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In January 2024, the first She Is Tech Conference brought together the brightest women in tech to break down barriers and promote diversity in the industry. She Is Tech Community now gathers women who strive to share experiences, give mutual support, and move the industry toward equality.
We invited Renita Käsper to be the first speaker of the community webinar series and share honest insights from her 20+ years in recruitment. Hope you’ll do better next time when you need to say the number.
1. Think of yourself as a product
Start by evaluating your offer: What value can you bring? What’s your superpower skills? What can you showcase? Write it down to explain why you asked for a certain number.
2. Research, research, research
You can’t ask a random number. Take more time to investigate rather than go with the first guess. Get a market-specific understanding of whether it’s a global role or country, seniority, complexity, company size, and growth plans. Reach out to people you know and check out networks, groups, market salary reports, and job platforms, e.g., Glassdoor. You can also benchmark about ten people in a certain market who do exactly your level of job.
3. Benchmark with the job description and everything you’ve heard during the interview process
Mind the business behind that: wanting to hire you to solve specific tasks, challenges, or problems. Be ready to bring concrete and tangible examples of what you’ve done somewhere before and the outcome.
4. Some companies do not negotiate at all
Most often, such companies are straightforward in communicating their policy based on why they are doing so. A company’s salary range also differs depending on whether its salary policy is local or global.
5. Think through the full package
Is there something more essential for you than salary? What are you ready to negotiate? Is it a remote, hybrid, or full-time in-office job? Also, consider location: Do you want to stay where you are, or are you willing to relocate? At this point, you can play around a little bit and be up to making a trade.
6. Get fully ready before the first call
Prepare your talking points. You cannot control what the conversation will be about, and it may be too late for research. So, be ready to negotiate salary anytime during the recruitment process with anyone.
7. There is always a number
Every company has a budget tied to the role. You don’t go to the supermarket without knowing what’s in your wallet. If a recruiter says he doesn’t know, don’t be a part of that.
8. If your number changes during the process, communicate it with the recruiter ASAP
The job may appear more challenging, or there’s a hardcore KPI, so this job costs more than you discussed first. What might happen: you’re the chosen one, get an offer, but watch for a bigger number. Both sides wasted resources and time, and you end up disappointed. Be more straightforward and transparent to avoid this situation from happening.
9. Be confident and patient
Don’t say you’re ready to go with less to get this job without asking. Don’t react immediately to hesitation about a number. It happens much more with female candidates. We do it ourselves, being too humble and accepting. Just like in any other negotiation, there can be a counteroffer. And sometimes, we’re too shy and lack confidence to do that. Do not push back rather than up.
10. Be careful when you are junior in your role or change a field
Is it your first job, or do you want this specific role in a cool company? You’re competing with others with the same CVs, so don’t overdo it now. Later, you’ll prove yourself in that role. If you are a senior applying for a junior in another field now, don’t ask for the salary based on what it was before. You can ask the recruiter for advice on what the range could be. Also, work on transferring skills and help the company see that.
11. Have your ideal number and breaking number
If you give the range, you should be comfortable accepting if the potential employer offers the lowest number to you.
12. Consider recruiter your ally
Recruiters’ KPIs are accepted offers. You are somebody they’re very interested in moving forward with. Be bold and ask more about the role to make a good fit and the medium market for that role. Be specific: What is the average salary for mid-level UX designers in Germany?
13. Consider being an active or passive candidate
If a recruiter reaches out to you on LinkedIn, you can ask about the range and your interest. Discuss it already in the first steps — time is precious. This way, you’ll exclude the possibility of getting an offer at the end with a lower salary than your current one.
14. Consider anchoring effect
Human brains are basic when it comes to making assumptions. We tend to anchor in the first piece of information given. Salary negotiation can be a fast conversation, keeping the tension of who should name it first, making the numbers a hot potato back and forth. It can be wrong or changed, or you could be too pressured or haven’t done research correctly, and now here it comes. You can always take time to think, and reject anchor.
15. Don’t be afraid to walk away
Not always there is a match, and it’s absolutely fine to say no.
A dedicated Discord community serves as a networking channel for women in tech. It is a safe space to bring your ideas, pains and gains, get support or advice, and stay tuned for new events within our diverse community.
Join the community and know first about our future events where you can become a speaker and share your story.
Renita Käsper is a Global Director of Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding at HRS Group. She has 20+ years of experience in recruitment and employer branding. Co-founder of the Recruitment Thursday community and the Estonian HR Society and a jury member for Employer Branding competitions in Estonia, Bulgaria, and Uzbekistan.
Renita’s expertise is candidate experience, talent acquisition, global recruitment, sourcing, employer branding, recruitment marketing, remote and distributed work, and the future of work.
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