How to Negotiate Salary for Your Next Career Move

Posted by Pro Resume Writers Adelaide on 19 Oct 2025

Negotiating your salary is a difficult conversation, as it is about balancing what you believe you’re worth with what an employer thinks they’ll be able to afford. If it’s done right it can be positive for both parties that results in a higher pay for the employee, as well as greater engagement of the employee in their job. Here’s how to bargain your salary in confidence.

The most important takeaways

  • Before you make a salary offer study market rates and industry standards to ensure that your salary offer is fair.
  • Get information from networking with colleagues, using online resources such as LinkedIn Salary and Glassdoor, and contacting professional networks.
  • Create talking points ahead of the time, including education and accreditation and years of relevant experience, the results and achievements and unique skills qualifications, industry knowledge and potential for training.
  • During the negotiation, you must be confident and articulate but also flexible and open-minded. You should highlight tangible results you’ve achieved in your previous roles.
  • Maintain a positive mood throughout the conversation, and engage in active listening.

Do your research

Prior to entering any pay negotiation, it’s crucial to conduct a thorough investigation of standard industry rates and market rates to ensure that your salary suggestion is reasonable. Some factors that can affect this may include your experience level, company size and the location of the company. (?). One great way to gather information is to network with colleagues or other professionals who are in the same profession.

Research Online

Utilizing online resources such as [LinkedIn SalaryUtilizing some of the online resources, such as [LinkedIn Salary (https: //www. linkedin. com/salary) and [Glassdoor] (https: //www. glassdoor. com/Salaries/index. Htm) You can find a more comprehensive information about the benchmarking range of salary businesses pay for the same job. This gives you an idea of the market rate plus few other facets of a job.

Your Network is Important

Get insight from talking to people who have had similar roles or reaching out through the professional networks in addition to brainstorming professionals in professional organizations.

Make Talk points

Preparing for a meeting is time well spent. You’ll feel much more confident in making your case if you are prepared with a specific set of talking points outlined prior to the time.

Here are some ideas of items you might consider to include in your salary negotiation:

  • Training and certification
  • Experience gained through years of relevant work
  • Performances and results
  • Unique set of skills and attributes (e.g. language proficiency,)
  • Industry knowledge
  • Potential for training

A notepad or notebook can also help during conversations so that you don’t miss any crucial points.

Be confident & concise

During a salary negotiation it’s crucial to appear confident and clear. Speak clearly about your experiences accomplishments, your job goals and achievements. It’s crucial to maintain a positive tone throughout this conversation to ensure that your employer doesn’t feel like you’re being aggressive.

Show tangible results

Simply saying that you are ambitious, hardworking, and aspire-driven person may not be enough to generate an strong appeal. Make sure to provide precise statistics on how previous roles made an impact in the workplace or how valuable are specific qualities that benefit the organization.

Keep your mind open

If the employer cannot agree to your requested salary or compensation package, remaining flexible and open-minded will allow for discussion. You may be able to ask for alternative incentives like performance-based bonus structures instead of the Base salary(? ).

You must remain professional throughout the negotiation process regardless of how smoothly or poorly it’s going: getting too defensive or imposing unreasonable demands is likely to cause a negative result for all parties that is.

Practice active listening

Listening is equally as important as speaking during these kinds of conversations. Do listen actively from any other participant during negotiations, observing requested amount carefully & clarifying questions if needed, but gently sticking with what you originally requested. Both parties should ultimately come out with acceptable results.

Take what you have learned from these conversations and incorporate it into any future discussions you’ll probably be involved in. Applying the advice above goes a long way towards maximizing the chance of achieving positive, mutually beneficial results.

Your Network is Important Contact friends and acquaintances who have been in similar positions or reach out to the professional network in addition to brainstorming members within professional organizations.
Make talking points Certification and education, Years of relevant experience, Results and accomplishments, unique skills and characteristics (e.g., bilingualism) Knowledge of the industry, Potential for training
Be confident & concise Talk clearly about your personal experiences, achievements and job expectations. Make sure you highlight tangible results.
Keep your mind open You can inquire about alternative incentives such as incentive structures based on performance rather than Base salary (?). You must remain professional during the negotiation.
Practice active listening Listening is as crucial in these types of conversations. You can take the lessons you’ve learned from these conversations and apply it to future discussions you’ll likely be involved in.


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Frequently Answered Questions

What is salary negotiation?

It is the act of negotiating and deciding on the compensation plan for a particular job. Through this process it is possible to discuss not only your base salary but also other benefits, such as retirement plans, health insurance, and more.

Why is it necessary to discuss salary?

Negotiating your pay can provide you a greater financial future as well as show that you’re aware of what you’re worth. It also helps you not leave money on the table.

When should I start negotiating a salary?

It is recommended to begin negotiations following the acceptance of an offer to ensure that all parties are aware of the terms being discussed. This way, the discussions are focused on negotiating ideal terms while avoiding surprise.

What happens if I am satisfied with the offered package without any negotiation?

If you get an offer and are happy with it, there’s no reason to negotiate. But it’s important to be clear about what your employer’s expectations in the form of rewards based on performance or reimbursements for career training.

Can I negotiate salary when changing careers?

Negotiating salary when you change career paths may require added preparation due to the fact that your previous experiences may not be directly applicable or overlap with new responsibilities. Learn about the salaries similar to those in similar fields pay to gain a robust comprehension of realistic expectations for yourself, given your specific circumstances.

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Avoid Leaving Money on the Table with These Salary Negotiation Strategies

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