Graduates VS the real world

Are you finishing university and getting ready to enter the big wide world? If so, it is normal that you may feel due to your lack of experience you should accept any pay package a job has to offer you. This is understandable, you must be realistic and expect to not be making as much as someone who has six or seven years experience. However, lack of experience does not mean you should accept the first offer. Of course experience is important and valued in any professional career but you have to start somewhere. So why is negotiation important, a quote suggested “Whether you have a job or not, learning how to become a clever negotiator will help you throughout your entire career”. (Gamm 2011, p.1)

Negotiation does not always mean you have to try and get a higher salary; you can negotiate a number of different perks which will help you in the long run. For example, travel expenses. It is often people get offered a job which will involve you to commute, such expenses if you accept the job is fixed and automatically subtracts from your given salary. Therefore, you can negotiate for additional travel expenses. Even if you are just an intern and have agreed to work for no pay by effectively negotiating you can come out with a sense of winning. Again, you may wish to negotiate for travel and lunch money or even pay if they require your participation for longer than you had initially agreed. My work placement experience is the perfect example, as I managed to successfully negotiate extra pay for staying on a week longer than I had planned too and I was also allowed to leave work earlier on the days that I was fasting due to religious beliefs.

Remember, just because you are not experienced this does not mean you have to automatically adopt the accommodating strategy. By adopting the competing strategy you are most likely to come out with at least one or two points you initially set out in your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement).

Fairness in redundancy

On one hand, the task of having to make someone redundant is not easy. There are a lot of aspects you have to keep in mind in order to ensure the employee does not feel inadequate and unfairly dismissed. On the other hand, the fact of being made redundant is also unpleasant especially in a climate like today were jobs are not as easy to come by. Evidently redundancy has the potential to cause further issues and disagreements internally amongst the redundant employee and existing employees. So, how can these issues be avoided?- Negotiation! Yes, even after you have already been made redundant you can still make the most out of a bad situation by negotiating a realistic redundancy package. Negotiation during redundancy is expected by your employer so make the most out of this opportunity. Most employers are willing to negotiate at this point as this will help to avoid further internal conflict.

Before proceeding with the negotiation process the first most important element to identify is your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). Do not be afraid to aim high, as a quote suggested “when a negotiator has a strong BATNA, they also have more power because they possess an attractive alternative that they could resort to if an acceptable agreement is not achieved” (Venter 2009, BATNA explained). The best type of bargaining to consider when negotiating a redundancy package and your options is integrative bargaining. It involves collaborating with each other in order to reach the best alternative. Integrative bargaining helps to build long term relationships and facilitates working together in the future. At this point you do not want to burn bridges; if you have given 100% performance at work do not ruin your opportunity to be called back in the future should any vacancies occur. Even more importantly, your ex- employer is your best source for networking; and you can make the most out of your relationship when seeking a new job.

In this situation, it is important to adopt a negotiating style which will help you get as close to your BATNA as possible. A competing/forcing style may not be the best in this situation as this may tarnish your relationship with the employer and your employer will feed off this style and become less accommodating to your needs. Have you or do you know of someone who has been in a situation where they have had to negotiate a redundancy package? Do you agree that a collaborative style is best in this situation?

Bargain hunting at Camden market

When I think of the word ‘negotiation’ I instantly link it to the business and working world. Every individual, whether a junior employee, senior employee, manager and so on need to be able negotiate effectively in order to reach a satisfying result for yourself, or your department. In turn, successful negotiation presents a window of opportunities including employee satisfaction and confidence. Negotiation to me literally sums up fighting for a good course; however, it does not always need to be aggressive or even typically business related. Me, being a girly girl decided to explore my individual approach to negotiation using the example of shopping. I recently took a test where my most dominate characteristic and attitude towards conflict was categorised under ‘avoiding’- A very accurate result in my opinion which very much reflects my negotiation style.

A quite recent experience surrounded the art of negotiation. We may not realise it but, negotiation is very much a part of our everyday lives as well as our working life. As a customer I feel we are often tested, therefore negotiation is a vital skill to everyone, the buyer as well as the seller. A couple of months ago, I made my very first visit to Camden market in London. It was an interesting experience, and my negotiation skills were brought to the forefront. Everyone knows, well everyone should know when you go to a market prices are not fixed and depending on how skilful you are at negotiating, market shopping can either be a bargain experience or a rip off.

Negotiation does not require a particular style in order to work. In my experience every individual develops their own unique technique depending on one’s characteristics. For example if a person negotiating a discount price on a bag portrays characteristics of a extrovert and successful gets a good deal, this does not necessarily mean a introvert can’t get that same result. If similar to me your attitude towards conflict is avoiding this does not mean you can’t get things to go your way and my Camden experience was a perfect reflection on this.
My avoiding characteristics showcased in my negotiation technique as I found myself to be very subtle in my approach. Negotiating does not always need to reflect forceful means of communication however it does require a firm direct reassured response. Personally, I found adopting a more suttle negotiating manner in this scenario to be successful as I left feeling like I ‘won’. Another lesson learnt from this experience was you don’t have to always have your eye on reducing the price, as my negotiating approach more than once offered me a deal on items as opposed to unrealistic discounted prices. So the key message in negotiating is ‘think outside the box!’

How do you approach everyday negotiations in similar scenarios? Do you adopt a similar subtle approach to me, or a sterner one? Which do you think works better for you and why?