While it is well known that the American economy is in the middle of a financial downturn, and that economic slowdown is having an effect in trading partners, recent studies have shown that with many employers there is still room for negotiating your salary.

This is important to be aware of, and you ought to know your strategy to approaching salary negotiation at this difficult economic time.

Just because the economy is on a slowdown doesn’t mean it is a bad time to negotiate salary with your employer. While it is true many companies are reducing staff levels and slowing down production, other companies are in hot pursuit of top skilled employees. Keep this in mind. There are many opportunities to still discuss salary with your boss and to negotiate a higher salary with prospective employers.

By negotiating salary, you are standing up for your rights and standing up for what your believe in. By standing up for yourself you are asserting the value of your skills and setting expectations in the employer that the market will support your salary request. Make sure you’ve done your market research homework in order to support this.

Be prudent in the salary negotiation tact you use. Employers will respect you when you approach them with a softer, less intense approach. Now is not the time to play salary negotiation hardball unless you’re one of the elite few that command top dollar in this tough market.

These are challenging times, and should you find yourself in danger of losing your job or you have found yourself unexpectedly in the market for a new job, you’ll be keenly aware that salary negotiating skills are imperative. The good thing is salary negotiation is still an option in these times.

Remember, don’t dismiss the notion of negotiating your salary just because the economy is on the edge of a recession. On the contrary, look for the most suitable approach, do some market research and build your supportive case.

To your total salary negotiation success!

A friend wants to re-negotiate his base salary to be within the range of peers in his field. We looked at a salary survey website and found that he is quite underpaid. Can a person re-negotiate their salary? Is it better to quit and then get re-hired?

Certainly, anyone can negotiate a pay increase at any time in their career. I often recommend people start considering how they would approach their employers for their pay increase.

It may seem obvious, but if you have just recently taken on the job offer, or just recently received a raise then you should wait until some time has passed and you’ve proven yourself. It is very important to know your value before taking on any job.

Not only is a salary an important factor of the compensation package, one can also look at factors like improved benefits, more time off, stock options or stock purchase plan. You may look to other creative compensation strategies to entice your employer to bolster your income.

Consider taking these steps before you ask your boss for a pay raise.

1) Know the value of your skills in your area. Research multiple sources for salary data, and be aware that surveys conducted by HR will be more reliable than those that are self-reported by employees.

2) Your value proposition is a very powerful persuasion tool. Make sure you consider all the ways you ad value to the business. Profit, cost savings, quality, customer satisfaction are all value adds that literally translate into bottom line. You need to assess your contribution to the bottom line.

3) Prepare yourself to discuss this with the boss, and mention that you would like an increase to be in line with the current job market salary range.

4) Having done your research and having an intuition for where your performance falls within the percentile range, you will need to have a conversation with your boss and agree on the level you are performing at.

There are so many facets to salary negotiation. You should be prepared to do your research and know your facts. I highly recommend learning more about the art of salary negotiating and turn your career into high gear.

My preference would be to negotiate salary in a job that I was happy with rather than go through the effort of finding a new job in hopes of a higher salary.

Having a job offer from another employer is a great tactic to give yourself an upper hand when asking for a pay raise. It is a trump card that you should only play if you feel you need to.

Many people think that participating in a negotiation is an “all or nothing” event, and that there needs to be a winner and a loser. That’s the furthest possible thing from the truth. Although the goal of negotiations is getting what you want or need, the best negotiations use ideas from both players involved.

This article will look at the tactics and tips that top negotiators use to get what they want. You can use these suggestions in almost any negotiation process.

Before the Negotiation

You’ll need to think about what you want from the negotiation process. It may make sense to put specific goals down on paper before starting. You should be optimistic. What would be the best possible result? This may be as basic as the other side giving you exactly what you want. You should also come up with other “fall-back” positions that you’d be comfortable accepting. Come up with as many scenarios as possible.

Your next goal is to identify any potential weaknesses that the other player may have. In a real estate deal, for example, one party may know that the other party needs to sell the property or face a crisis. This is valuable information. Finding the other party’s weaknesses is important because it will allow you to capitalize on those weaknesses - or at least help both players come to a middle ground.

Something else that you should do - and most people don’t - is to come up with a list of reasons why the proposal benefits the other party. You will then bring up the main points of this list during the actual negotiation. Again using the real estate example, one party could argue that its bid for a particular property is more favorable than what others may submit because it is an all-cash offer. The negotiator increases the odds of getting the deal done by pointing out the advantages to both parties.

The Negotiation: In Person

In an ideal situation, both parties would identify their goals and objectives at the beginning of the negotiation. This allows each player to know where the other player stands, and establishes the basis for conversation. Each party may then offer fall-back and counter proposals.

There also are other things that people can do to increase the chance that they will get what they want. Analyzing body language is a good example.

How can you tell if your proposal was received well? Positives will include the other person making direct eye contact and nodding his or her head. Negative signs include the other person folding his or her arms, not making eye contact, or shaking the head.

The Negotiation: On the Phone

You can’t see and analyze body language if you do the negotiation on the phone. That means you have to analyze the other player’s voice and not his or her body language. Extended pauses usually mean that the other party is hesitant about the deal or is thinking about the offer. Sudden exclamations or a quick response may indicate that the other party is amenable to the proposal. They may just need a little “nudge” to come around to your side.

The Negotiation: By Mail

Negotiations that you do through the mail - like some real estate transactions - are very different from the other types of negotiations. You may find these tips helpful when doing a mail negotiation.

*Words or phrases that are ambiguous may be a signal that the other player is open to a certain proposal. You should look for words like “can,” “possibly,” or “maybe.” If the other party uses a statement like “eagerly awaiting your reply,” that may be a sign that they are enthusiastic or optimistic about the proposal.

*See if you can use some of the other party’s ideas when they make a counter offer or an initial proposal. That can help seal a deal on the spot. If compromise isn’t feasible, suggest other alternatives.

*You will need a formal contract to seal the negotiation. Have an attorney draft the contract after the process is finished. Make certain that this contract is signed in a timely fashion.

No Agreement? No problem.

Leave the way open for future negotiations if you can’t reach an agreement in one sitting or one phone call. Schedule further meetings if necessary and possible. Don’t worry about seeming overly anxious. Your request for further meetings will suggest that you think a deal can be worked out and you are willing to put in effort to make that possible.

Between negotiations, review what happened during that first meeting. Do you remember any weaknesses for the other player? Did the other party mention any factors like low APR that could help you seal a deal now? Answers to those questions may give you an advantage at any subsequent meetings.

Lastly, remember that it’s important to end any meetings on a positive note. You don’t want to burn bridges and create a negative situation for the future.

Salary negotiation early in one’s career can have a huge impact on the affluence they have in the long run. The biggest impact is determined by the salary they negotiate before their first day of work in their job.

This could be considered whether it is one’s first job out of college or a mid career job change. Further, there are financial consequences when you are in a career working for a company that you are even very happy with, of not doing salary negotiation at the right time.

Throughout your career, you may earn pay raises and promotions within the company that you work for, but for example, when the company offers scheduled raises, as many companies do, the impact of the starting salary with that company is huge.

This not only applies to your first salary and subsequent incremental raises but also to salary market differentials when you changes roles within a company. You may move into a job requiring significantly more responsibility or effort, but the salary you had beforehand can influence the starting salary of the new job.

As an example, imagine a person starting a new job as a QA analyst in a high tech company somewhere in America. Suppose that person begins with a starting salary of $45,000. Most likely that person will have to put in 6 months to a full year before they are offered their first pay raise. Suppose it is a 10% raise which would be HUGE at many employers. The employee would gain an additional $4500 per annum based on that increase.

Suppose that same person started at $55,000 or more. That same pay hike of 10% would provide the same employee $5500 additional salary per year. With the first salary band, the employee would still be under the $50,000 mark after one full year of effort and after a 10% pay increase, while in the second situation the employee would be at over $60,000 a year after a 10% pay increment.

Now consider the compound effect of these two starting salaries on the employees earning potential. First let’s examine a 4 year horizon all things being equal (that is, suggesting no pay raises and no promotions). The person earning $45,000 will have earned $180,000 in gross salary in four years. The person earning $55,000 will have earned $220K in 4 years. That is a $40,000 differential just based on where the person starts in terms of salary.

Now imagine a 10% raise after the first year and consider the impact as the person advances through their career. The person with a higher salary in the beginning will always be ahead of the person with the lower starting salary, all things being equal (e.g. same title, same job performance). The person with the better salary negotiating will be moving ahead faster than the person starting with the lower salary. This impact amplifies with each subsequent year considering the same percent annual pay raise for each.

When requesting a pay increase, if a person earning $50,000 earns a 5% raise without negotiating anything additional, that’s okay. But consider the impact if the person negotiates a 15% increase because they have really performed well in the job and they have all the supporting research and a track record to command it. That employee will have negotiated $7,500 in a raise versus just accepting $2500. Multiply that by 10 years, and there is a clear $50,000 difference in the person’s salary potential.

Many experts suggest that it is better to try negotiating a raise or an improvement to the compensation package than to simply receive the package that is offered. The first offer is often the lowest offer and can be improved with salary negotiation. This negotiation must be done with care and must be well based with a supporting case for the difference.

One must also analyze factors such as market, corporate guidelines, and personal performance. However when done well, it can really pay off. Remember to consider the value of all factors of compensation when asking for a raise. Some people truly value free time, their quality of life, while others are willing to take a chance and maybe accept stock options in lieu of pay.

However, when it comes to negotiating, don’t be afraid to consider asking for more.

Are you tired of hearing the phone ringing off the hook because debt collectors are continuously calling? For those individuals that feel that they are buried under an impossible degree of debt, it may be time to consult a debt counselor. Debt counselors are individuals that can help you get your debt under control, as well as help you establish a reasonable budget so that you can successfully avoid issues with severe debt in the future.

Unless you have major, irreversible debt there is no reason why a debt counselor won’t be able to help you recover without filing for bankruptcy or taking out a high interest loan. In each case your credit may be affected and you may have to part with personal property such as a house or other assets.

Secondly, although many people apply for and obtain a consolidation loans to successfully payoff their creditors, the truth of the matter is that the debt still exists and that the spending habits that got the individual into debt in the first place are not addressed.

Subsequently, even after getting a consolidation loan the individual remains in debt and further, places the their self in financial jeopardy: consolidation loans often require that the individual receiving the loan have some kind of asset to be used as collateral to be confiscated by the lender if the borrower defaults on loan payments.

In contrast, contacting a professional in debt counseling will allow you to work in conjunction with the counselor to create a reasonable repayment plan. Further, once a repayment plan has been enacted, the debt counseling service will assist you in creating a reasonable budget. Thus, over time you’ll be able to pay off creditors, stop those nagging phone calls, and establish a budget that will keep you out of financial trouble in the future.