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).