Negotiating One's Salary and Benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Negotiating One's Salary and Benefits - Essay Example Writing out applications and covering letters, attaching resumes and visiting job interviews till one is selected is a laborious process but one does ultimately learn what works and what doesn’t in the real world. The proof is that one, finally, gets the job - now what comes next? The question of salary and benefits during the selection process has brought out varying reactions from a number of different candidates. While some people embrace it as a way of proving their net worth in the market place, others fear and label it as unpleasant because it is likely to intervene in negotiations and could keep them back from joining a company. Thus, negotiating salary and benefits refers to the ability to know what the worth of your skills is on the marketplace. This is a tremendously essential requirement for job seekers who want to be shown the career paths available in an organization. Salary negotiation typically starts after the candidate has proved of some value or purpose to an employer or even on the basis of his or her job profile, career path adopted so far and prospects and potential for the future that an employer sees in them. Sometimes a candidate can overvalue himself or herself and, thus, disqualify oneself out of the reckoning for the final selection. In an employer’s market especially during a downturn this can leave many worthy, experienced and capable candidates feeling undervalued or not being required. If the candidate relents and joins the organization at a lower salary than he is worth. , no doubt the employer will get excited and eager to welcome the candidate but this euphoria will typically be short-lived since the candidate is liable to switch in the event of a better position available elsewhere at a later juncture. It is clear that the salary and benefits issue remains paramount in the job market, as well as opportunities for promotion and growth in employment because it has been seen that management is already intent about taking the best of value from an employee but hesitates to pay him or her what they are really worth. What organizations don’t realize are that it takes a lot of time and effort to advertise, recruit, interview, select, orient and train every employee and there are a lot of resources involved in training and development of an individual. It is customary for both prospective employer and job seekers to engage in these activities. So if the rewards and promotions are not commensurate with the efforts that the employees are putting in, ultimately they will leave and join other organizations, primarily competitors in the same industry. Looking at salary and benefits as part of the total compensation package is a much better prospect. As long as the emoluments are enough to keep the home fires burning, the inexperienced candidates should understand that their qualifications will be undervalued until they can attach some relevance to it in terms of earned experience or projects handled and completed so that they get some feeling of the real world in action. After spending at least 2 to 3 years in their first job they can claim to have learned the ropes and begin to hold their own in