Getting What You Are Worth
Two respiratory therapists have just been offered jobs as department managers at two community hospitals in a large metropolitan area. Both facilities are about 300 beds and provide 24/7 RT coverage. Services are similar between the hospitals as well, and both therapists have around the same number of years of experience in the profession, with similar academic degrees and credentials.
But one RT ends up with a starting salary that’s $2,500K higher than the other. Why the big difference? RT number one negotiated his salary. RT number two took the first amount she was offered.
Salary negotiation is certainly more of an art than a science. But according to experts in the area, there are some concrete steps you can take to ensure you are paid what you’re worth. Here are six of them –
- Understand the job: Before you can truly determine what you should be paid, you need to know what your job responsibilities will entail.
- Do your homework: Go into the salary negotiation with solid information on what other RTs at your level make in your area. Salary information for many positions can easily be found on websites like salary.com, payscale.com, indeed.com, careeronestop.org, glassdoor.com, jobsearchintelligence.com and the AARC Respiratory Therapist Human Resource Study.
- Perform a personal SWOT analysis: Make a list of your individual strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and use that list to make your case for a higher salary. For example, if you implemented best practices that resulted in significant cost savings at your last hospital, that could make you worth more at the next.
- Know what you want: After you gather information about salaries in your area and have a good handle on what might make you worth more than the average RT, set a salary range you’d be willing to accept in your new job.
- And what you don’t want:Go into the negotiation with a firm idea of your “walk away” number and be prepared to explain why you can’t accept anything under that amount to the hiring manager. If you do decide to walk away, do it gracefully. You don’t want to burn any bridges that might come in handy later in your career.
- Rehearse your pitch: Ask a family member or trusted friend to play the role of the hiring manager in the negotiation process so you can hone your negotiating skills before you head out to discuss your salary requirements for real.
While most employers already have a firm idea of what they will and will not pay for a certain position, most will also try to low ball the initial offer. A good salary negotiator attempts to find a balance somewhere between the first number put on the table and the number that will end up with the hiring manager showing him or her to the door.
