasonable salary for the position and talking about your expectations for pay.
• If you want to avoid answering the question because you were underpaid in a previous position(s), but the prospective employer keeps pushing for a direct answer, Lelia Gowland suggests saying, “My previous salary was below market value at [current salary], so based on my skill set, experience, and research about this position, I’m seeking [salary range].”
• If you're filling out an online form, try entering “n/a” or “negotiable.” If you're required to enter a number, put in “$0 — or, if you have to use a number greater than 0, use something that's obviously not your real salary, such as $1,000. Forbes contributor Liz Ryan recommends a more detailed strategy that involves entering your target salary whenever the online form asks for prior salary numbers, and using an unrelated section to explain your method.

That said, a survey by PayScale revealed this disturbing double standard about job candidates who don't reveal their previous pay: “A woman who is asked about her salary history and declines to disclose earns 1.8 percent less than a woman who discloses. If a man declines to disclose, he gets paid 1.2 percent more on average.”

What do you think: Do you have to give your salary history to be a successful candidate? What do you usually do when you're asked to provide your salary history in a cover letter, in an online form or on a paper application, or during a job interview? Have you been in situations where you couldn't avoid revealing your salary history, and were you still able to negotiate the salary you wanted (or not)? 

Psst: We've also talked about negotiating a salary and other benefits and asking for a raise, and readers discussed when taking a job with a lower salary is worth it and whether salary or title is more important.

Stock photo: Deposit Photos / Syda_Productions.

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Here's a fun question for today: when, if ever, would you take a job with a lower salary — when is a lower salary worth it to you, and to what extent? Put another way: what are you willing to put up with for higher pay?

{related: how to find jobs with low hours and high pay}

If a job paid 20% more but demanded nights and weekends regularly whereas your current job didn't, would you make the switch? (What if there was room for advancement? What if the commute was better, or you were working with a good friend?)

{related: do you have to give your salary history?}

On the flip side — if a job paid 20% less but promised a 9-5 existence (with face time requirements) — would you take it? What if the new job was at a nonprofit or had another component of you doing “good” in the world, whereas your current job felt soulless — how much is the “doing good” component worth it to you?

(Do you believe in the idea that there's a perfect salary for happiness, either in general or for you specifically? If a job paid $75,000 — the supposedly perfect salary — and it gave you more control over work-life balance than you have right now, would you run to take the job — or hesitate? Why?)

Psst: We've talked in the past about the person who took a flexible job even though she was overqualified for the job, how some of the worst career advice we've ever heard was along the lines of “follow your passion,” how much your career affects your happiness, and when to quit your career.

Pictured at top: Shutterstock / By Syda Productions.

The post When Is a Lower Salary Worth It — And What Will You Put Up With For a Higher Salary? appeared first on Corporette.com.

Ladies, have you ever negotiated your salary or other benefits? Share your tales from the negotiating table with us — we want to hear your wins! This probably won't be terribly relevant for all of the summer associates out there about to accept job offers, as those are usually lockstep/nonnegotiable offers — but perhaps one of you has a story about someone who actually did negotiate that offer.

{related: our most recent advice on salary negotiation}

Some thoughts out of the gate on negotiating a salary:

• Negotiate. There are all kinds of statistics about how women don't ask for more money — even Sheryl Sandberg's inclination was to take the first offer for her Facebook position!
• If you're starting at a new company, negotiate hard. Companies will pay a lot more for a new employee than an existing one. (This is one of the reasons people advise you to jump ship to climb the ladder!)
• Overcome your fear of negotiating. I've seen all sorts of tricks for how to get over your fear of negotiating, such as focusing on other people who will be affected by your salary (such as your kids, your ailing mother, or so forth), or focusing on your value to the company.
• Let them name the number first. There are entire theories (such as the Noel Smith-Wenkle Salary Negotiation Method) about how to sidestep the question so the employer is the one who has to give you a number first.
• Assess the company benefits you'll be getting as part of the negotiation package — and look for differences between your current job's benefits package and the job offer on the table. Look at the flex spending opportunities, 401K (including the match, any vesting time, or waiting time before you qualify to invest in it), and dependent care package (even if you don't yet have kids!). If the new company can't match it, see if you can put a monetary amount on it — even something like a free monthly subway card will save you more than a thousand dollars a year.
• If possible, negotiate in person or over the phone — avoid email. There was a lot of conversation a year or so ago about a female academic who had a job offer rescinded when she tried to negotiate; one of the missteps that people pointed at was her fairly cold email requesting everything.
• We've rounded up a bunch of further reading below, but this Harvard Business Review article about how to use “relational accounts” when you start negotiating is really helpful. From the article:

First, you want to explain to your negotiating counterpart why — in their eyes — it’s legitimate for you to be negotiating (i.e., appropriate or justified under the circumstances). Sheryl says that in her negotiations with Facebook, she told them, “Of course you realize that you’re hiring me to run your deal team so you want me to be a good negotiator.” Sandberg wanted Facebook to see her negotiating as legitimate because, if she didn’t negotiate, they should be worried about whether they’d made the right hire.

Second, you want to signal to your negotiating counterpart that you care about organizational relationships. After pointing out that they should want her to be a good negotiator, Sheryl recounts saying, “This is the only time you and I will ever be on opposite sides of the table.” In other words, “I am clear that we’re on the same team here.”

Ladies, what are your top tips for negotiating? Those of you who've hired women who've negotiated, what was your takeaway?

