AI First Designer

AI First Designer

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AI First Designer
AI First Designer
Extreme Salary Negotiation - $1 to $100,000 Strategy (Genius)

Extreme Salary Negotiation - $1 to $100,000 Strategy (Genius)

How $1 worth of advice could land you a $100,000 salary. When making a big professional change, you may not feel you’re entitled to ask for more money. Do it.

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Felix Lee
Jul 06, 2023
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AI First Designer
AI First Designer
Extreme Salary Negotiation - $1 to $100,000 Strategy (Genius)
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👋 Hello! Welcome to this week’s ADPList’s Newsletter; 🔒 subscriber-only edition 🔒 weekly advice column. Each Tuesday, we tackle design, building products, and, accelerating careers. We’re looking for sponsors! If you’re interested to support our newsletter to advertise, let’s chat!

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You have probably accepted at least a few job offers by this point in your career, but how often have you negotiated for a higher salary before taking the job?

If your answer is “not often” or “never,” you’re not alone.

But before we delve into the nitty-gritty of negotiating a better salary when you're eyeing a career switch… trust me when I say, I didn’t know how to negotiate — I took whatever came my way.

Before ADPList, I found myself at several crossroads. I was faced with the exciting yet daunting challenge of transitioning careers, moving from one industry to another, learning new skills, and getting familiar with a completely new culture.

Perhaps the most intimidating part was negotiating my salary. Yes, I know, it can be a tricky landscape to navigate, but that's exactly why I'm writing this.

In this article, I’ve referenced resources to help equip you with the tools and strategies necessary to advocate for yourself and your worth. I've walked this path, and I can tell you from experience, understanding how to negotiate your salary is an empowering skill that brings not only financial rewards but also boosts your professional confidence.


How to negotiate for a better salary when you’re interviewing for a new job

Remember — you have *this* information. They don’t.

Your current salary and your expected salary are basically the only informational advantage you have in price negotiation.

Let’s begin and dive into key learnings of this process:

1. The salary negotiation process is stacked against you. [Advice: Stack up yourself]

HR people have an incredible amount of information about you at their disposal. At the very least, they have your résumé, LinkedIn, portfolio, and Behance profile, which you gave them earlier in the application process.

Your goal is to even the playing field as much as possible. One important way to do this is to take this in real-time. Go into the interview ready not just to answer questions but to ask some of your own.

Here are a few examples of what you should ask:

  • What is the team's current topmost focus?

  • Why is there a vacancy for this position?

  • What is the most significant hurdle for someone taking up this role?

  • How is the organizational structure within the team designed?

  • How does X company prioritize Y's role?

2. Regardless of their offer, negotiate upward.

What if you’re switching from an underpaid profession like teaching to a more lucrative field like software development? The initial offer you receive from them may be for significantly more money than you or your colleagues have ever earned.

I see a lot of members on ADPList in this position.

Let’s suppress that FOMO for a moment, and instead think practically about the incentives an employer faces when it comes to hiring.

Have a “prepared to walk away” mindset.

If you turn down that offer, they have to go and spend that time and money all over again, trying to find another candidate who meets their standards.

So if you have an offer in hand, you already have a reasonable amount of power over the situation.

3. Know the market.

Sure, you could find someone in your LinkedIn network who works in a similar capacity at your target employer and ask them, “How much do they pay you over at Airbnb?” That may get you one data point.

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