Many would ask how they could negotiate best to get better salary package and how they could earn more.
I’ve seen numerous job offers happen through the course of my career. This has exposed me to every trick, strategy, negotiation tactic to use in the job hunting process.
A particular candidate’s story really stands out. She pretty much doubled her pay raise with an amazing strategy.
This candidate was based in the Middle East and we were trying to recruit her for an Marine role here in Singapore. Our offer to her was a salary of 200k++ with some intricate performance bonus tied in. The process was long and had lots of back and forth.
It was a little messy because despite the salary raise, she was actually going to be earning a little less given the fact that the standard of living in Singapore is relatively expensive.
I called her one day to ensure that she was still warm on this opportunity. Not before several tries, she picked up and started slurring heavily. It was obvious she was drunk.
In her intoxicated state she let it slip that she had leveraged our offer against her current company for an internal promotion. Well, no big deal. I just said good luck, good bye and ended the call.
A few months later, I found out that she used her new internal promotion to get an even better offer at another company. She had called another headhunter I knew, told her about her promotion and job offer from us and asked if she had anything better to offer. Since the candidate's job title was now more superior, this headhunter managed to find her a few more offers, above the senior level which she’d recently been promoted to, with even better packages.
So, in a span of 3 weeks she almost doubled her total compensation package. Wow!
Here’s what I learnt from her
She interviewed for several opportunities at the same time giving herself few options
She used the offers she had on the table to negotiate harder with other firms
Many companies were keen on her talent, so she embraced it and started a bidding war
Surprisingly, she didn’t take the offer that paid the best. Instead, took the job with the best growth prospects.
Despite her highly mercenary behaviour, I admire the fact that she eventually took the job offer with the best learning opportunity. She wasn’t short sighted about the new job pay package. She was thinking about the job after this job - positioning herself for long term career growth.
Job hopping every 6 months isn’t good. But shifting every 2 years or so may be healthy. Jobseekers who do it consistently earn much more, and grow much more talented, over the course of their careers.
Navigate this battlefield correctly and you’ll be able to provide a much more comfortable life for yourself and your family.