Photo provided by iStockPhoto

Developing the business arguments for why you deserve the high-end of the salary range is probably the hardest part of salary negotiation.  Your business arguments should not be new information at the negotiation.  If it is important enough to get you higher pay than it is important enough to help you land the job.

Revisit your resume and ensuring that it supports higher salary offers.  Most people believe their resume does this.  Unfortunately, most people would be wrong.   The focus tends to be on the effort and not on the results.  Results are what employers want and what they will pay dividends to get.   Many people believe they are showcasing their results but the results are unspecified or are focused on tactics.

This is such an important aspect to salary negotiation that I thought I would revisit it and include some examples from actual resumes.

Resumes with Unspecified Results Examples

Actual Resume:  Increase sales through designing branding and loyalty strategy.

Higher Salary Support:  Increased sales by $1M through designing branding and loyalty strategy.

Actual Resume: Minimized cost of supply orders by monitoring spending and optimizing order volumes

Higher Salary Support: Decreased cost of supply orders by $100K by monitoring spending and optimizing order volumes.

Resumes Showcasing Tactics Instead of Results Examples

Actual Resume:  Increased efficiency in workflow process and shortened delivery times for clients by redesigning work teams

Higher Salary Support:  Decreased cost of project delivery by $1K per project by shortening delivery times through improved efficiency in workflow process.

Actual Resume:  Developed a multi-category brand licensing strategy

Higher Salary Support: Increased revenue by $1M through the development of a multi-category brand licensing strategy

Learn the Financial Impact of your Work

Are you unable to include the financial impact of your efforts because you do not know what it is?  You are not alone.  That is a very common challenge.  My advice is to not wait until the next time you are updating your resume but to start now and learn the financial impact of all your work.  It will make you a better-informed employee for your current boss and an amazing candidate for your future bosses.

© 2013 Katie Donovan