How to Negotiate Salary for Your Next Career Move

Posted by Hastings Resume on 4 Sep 2025

Negotiating your salary is a difficult conversation, as it involves balancing what think you’re worth versus what an employer thinks they’re able to afford. If it’s done right it could be a positive experience for both parties that results in a greater salary for the employee as well as greater employees’ engagement in their jobs. Here’s how you can negotiate your salary with confidence.

Principal Takeaways

  • Before you make a salary offer, research market rates and industry standards to ensure that your salary proposal is realistic.
  • Collect information through networking with colleagues, using online resources such as LinkedIn Salary and Glassdoor, as well as reaching out to professional networks.
  • Plan your talk points ahead of time, including education & accreditation as well as years of relevant experiences, achievements and results as well as unique skill sets and abilities, industry expertise, and training opportunities.
  • In the course of negotiations, you should be confident and articulate but also flexible and open-minded. Bring out tangible results you have achieved in previous roles.
  • Keep a positive attitude throughout the conversation, and engage in active listening.

Do your research

Before you begin any salary negotiation, you need to conduct a thorough investigation of market rates and industry standards to ensure that your salary suggestion is reasonable. Things that may affect this may include experience level, company size and geographical location. (?). A great method of gathering information is through networking with your colleagues or those in your chosen field of work.

Research Online

Utilizing online resources such as [LinkedIn SalaryUtilizing some of the online resources, such as [LinkedIn Salary (https: //www. linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/salary) and [Glassdoorglassdoor (https http://www. glassdoor. com/Salaries/index. Htm) you will get a more substantial approach towards the benchmarking range of salary businesses pay for the same job. This gives you an idea of the current market rate and a few other factors related to the position.

Your Network is Essential

Find out more about your situation by talking with friends who have held similar positions or reaching out through professionally-oriented networks as well doing brainstorming members of professional associations.

Create Talking points

Preparing for a negotiation is always time well spent. You’ll be much more confident when presenting your case if you have a clear set of talking points outlined prior to the time.

Here are a few suggestions of things that you may want to consider including in your salary negotiation:

  • Education & certification
  • Experience gained through years of relevant work
  • The results and accomplishments
  • Particular skill set and traits (e.g., bilingualism)
  • Industry knowledge
  • Potential for training

Notes and notebooks can be helpful during conversations so it is not lost important information.

Be confident & concise

When you negotiate your salary, it’s important to be confident and articulate. Make sure you are clear about your past experiences accomplishments, your job goals and achievements. It’s essential to maintain a positive tone throughout this conversation to ensure that your employer doesn’t feel like you’re being unfriendly.

Highlight Tangible Results

Simply stating that someone is ambitious, hardworking, and goal-oriented may not be enough to generate an impressive appeal. Make sure to provide precise statistics regarding how prior roles have made a an impact in the workplace or how important are certain abilities that benefit the organization.

Be flexible

If the employer cannot agree to your requested salary or compensation package outright Being flexible and open can allow room for dialog. You may be able to ask for alternative incentives like performance-based bonus arrangements instead of the Base salary(? ).

Be sure remain professional during the negotiation process - regardless of how well or poorly it’s going: being too combative or making unreasonable demands is likely to have a negative impact for everyone involved.

Practice active listening

Listening is equally as important as speaking during these kinds of conversations. Do listen actively from any other participant during negotiations, observing specific requests and resolving doubts as much as you can while remaining in the spirit of your original request. In the end, both parties must arrive at acceptable outcomes.

Use the lessons you’ve learned from these conversations and incorporate them into future talks you’re likely to participate in. By following the suggestions above, you will go an enormous way to increasing your chances of achieving positive, mutually beneficial results.

Your network is important Talk to your friends who’ve held similar roles or reach out via networking networks for professionals as well doing brainstorming members within professional organizations.
Create Talk points Education & certification, Years of relevant experience and achievements, Unique ability and traits (e.g. bi-lingualism), Industry knowledge, Potential for training
Be confident & concise Talk clearly about your personal experiences as well as your achievements and expectations. Highlight Tangible Results.
Be flexible Ask about alternative incentives like performance-based bonus structures instead of Base salary (?). Keep your professional conduct during the negotiation.
Practice active listening Listening is equally as important as speaking during these kinds of conversations. Consider what you’ve learned away from these conversations and apply it to future conversations you’ll probably be involved in.


