4 reasons why you should ALWAYS negotiate your salary

You just got a job offer...but the salary is on the low end.

Maybe you figure that as a new grad or entry level job seeker, you should just accept the offer without attempting to negotiate.

Experts agree: failing to negotiate your salary can impact your earning potential, so you should always be prepared to negotiate your job offers.

Your first salary can follow you to your next job.

If you stay in the same company for a few years, your future raise will be based on a % of your first salary. The higher your first salary, the greater the increase in your future raises.

You'll enjoy a higher income now and in the future.

Think bigger than a single paycheque. Successful salary negotiations have a compounding effect over time. Non-negotiating employees can miss out on an additional $5,000 per year to start.

Across your career, that can add up to literally hundreds of thousands of dollars less than employees who successfully negotiated their salaries early on!

If you're a woman, you can close the gender pay gap by negotiating your salary.

Women may earn up to $7,200 less than men in equal positions. Many women accept jobs where they end up performing exactly the same tasks as a higher paid male colleague, who is more likely to have negotiated a higher salary.

If you're a young university or college graduate, the gap is even greater. As little as 7% of female university grads, compared to 57% of their male classmates, attempt to negotiate their first salary.

You’ve finally gotten through the interview successfully and the employer chose you from the hundreds of qualified applicants!

The employer understands your value. Do you?

Negotiating your salary shows the employer that you're confident in your skills and can do the job. Your skill and assertiveness in negotiating salary tells the employer about your capability and that you’ll be ready to take on more responsibility when the time comes.

It's called a negotiation because it's negotiable!

Employers need to offer a salary that’s competitive enough to attract good candidates, but they also still want to save money where they can.

Do you feel intimidated when negotiating salary? Don’t!

Employers usually have wiggle room when making you an offer, so you can anticipate that any offer has room to negotiate.

The worst-case response is usually a "no".

The recruitment process for employers is both time consuming and expensive. If an employer made you an offer, they're interested! If you counter their offer and they decline, it's unlikely they'll rescind their original offer and you can always still accept.

Knowing why you want to negotiate is just as important as knowing how much you should ask for!

Your first salary may be the starting point to negotiate your future job offers, so put yourself in a good position from the start.

As you think about negotiating your next salary: