When you get offered a job, the first issue on the table is going to be your salary. While you want to land the best salary possible, you need to be tactical and smart in how you negotiate your media salary.
How Much Am I Worth?
How much you should get paid depends largely on how far along you are in your career, and the level of the position you’ve been offered. You can use this salary calculator as a basis to get a sense of what others in your position earn but, in general, you should have a rough idea of what you’d like to be making. (The website Ed2010.com features a fairly current salary scale for a number of jobs in media, particularly in print media.)
You should also have a rough sense of what your employer is looking to pay -- asking about a salary range during the interview process is usually expected -- and you should be working within that range.
Most importantly you need to remember the field you’re in, which is media. Just because you have a friend in finance whose first job pays in the six figures does not mean you will get a job in this field at that salary. And you need to remember that. So do your research. Find out about the salaries the company you’re interviewing at pays. If you have close friends who work in media, who are further along in their careers, ask them what they think a proper salary is for the job you’ve been offered. But don’t, under any circumstances, compare your potential salary to that of someone in another field -- it’s apples and oranges.
How Do I Get More?
It’s completely legitimate to try to negotiate a better salary than the one you’re offered but it can be tricky. Since media is such a competitive business, it can often be tough to get an employer to raise his initial figure. That said, you can counter offer when a number is thrown out, but be sure to be reasonable. Throwing out a significantly higher number isn’t a good idea, unless you’re willing to have the offer retracted. Since there were probably a multitude of other qualified candidates who applied for the job you’re being offered, to throw out a figure that’s out of whack with what you’re being offered might turn off an employer and make you seem like you’re not interested in the job that’s being offered, as it is.
How Risky Is It to Ask For More?
In general, as long as you ask for a nominally higher salary, you’re not risking too much. That said, you always need to think about your situation. If you really need a job, and you get an offer, asking for more money is a little risky. Would an employer retract an offer if you ask for slightly more money? Probably not. Could an employer do that? Yes.