[88carrera]

I'm been with my current company forever so I've never had to negotitate a salary. I'm transferring to a different department that would involve posting for the position and a interview.

I indicated my desired salary during application with a $5k cushion, but I'm sure they'll try to get me for a cheap as possible.

What should I say when she says to me: your salary will be $xx (I know it will below what I asked for).

I know I will reiterate how the department will benefit with my skills, abilities and experiences.

Would I literally say: Ms. Smith I feel that for what I can bring to this department (1, 2, 3), I feel that $xx is more appropriate?

[smo]

Sounds good to me. I'd also stress how long you have been with the company and any additional responsibilities you would be undertaking.

[Dr K]

And that as someone who has been with the company, you are a known quantity.

[Jazzbass]

Of course they're going to try to get you as cheep as possible. Don't take it personally - if you were hiring someone for your company, you'd do the same. Likewise, you want as much as possible. Again, not personal. Don't make it personal and you'll be fine.

The reality is that how long you've been with the company doesn't matter as much as you think. What matters are the qualifications required for the job and your qualifications, and how each of those translate to salaries in the industry. Your company has a salary range for this job in mind, likely as a result of paying someone for market research. IOW, they already know what they want to pay for the job - be it you or another candidate.

So what is that range? If you can't find out from them, get that info somewhere else. Otherwise you're just throwing out random numbers. "I want $90k a year!" Yeah? Based on what? Working here for 5 years? That doesn't cut it - the ultimate question is "what are you worth?" If you can't answer that question, trying to negotiate is pointless.

If you are highly qualified for the job and have a good work history, then you should be able to command the top of their salary range. Companies would always rather hire a good internal candidate with a proven track record rather than take a chance on a new, unproven person. So that's worth a little something extra.

However, if this is a step up from your current position and you just meet the qualifications (e.g. this a Senior Developer position requiring 5-10 yrs experience, and you have 4.5-5 yrs), then you're going to fall at the bottom of their range. Not much room for negotiation, as the top of the range they have the 10 yr guys in mind for that.

Final question before you go in negotiating - are you ready to walk away from the new job if you don't get your number? If not, what is your bargaining position? That you've worked at the company for a while? I would be willing to bet the new hiring manager, who doesn't know you that well if at all, doesn't really care. So keep that in mind. Go into negotiations with facts - "jobs in this industry for this job are paying $xx, you can see from my internal work history I'm qualified for $xx".

Good luck.

[VaSteve]

If this is an internal move, chances are they know more about you (and your present salary) than you realize. If this is a promotion, they likely have a formula of current salary + x%.

Where I work, I just did something similar...compete for a job, change divisions, got promotion. I knew all along the worst salary increase was also the best (same thing). The rest was beating out the other candidates. Internal, proven track record was my advantage and I was able to jump right into a key project. I also had a competing offer (they knew it)...don't know how/if that really played into it.

[OldTee]

Departments work on budgets. Do you know what theirs is?

Option. Negoiate for her to up her budget next year with a higher than normal annual increase for you.

Some thoughts.

ARF

[smdubovsky]

Getting a job elsewhere is the best way to make more money. Once you're in the system its very hard to move up competitively. Its common now for new hires to be making more than people w/ a decade on the job. Its just the way it works. You have to weigh the risk of a new job to how much you like your current one.

[joep]

x2 what Jazz said and...

Originally Posted by smdubovsky

Getting a job elsewhere is the best way to make more money. Once you're in the system its very hard to move up competitively. Its common now for new hires to be making more than people w/ a decade on the job. Its just the way it works. You have to weigh the risk of a new job to how much you like your current one.

x2

[Cliff Claven]

you can go out and get an offer somewhere else for the salary you want and use that offer to negotiate the salary for the job you want. when trying to figure out what an employee is "worth" in the market, a firm offer from another employer can be telling. having a good history with a company should warrant a premium because it demonstrates your reliability, commitment, work ethic, ability to get along in the actual environment, and institutional knowledge, but it's hard for long-term employees to get that premium because they are not negotiating from a position of strength--once you're already in the door it's a lopsided negotiation that favors the employer. you can change that balance by letting them know you have other choice(s), which puts them on par with other employers trying to woo a new hire, but one that they already know is good based on the established history. on the other hand, and nothing personal here, if nobody else is willing to offer you the salary you want, then that might be telling as well. old tee makes a good point about negotiating future pay increases in advance.

[VaSteve]

It also depends on the formula. Some HR weenie can't let internal people show a 10% increase (even if a new position/promotion) because the metric and the guidlines say no more than 8% annual increase. Also depends on the positions.....revenue/sales jobs often have more lattitude in "off guideline" increases. Back office/overhead/indirect not always so much.