I received this communication from a member. Feel free to add your own experiences & comments.
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Hi,
I'm not in the business of photography, but I have read and learned about business in here. I just wanted to say thanks to the forum as a whole for posting solid business advice and always reminding people to know their worth and negotiate strongly. This negotiation was intense, like being at a high stakes poker table.
My contract with my present employer was up and I had to renegotiate it. This is the first time I worked somewhere under contract. I knew to do my research before my review and I knew I had a good review coming. The hard work I put in day in and day out was recognized and I was sitting there hashing out the details of my next contract.
Anyways the terms offered were good, but the negotiation was a bit one sided. I went in wanting a raise and a signing bonus to cover some very substantial credentialing fees(about 3k) I need to progress my career. I also only wanted to sign a 2 year contract.
My boss likes my work and wants me to stay long term, rejected my 2 year request and sat back to think. Went on about 2 years being too short, thought a bit, and offered 3 years with a 5k signing bonus and a 14% raise to my salary. All I could do was manage a straight face and mull it over before agreeing that was fair. I feel well compensated for where I am in my career, but at the same time all I could think of was throwing in a clause for performance based raises each year. That was quickly agreed to and we shook hands with an agreement for the paperwork to be drawn up. That was too easy...
Did I leave money on the table? I think I am overall worth a little more to the company, but haven't had time to crunch my own numbers extensively, beyond some recent gross numbers and I don't know the overhead. Should I have asked for more? I just have that nagging feeling since I didn't push back strong and make them feel somewhat uncomfortable.
I always heard if you didn't ask for more than they would originally give you, you were underselling yourself. I need to do even more homework before my next review and know my true worth to the company. I didn't want to seem greedy, and I was being offered what I was prepared to ask for originally. I also am young in my career and am still somewhat of a liability(very minor, but technically still so since I am still in the apprentice stages of my development) and am learning more. Please let me know what you think. I just want to have some ammo next year and be ready to use it to get maximal value.
