Have you had to negotiate your salary or service fees in this, or past, recessions? What is different about negotiating pay in a recession compared to a strong economy?

Please help me.  I have been asked by my boss to take 30% pay cut due to lack of business and lower my title.  If I agreed, then he wants me to stay with the company.  Otherwise, he will let me go.  I am not sure what to do in this case because I have family to take care and job market is not so good right now.  I am in circuit board manufacturing business with MS degree in Electrical Engineering.   I would love to hear your advice, so please help.  Thanks.

    1. You are a medical doctor, and I've paid off all your student loans, you live in a modest house. You need 60K to cover all your expenses. But other doctors with your level of experience and qualifications make around 130K. Are you going to take what you need?

    2. Your previous jobs have earned you 20K per year. Maybe your spouse earned 30K, before he/she lossed his/her job, maybe your spouse fell sick, maybe you have additional medical expenses.  You once got by comfortably with 50K. Maybe with all the changes you absolutely need 45K just to survive. You can't just go to your next interview and ask for 45K because you need it based on your personal circumstances. Your type of work pays 20K, maybe 30K at best.

    3. Maybe if you are a new grad and you earned a bachelor of arts and you want to be an administrative professional, and the starting salary is typically 35K, and you absolutely need 28K to get by, then the work-out-what-you-need model works; but that only works because what you need happily coincides with roughly what you are worth anyway; but what if you are an electrical engineer and you absolutely need 28K. You would still be seeking the median starting salary of about 56K to begin with, because that is what engineers get paid. You might privately set a low of 45K, but I doubt you would do as low as 28K.

In each of these scenarios what you need is completely irrelevant to what you are worth based on your skills, experience, and qualifications, and the job market.

Let me give you one more example, a real example, based on a conversation I had with a company recruiter. They were giving me the same work-out-your-expenses philosophy; and my response to that is - I need $0 to cover my expenses. Yes, I am out of work, but I am very fortunate to have a spouse that earns an income to support us both, so based on my expenses I don't need a salary in order to survive. Likewise, when I am working, she doesn't need an income, but we both choose to work when we are able so that we can build up a savings and have disposable income to spend on things we enjoy.

So does that mean I should be giving my services away for free when as an engineer a very low-ball amount for that kind of work would be 50K.

My advice: Find out what you are worth based on your skills, education, and the job market. This includes discounting that amount by a percentage (5,10,20% or whatever) since it is a recession, it is a supply and demand market after all.

Fast forward two weeks and I got a call for an offer. They phoned me while I was at work so I could not get into details but their offer was 68k.  This is a position in NYC, so it would be at least a 1 1/2-2 hour commute each way. I am going to go back to them with a counter offer, but am debating how I should proceed.

Should I mention the 80-85k they told me in the beginning? Thanks!

1. Fixed expenses are those that recur every month without fail and are always the same amount.  Examples include things like a rent or mortgage payments, or a car or utility payment.

2. Variable expenses are those that may or may not occur every month and, by definition are not the same amount every time.  Groceries, heating or air conditioning bills, or the gas you use in your car to do all the things life requires.

3. Discretionary expenses are those that don't have to be incurred at all.  They include things like the theater or movie tickets and other forms of entertainment, magazine subscriptions, gifts, dues and memberships - expenses that one could eliminate or reduce and still get along.

Among the three, discretionary expenses are the easiest to reduce during tough economic times.  It may be no fun to spend less for things like entertainment, but between taking a cruise and paying the mortgage, the mortgage payment is probably more important.  Hope this helps.

I am lucky to live in an area where RN jobs are still pretty plentiful.   I have been to a few interviews and even gotten a couple of offers.  However, when we discuss salary and the interviewer sees on the application what I've been making, it gets awkward.  Either they assume I'm happy with that and try to make me a disappointingly low offer, or they want an explanation, and  from their tone I gather they're assuming that my low wage may reflect a substandard job performance.  For the record, I have a long, steady job history, with no holes and no terminations.    How do I broach salary with employers-- that I know I've been underpaid for a few years, and I expect more from a new position?  Should I always fill out the salary history portion of an application? What is the best way to find out what I should be making? And what "evidence" do I need to bring to an interviewer to prove that I'm worthy of a bigger salary? (Just saying that my friends that have made the LVN-to-RN transition are making $4-8 more per hour than I am seems silly, like "my friends have it and I want it too"!  But I do.)

Before you speak with a potential employer, research the position and speak with insiders who have knowledge. Check the appropriate research sites like [url=http://www.bls.gov]www.bls.gov[/url] or your state department of labor statistics. Search for the term OES - that's Occupational Employment Statistics and Wages. You should be able to find a link that displays for your geographic area. This information will show how many are working in that occupational title and what the entry, experienced and mean compensation levels are. Remember that these numbers are averages and may not reflect the exact amount that a specific employrer may pay. This information should give you enough information to know your approximate worth. You have to determine - within those figures - what  your labor market value is.

During the early interviews focus on your ability to meet the employer's needs. Discussing pay, benefits, vacation days, etc. shows that you are focused on meeting your needs and not your future employer's. Any time the interviewer mentions money put the questions back on them - I'm sure you'll offer a fair wage. What do you typically pay someone with my education and experience? etc. If the interviewer doesn't respond with a number, you'll know that  it's still too early in the process. If they do come up with a concrete figure, you'll know, at least approximately where they'll start from. Money talk usually comes at some point during or after the second interview.

The key - don't talk about money untli the employer mentions a specific dollar figure.

That being the case, I am applying for mostly retail work and am curious as to what would be a negotiable salary?

I stated my salary requirements to be in the $9.00-$11.00 per hour range, in the hopes that it is not too high, as I currently earn more than that at my full time job.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Online web application uses a form that requires a current or desired salary in number format (can't put in "negotiable", etc.).

What's the best approach?

I put in my current base salary and managed to get a telephone screening out of it, but my real earnings are significantly (~25%) higher than the base.  I am worried that they will use this number to make an offer if it gets that far.

However, I have been trying to find reliable data that shows what the standard of living is in this city vs. the Detroit area to understand how they're offer might stack up to something similar near home . . . . . I want to use this to figure out for myself whether it's worth the move or not (financially), depending on their offer. Does anyone have some good sources for this type of comparison that is good (I've found some websites myself, but everyone of them seems to give a different number)?

Also, I've started to have a bit of an internal debate as to whether I would really want to move or not. As many know, jobs in the Detroit area are hard to get, as there are a LOT of people out of work. So, I'm trying to grapple with the fact that if their offer is mediocre, or even low, do I take the job simply because it's a job, or do I gamble and hope to get something local?? I also have to take into account that selling my home will be an issue if I move, along with leaving friends/family behind . . . not something anyone wants to do, but maybe HAS to do. Any thoughts here are appreciated, especially if you've made a decision like this before.