Further reading:

• How to Negotiate Salary: 37 Tips You Need to Know [The Muse]
• More Reasons Women Need to Negotiate Their Salaries [Harvard Business Review]
• Stop Saying Women Are Bad at Negotiating Salaries [Bloomberg Businessweek]
• How to Negotiate the Salary and Benefits You Deserve [Fast Company]
• The best way to eliminate the gender pay gap? Ban salary negotiations. [Washington Post]
• How to Negotiate Even if You Really, Really Hate It [Fast Company]

(Originally pictured at top: As You Pass, originally uploaded to Flickr by Brian Talbot. Some social media images via Stencil.)

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How DO you ask for a raise? Reader K asks this classic question…

I am looking for tips on how to successfully ask for a raise! I have a unique situation – I was promoted just under 1 year ago, and got a significant raise in my salary. However – I actually took a pay cut, since I went from base salary + commission. The powers that be don't view commission as part of your salary, so I essentially took a 20k pay cut if you look at my W2's, but on paper I earned a significant raise. Now, looking online at salary ranges for my position and the company's pay grade chart, a 15% raise would put me smack dab in the middle of nationwide salaries in positions like mine, and my company's pay grade chart. Asking for a 15% raise seems ballsy to me, especially in this economy, but I have received a LOT of praise this year, including from the CEO directly. I feel I have earned it. Suggestion or tips on how to go about this? I actually have never asked for a raise before! Thank you!

Congratulations on your great year, and the bump (on paper, at least) in salary. A lot has been written about how women don't negotiate raises the same way men do — we hesitate to do it, we ask for too little, we don't do it often enough (to say nothing of employers who have a bias against women).

{related: all our best salary negotiation tips!}

– Do your research.  It sounds like you're one step ahead of me here — it's great that you know the salary ranges for your position and the company's pay scale. Others have suggested that you can use professional groups as a resource, as well as bounce ideas off of mentors. Research was also a common thread in the anonymous profiles Forbes Woman recently did of four women who asked for (and got) raises.

– Schedule a meeting to “discuss your career growth.” Don't blindside your boss with a drop-in conversation. (Even if you do schedule a meeting, don't be surprised if your boss a) doesn't remember when you started working there and b) what your salary is.)

– Practice the conversation. You don't want the first thing your manager thinks is, “Boy, you should have made a better deal last year, lady!” So consider phrasing it like this:  “As you know, I took a bit of a bottom-line paycut because I was so excited to join the team here. Now that you've seen what I can do — including projects like X and Y — I'd like to see if I could get a bit of a raise.” I would hold off on that “15%” number because — you're right — it does sound a bit criminal in this economy. Instead, wait for him to ask how much, and then say, “I'd like to move my salary up to $__. This number is in the middle of this company's pay grade chart, as well as of the nationwide range for positions like mine.”

The big question that I think the reader in this particular situation should prepare for is: why does she deserve a raise after a mere year on the team? Have your duties expanded, or are you currently doing more than what was in your job description? Are you willing to take on more responsibilities in exchange for the money? Was there a possibility that you might make a commission that has since been taken off the table? Particularly because it sounds like you still work for the same company — prepare to answer these questions.

Readers, have you asked for a raise (ever? recently?)? For those of you who are on the hiring/managing side — how do the savvy workers ask for a raise?

2020 updated images (coins and plant) via Stencil. Originally pictured.

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Reader A, a CPAA with 12 years of experience, writes with some great questions…

How does one negotiate a good compensation package? I have only ever worked for local firms. The salary data online seems to reflect “big 4” or equivalent pay scales. I have talked to a few headhunters and they all seem to think I should be making more than I am. What do I do when a prospective employer asks point blank what I am making now? I don't want to lowball myself.

This is a particularly apt question in light of this post on the Bucks blog, calling attention to another blog posting wherein the author admitted to “bumping” her current salary up $5,000 when her interviewer asked what she was paid, and then asking for another $5,000 when they offered her the job with a “matched” salary. Long story short:  it's illegal to lie about your salary in job interviews! So… don't try that tactic.

Psst: In honor of this series' original title, Tales from the Wallet — here's a wallet we love!

Our recommendation would be twofold. First, let's say that you're at Company X. if you can get TWO job offers from Company Y and Company Z, you can sometimes play them against each other — we would probably avoid naming names, at least unless pressed, and see if company Y will increase your salary to match what company Z is offering. Don't leave Company X out of the mix, either, unless you're looking for a new job because you hate your old one — rather than quitting outright, talk to the Powers that Be at Company X and say, “Company Y has offered me $__ to jump ship!” And see if Company X will match it… and then go forward from there.

A second recommendation would be to really look at what your lower-salary job is actually giving you. Do you get four weeks vacation? How are your health insurance benefits? Are there other perks, like discounts to a local gym, or on-site daycare? We would factor that into the discussion, once the interviewer raises the issue. For example: “I currently make $__ in dollars, but there are a number of perks that I've enjoyed for years and that you don't offer. To be honest, I would probably put a pricetag of $5K on those perks.” Be totally honest — and KNOW what perks the interviewer does and does not offer. In fact, this discussion might be a good time to assess those intangible perks.

This great article from CBS MoneyWatch also suggests classics like asking for a signing bonus, a performance bonus, stock options, or asking for more perks.

Readers, what are your best tips for salary negotiation? Any great victory stories to share?

The post Tales from the Wallet: Negotiating a Great Salary appeared first on Corporette.com.