Are you ready for your next career change? Go through the services of our Hastings Resume ‘s services today!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the concept of salary negotiation?

The process involves negotiating and finalizing the compensation package for a particular job. Through this process, you can discuss not just the salary you earn, but also other benefits like retirement plans, health insurance as well as other benefits.

Why is it important to negotiate a salary?

Negotiating your pay can provide you a more secure financial future as well as indicate that you are aware of your worth. It can also help you not leave money on the table.

How soon should I negotiate a salary?

It’s best to begin negotiating immediately after receiving an offer so that everyone is informed of what’s being negotiated. In this way, negotiations will be focused on securing perfect terms while avoiding unexpected surprise.

What happens if I am satisfied with the offer without negotiating?

If you accept an offer and are happy with it, then there’s no need to negotiate. However, it’s essential to provide clear information about what your employer’s expectations regarding things such as performance-based bonuses or career-training reimbursements.

Do I have the option of negotiating my salary when switching careers completely?

Negotiating salary when you change career paths could require additional preparation because your past experience might not directly translate or be a part of the new job. Research what similar roles in related industries pay to gain a robust knowledge of the realistic expectations you can set for you, based on your particular situation.

Are you ready for your next career change? Explore our Hastings Resume ‘s services today!

Outstanding service and super quick to do it tanja is the GO TO girl. Awesome job
Jason Latsarnos
Thoroughly recommend the services at Hastings Resume
Clare Haslam
Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value I only moved to Australia a bit over a year ago, with Covid it wasn’t easy to find a job so i took the first opportunity to keep our household going. But i want more, i want educate myself and find a better job. With Hastings Resume i finally get this chance, since cv’s and cover letters work a bit different here and i need help to stand out in this harsh times. Tanja is an awesome professional, very responsive and her writing is incredible! Fingers crossed i’ll land my dream job now!
Elle Street
Great experience, I honestly recommend this to anyone. The way they have done the hard work, I really appreciated. They done my work within given time frame. Very fast, accurate and very very professional. They done a lot better than what I have expected . Good work guys. Thanks a tons.
Nayan Prajapati
Positive: Professionalism, Quality Tanja is fantastic, she was quick to respond, professional and provided me with a resume that far exceeded my expectations. Very happy, highly recommend
Arohaina Lomas
Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value Amazing service, quality and turnaround!
Stephanie Wilmott
Good service. Response from the owner4 years ago. Thank you Kindly Desi. All the best of luck for the future.
Desi Boy Krrish
Thank you for a job well done. My resume now stands out from the rest, and it has a real modern appeal. I appreciate the excellent customer service and prompt delivery of the documents.
Kaye Ramos
Tanja and Hastings Resumes gave me a spectacular resume and cover letter that I am excited to send off too my future employment opportunities. I would highly recommend there services.
Anthony Smartt
Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value Tanja was excellent, I cannot recommend her enough. These guys are the best in the business.
Sheetal Narayan
Avoid Leaving Money on the Table with These Salary Negotiation Strategies

Resume

We provide professional resume writing services.

Avoid Leaving Money on the Table with These Salary Negotiation Strategies

Cover Letter

We provide professional cover letter writing services.

Avoid Leaving Money on the Table with These Salary Negotiation Strategies

LinkedIn Profile

We provide professional linkedin profile writing services.

Avoid Leaving Money on the Table with These Salary Negotiation Strategies

Contact Us

Click the button below to get in touch.

About Us &

What We Do

We provide professional resume writing services and our highly experienced resume writers will ensure your resume sticks out from the rest.

We are a team of highly qualified and seasoned Recruiters, consultants and HR Professionals that are dedicated to delivering an excellent, well-written resume or cover letter.

We pride ourselves on our extensive understanding of top-practice hiring methodologies and Australian recruitment standards. Plus, our expertise in a wide range of industries and professions means that we can deliver a high-quality, impactful resume that suits your specific needs.

Our goal is to deliver you with an impressive, striking resume that is correctly optimised for success in the competitive Hastings job market.

We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of our writing services, so you can be sure that you will be happy with your brand new cover letter or resume.

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Make an Enquiry

Request a Quote

Fill out the form below to get in touch or call us today on
0800 215 100