Introduction | Your Interests | List | Power | Understanding the Employer

Your Sources of Power and Lack of Power

There are many sources of power in any negotiation. Your sources of power or lack of power include:

• Your Information
• Your Expertise
• Elegant Solutions
• Nature of Your Commitment to the Job and Employer
• Your Relationships/Connections
• Respectful Speech/Conduct
• Charisma
• Moral Authority
• BATNA

Below are more detailed descriptions of the items mentioned above.

Your Information

What do you know that the company would like you to know ? Include any special body of knowledge. Also think through what this employer might need that you do not know. Could you learn some new body of knowledge quickly ?

Your Expertise

What makes you special ? List languages, countries you have worked in, and any outstanding skills from your family and from hobbies, as well as all you have gotten from school and previous jobs. Think through what skills this employer might need that you do not yet have. Could you quickly acquire any skill on this list ?

Innovative Solutions

Any special ability you have to find unique or innovative solutions to problems the specific employer might have. Think hard about this possibility, since this is your strongest argument for a higher than average salary. It is also a strong source of power if you are committed to just one company.

Nature of Commitment

The nature of your commitment to this job and to the employer. Are you willing and able to work 80-90 hours per week ? Do you have a track record of working like this ? Or do you need time off with a new child or for yourself and want fewer hours per week and per year ?

Consider also the nature of your commitment to be offered a given job. How hard will you work - over what time period - to get just the job you want ? Consider the possibilities of building contacts and relationships in the company, acquiring the experience the employer needs. The nature of your commitment to be offered a given job and how hard you will work to get a given job is an important source of power if you are committed to just one employer and cannot play off one employer against another.

Your Relationships/Connections

What are your relationships in the company and in the field ? Make a list of any strong or relevant relationships you may happen to have - say, with the CEO or with leaders in the new Congress or with the ruling family of your country or with leading experts on whom you can draw for consultancies or with recent alumnae/ni who could help you. If you have any important enemies perhaps you had better list those also and consider their importance. Are there obviously important relationships that you could start building now within the company ? Could friends or family or faculty help ? This is a source of power that can be very important if you are committed to one company.

Respectful Speech/Conduct

If you know yourself to be abrasive or if people tell you that you appear arrogant when you are ill at ease, please practice respectful speech and a uniformly courteous professional attitude for job negotiations. Role-play ! Many a good job/salary is gained or lost through whether you come across as respectful or disrespectful. If you are embarked on a long series of interviews, learn and unobtrusively record everyone's name, including the secretary who answers the boss' phone. Use names on the next call. Thank people. Build relationships.

Think of yourself as selling the most important product in the world. A few MBA's are accussed of appearing very ungracious and you can stand out from the pack just because of your social skills. (Many a secretary who likes a job candidate has reminded the boss of an odd wonderful possibility that just fits the job candidate and his or her interests.)

Charisma

Assess your own charisma. It is an important source of power or lack of power in job negotiations. Discuss this subject with friends and your family and some faculty member. If you think you have trouble selling yourself - most students do feel this way - you definitely should role-play. And you might carefully observe a friend or faculty member whom you find charismatic.

Moral Authority

Moral authority may also be a source of power if you are committed to one company and want to move from an old (less interesting or bad) job to a new (more interesting/good) job. For example can you argue on grounds of fairness that you deserve a new chance because you have paid your dues at the old job or have spent great effort in school preparing for new responsibilities or deserve a chance at a growth area ? Can you argue on grounds of fairness that you deserve a salary commensurate with some group that you might reasonably belong to ? For example, if salaries rose 10% while you were away at school, do you deserve at least that much raise when you return from school ? Could you argue that you intend to honor your commitment to return to your old firm - but in fairness they should be willing to pay you (close to) what you would earn if you were to skip to another company ?

It goes without saying that if you are using moral authority it is particularly important not to lie.

BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement)

Your BATNA is your fall back position. Please think through your fall-back position for each negotiation and sub-negotiation you will be in. For many people this is the major source of power they will experience in looking for a job - please develop options for yourself and for your family. Options will help your sanity, will strengthen your bargaining position, and will help your conscience. (Strong options will help defend you from the impulse to lie or misrepresent yourself).

BATNA power is the source of power that appears weak if you are committed to one company. It is especially a problem if your existing salary within the company is low. But you still may be able to scout out half a dozen possibilities within your old firm - build and use your professional relationships. If your salary is low, spend a lot of effort to redefine yourself as a new commodity. Use the power of commitment and be dogged about this if you possibly can. Try very hard to build a fall-back position, so that you will be choosing among jobs rather than just accepting one.

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