![Money expert who once negotiated a $10K raise says getting everything you want isn’t the goal: ‘You don’t have control over that’](https://media.nbclosangeles.com/2024/08/108020599-1723670384745-gettyimages-1481023108-241a1342.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=320%2C180)
Tori Dunlap learned early in her career the importance of negotiating salary.
The strategy, which once secured her $10,000 more on a job offer, was key to her saving $100,000 by age 25 and founding Her First $100K, a financial education platform for women and marginalized groups.
She's also done it enough times to understand that successfully negotiating a new job doesn't mean getting everything you want, "because you don't really have control over that," Dunlap, now 30, tells CNBC Make It.
"For me," she continues, "success in a negotiation is: you showed up well prepped, and you added all of your data together, and you did the best you could."
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Seeing a negotiation as a conversation, rather than a winner-take-all scenario, can help you think beyond salary and consider what other parts of a compensation package you'd like to flex.
If an employer can't meet your salary expectations, consider negotiating non-monetary perks like paid time off, work-from-home days, your job title or something else that's important to you, Dunlap says.
Take it as a good sign if an employer is willing to negotiate multiple parts of an offer, even if you don't get everything on your wish list, says Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at ResumeBuilder with over 30 years of recruiting experience.
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"If people go to negotiate, they just want to feel somebody gave them something," she says. "Sometimes it's a very small thing, but you feel like, 'at least they made an effort, and they tried to do something for me.' It shows good faith that they're willing to go a little bit farther to put themselves out for you."
At minimum, know what your compensation essentials versus nice-to-have bonuses are. "It doesn't have to be everything, but know what you need, and don't negotiate that away," Haller adds.
It can pay to think ahead, too, and ask how often the company conducts employee performance and salary reviews. Ask the hiring manager what it would take to get the increase you're looking for, whether that's certain skills you need to demonstrate or accomplishments to hit, and how long you can expect that process to take, Haller says.
It can be helpful to get that recap in writing as you accept your offer, Dunlap adds, "so that when you inevitably do those things, you get to walk in and basically have your proof of a raise."
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