Negotiate?

[GroG]

Well, I'm in my last semester of undergrad as of January, and I'm going to start applying to jobs and interviewing (I've already interviewed at a couple of places).

I have a question - do you guys think it'd be wise to attempt to negotiate for higher starting salary? The couple of times I went to career advisors to work on my resume, they told me to try to - I didn't even ask them about it. But honestly, I feel like I should not fuck it up and potentially lose a job. I mean, I'm pretty much fresh meat at this point, right?

So - take an offer as is, or negotiate? If you say negotiate, how would you.. uhh, approach it? Just seems kind of awkward to do.

[TheBB]

No way I'd have the guts to do that. I'd take it. :o

[IrishDutchman]

I see what you mean...A higher starting salary is nice, but the guy might be put off if you start bugging him for more money from the word go.
I'd play it safe and be content with what you get. But you should't really listen to me, you most likely know more about that kind of stuff than I do. I'm still in high school. =/

[Toucan]

It depends, if the offered salary is considerably less than the average salary of the type of job you are going for, than it may be part of the test.

If you haven't got the balls to ask for what you should be getting, maybe you don't have the balls for the job.

[GenocideAlive]

Know what you're worth. Solves a lot of the problems. If you find you're being underpaid and you say so, they may fix it. If they say they can't match your salary expectations, take the job anyway and look for another one while you work there. Honestly, employers look out for #1, and the only way you're going to prosper is by doing the same.

[DoctorZettabyte]

GA hit the nail on the head. Know your own worth and negotiate from there. If you think you're worth more than the potential employer gives you, meet in the middle.
Also, as your resume fleshes out, be a little more daring and ask for more money from potential employers. You might find that you just might get that extra pocket change.
Also, work out your budget. Figure out your annual living costs and work from there. Personal costs for necessities and otherwise are a huge factor in figuring out a salary.
Good luck!

-DocTera

[Gunmonk]

Well, I'm in my last semester of undergrad as of January, and I'm going to start applying to jobs and interviewing (I've already interviewed at a couple of places).

I have a question - do you guys think it'd be wise to attempt to negotiate for higher starting salary? The couple of times I went to career advisors to work on my resume, they told me to try to - I didn't even ask them about it. But honestly, I feel like I should not fuck it up and potentially lose a job. I mean, I'm pretty much fresh meat at this point, right?

So - take an offer as is, or negotiate? If you say negotiate, how would you.. uhh, approach it? Just seems kind of awkward to do.

Honestly, if you negotiate for a higher payycheck, and you have a nice resume, it will show that you have high standards. Not only for life, but a tendancy to do your job well, as long as you can prove that you're good enough, they'll pay you more

[Magmaniac]

Bring a gun and threaten him if he doesn't offer you enough pay.

[Neo]

lol Mag.

I remember reading an article awhile back about IT professionals, and how many of them aren't salesmen (besides being obvious...) -- mostly because when say, a salesman gets an interview and/or potentially a job, they well negotiate for a better salary (among other things).

The article mentioned how some people just don't realize that many HR reps actually expect a counter-offer. Thus those people who just accept it right off the bat tends to skew the group -- after all if this person will settle for less, why even think of offering more to the other guy?

But whatever. I'd say go for it, but GA's advice is better. =P

dammit... was that article on digg? can't find it... sorry :/

-Neo

[hammocksleeper]

Negotiating is part of the hiring process. If they give you an offer, you already know they want you, now you have to want them. Salary/perks negotiations are almost always expected, so don't worry that you are going to piss them off or whatever. This is business. Knowing what you're worth, as GA said, is important to this process though.


Hey Grog what kind of jobs are you looking at?

[GroG]

IT stuff, I'm getting my MIS degree in spring. Probably specifically looking into quality assurance, business analyst, and programming.