How to negotiate a salary

[Pmatherne]

I have 4 years of HVAC experience, 2 years Oil and Gas, and just got my PE
I worked for only 2 engineering companies

I just got an unofficial offer from a company for going back to HVAC work, which I do not mind. I just do not know what to ask as far as salary

When I talked to the recruiter I naively said 60k would be ok but now I am hearing from other recruiters that I could get a lot more. Pretty much I have been out of work for 3 months and want to get reemployed. WHile I was laid off I did pass the PE, so I am not sure how much that should factor into it

Also I was asked what I wanted to be at in 5 years. I replied I wanted to be making over 100k a year. In HVAC is this possible? My original job in HVAC paid 48k a year but gave a 20% bonus to your 401k at the end of the year


Future PE Engineer
Pet project I am working on to help other engineers, not much yet hoping to get it grow as I learn more

http://www.peexamquestions.com

 

[KENAT]

Working out what the going rate is for your location, industry, experience etc. may be a good place to starth.

I'm not a huge fan of Salary.com - there may be better pay surveys out there - but might be one place to look.

thread730-388700
thread732-388859

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[tygerdawg]

I suggest to keep digging. It has been some years since I tried to determine a realistic asking salary for myself. When I undertook this task, I utilized
[ul]
[li]various US Government (e.g., Dept of Labor) studies showing "typical" salaries[/li]
[li]annual salary survey articles from trade magazines like Machine Design and Control Engineering. If I recall, those surveys are usually segregated by region & discipline[/li]
[li]did a lot of searching on job sites for local jobs to get comparison data of salaries being offered locally versus the US/Nationwide salary range data[/li]
[li]...and similar stuff. I'm sure there are many more sources of salary data NOW compared to THEN[/li]
[/ul]

When it came down to hard negotiating time, I was very comfortable with my salary demands because I had the data to back it up (and carried with me to the interview). But keep in mind, it ain't all about the money. I interviewed for one company whose standard package was two weeks vacation for new hires. I told the hiring manager that I haven't had less than three weeks vacation in years. They added an extra week to the offer letter.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[Maui]

And if you negotiate that extra week into the offer letter, make certain that it is crystal clear that you will accrue additional weeks of vacation according to the number of years that you put in per their standard schedule by starting with three weeks (and not the standard two). For example, after the first three or four years of employment it is common to accrue an additional week of vacation. Don't let the HR weenies tell you after you've been there for three years that you were simply handed that extra week of vacation when you started so that after three years went by you aren't entitled to an additional week. They tried this tactic with me, and I was pretty steamed about it. I approached my boss after the discussion with HR and told him what they had said. After he reviewed my contract I was granted the additional week of vacation.

Maui

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Sites like Salary.com are complete hit or miss, IMO. While this may not work in many industries, my method was to go on numerous interviews... with each request of "What's your desired salary range?", I bumped it up about $3-5k compared to the last one. When I started to see people squirm a bit over multiple interviews, I knew I was hitting the comfort ceiling and settled on a comfortable range for both of us.

The difference between what I initially thought I could make and what companies were willing to offer me (without further negotiation, i.e., we did not hit the additional haggle ceiling yet) amounted to an easy $20k. Once I knew what companies were generally comfortable with, then I could negotiate for other perks without worrying about trading salary for perks.

It's the difference between buying a car in the 80's versus buying one now... so much info is available on the net, you can squeeze every last cent possible from the dealership. Same with jobs... you can't always look up what you want to know, but with a little social grease (and willingness to lose a few potential jobs here and there) you can put yourself in the top of the market. I no longer need to play that trick to that degree since I now know where the ceiling is, but I still dabble the numbers a bit when I feel the ceiling has risen.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[akshata123]

Refer this link:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-negotiate-your-salary-1566202988

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I see a lot of that material pertaining to hourly rate workers... at the higher end of salaried positions, those suggestions get a little stale.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[Panther140]

My experience with this is limited, but maybe helpful.

Before being offered my current job, they asked me what my pay expectation was. I told the HR guy my number, he said it was too high. The end.

A week later, I emailed him telling him that I needed to know if they were going to hire me or not because I got a competing job offer. he asked what they were going to pay me, so I told him the honest answer. Although the competing offer was less than the expectation I told him, they offered me a job the next day for the exact pay I requested. It was no longer "too high", apparently.

"Formal education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed." ~ Joseph Stalin

 

[desertfox]

Hi

I think if I were you I would accept the job and get myself back into the working environment unless you can't manage on 60k.
Once you're back in work it's easier to look for other work and you can also check on the going rate for work in your field.

“Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater.” Albert Einstein

 

[TGS4]

Where in the world are you located. If you are in, for example, Canada, most of the Provincial Associations have Salary Surveys particular to Engineers. Check that out.