The article is spot-on. But what kind of blogger would I be without offering a few improvements? If additional money by itself is not sufficient motivation for negotiation, Korkki argues, consider that future raises, retirement and 401K contributions will be multiples of whatever salary is agreed to.   The messages are clear: Get all you can while the getting is good and do not be overly concerned with how bad the job market is.  Based on the research I have read, salary is way over rated in that most employees rank other aspects of a job ahead of direct compensation.  If that sounds like you, here are some other things worth negotiating.

VACATION TIME:  Employers usually prefer to start the vacation accrual clock on your first day of work. That can be difficult to accept if in your last position you had already accrued considerably more vacation than you will have in this new one. Most employers are willing to give in on this one, but you have to ask. Do so before accepting a new position.    

HEALTH CARE COVERAGE:  If there is a waiting period before company coverage kicks in, you may want to negotiate an exception. I know, I know—qualified plans do not permit exceptions.  But there is nothing to keep you from negotiating a sign-on bonus to help with the cost of finding short term coverage during the interim. 

MID-YEAR EVALUATION and an appropriate salary adjustment:  Consider this especially if the salary offer does not meet your expectations.  Be sure however, that you are comfortable that you will be able to clearly meet or exceed expectations in a relatively short 6 month time frame.  Premature performance discussions about not meeting expectations can damage your longer term prospects.

RELOCATION EXPENCES if applicable. Companies have gotten out of the habit of paying extensive relocation expenses for new employees. Exceptions are often made for high level new hires or individual contributors who are expected to add significant value to the company’s bottom line. But the only way to know is to ask for it.

TERMINATION BENEFITS: It will likely seem odd to have a discussion with a new employer about what happens if you are terminated. But given the level of acquisition and divestiture activity and the lack of corporate conscience when it comes to terminating employees you need to understand termination benefits before accepting an offer. Companies routinely offer minimal termination benefits that increase (though not appreciably) with company tenure—not much help for relatively new employees. Sweeteners are often thrown in in exchange for an agreement not to sue.  The idea can be presented in a non-hostile way as a “guard against premature termination.”

MISCELLANEOUS other things to consider include job search support for a spouse, company paid health club membership, tuition reimbursement and adoption support. These are just a few things to think about beyond matters of salary. 

Your chances of getting what you need to feel good about that next job will be greatly improved if you understand HOW TO NEGOTIATE FROM YOUR STRONGEST POSITION.  In real estate transactions it’s location—location–location.  In negotiations it’s timing—timing–timing. You are in your strongest position once you have a job offer in hand. The employer has decided that you are the best person for the position and all that remains, perhaps, are some minor details. Negotiate!

I have covered these points and more in my recent book Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy. The Chapter titled, “You Get What You Negotiate, Not What You Deserve, is consistent with Korkki’s point of view as well as my own.

However, there seems to be a sense among employees today that they will be asked to leave long before moving up becomes an issue.  As such, climbing the organizational ladder is in danger of becoming a lost art.   I thought that when I read Penelope’s advice about finding an organizational sponsor—a “specific type of mentor who is well connected, will make you known to the right people, and help you steer yourself within the Company.  Mentoring relationships are tricky and involve more than just finding the right person.

Don’t get me wrong.  The advice from the Brazen Careerist is great.  But it is missing a critical element that may be the difference between a failed and successful mentoring relationship.  We are told you “find a sponsor the same way you find a mentor—networking, approaching the person directly or asking the human resources department if there is a company program you can join.”

Not bad advice, but I would call that “How to initiate a mentoring relationship.”  That’s because sustaining one is a much different proposition.

My model for effective mentoring was formed when I worked with Kevin Campbell, now Chief Group Executive,Technology, for Accenture.  Kevin was/is always willing to mentor absolutely any one—as long as they could bring it.  That is, as long as they could produce outstanding work for him and the organization under circumstances that were often quite difficult—pressures from time constraints, difficult clients and employees, challenging economics and the like.  And he seldom gave much credit for easy tasks that were well done.

It was then I began to understand that good mentoring relationships are—pardon the big word—symbiotic.   That is, they are two way streets in which each person in the relationship gets something of value.

Over the years I have had this discussion with numerous senior level executives whom I consider outstanding people developers: And there has been unwavering agreement on the concept.  The latest discussion was with my very good friend Jess Womack, Inspector General of the Los Angeles Public School District.  Jess, like all other executives I know absolutely admires subordinates who can bring it.  That is, who create value for him and the organization.

If mentoring ever becomes an issue in your career, here is the advice in a nut shell:   The next time you want to be sponsored, follow the initial advice given by the Brazen Careerist and then ask not what your mentor can do for you, ask what you can do for your mentor. Then bring it– time and time again.  You will get ahead.  Believe me!

Remember the time you rushed your resume off to apply for that job that was a perfect fit, except you never heard from them? Did you every wonder why? Do you know why some resumes seem to get all the action while the majority go straight into the trash can or worse, to the bottom of the bird cage? Consider this: Hiring managers report spending no more than an average of 15 seconds scanning an individual resume to determine if it deserves a second look. Most do not get read at all.

If you spend the time putting together your version of a good resume, you at least want the hiring manager to give it more than a cursory review. But how do you accomplish that? If you do not know, don’t feel bad because many of those in the resume writing business do not know either. They continue to miss the essential necessities for putting together a resume that gets results. Here is why. They start in the wrong place and with the wrong assumptions.

The WRONG place to start is with your background and what you have accomplished. No way! Start with the skill-set the organization is looking to acquire. You can figure that out with little difficulty by reading the position description, visiting their web site or talking with people in the organization.

The WRONG assumption is that your resume is about you. It is not. It is about the hiring organization and the problems they are trying to solve by paying talented people like you to come work for them. Your job (or that of your resume) is hone in on those problems in such a way as to show that you are the ideal candidate.

I’ve treated the subject more extensively in my latest book, Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy.  But maybe all you need is this short-hand version  of the top 5 five things to do when writing your resume and the order in which you should do them. Take note: three of the five focus on the employer and not on you.

1. Be clear about what kind of job you are looking for.
2. Identify organizations that have the jobs you want and are hiring now or in the near term.
3. Do research on the industry these organizations belong to and the kinds of problems they face.
4. Carefully review job ads and position descriptions to understand the problems and issues hiring organizations are looking to solve by filling the position you are interested in applying for. Companies hire because they have needs.Your job is to figure out what those needs are before putting your resume together.
5. Start thinking/constructing your background in the context of the problems hiring organizations are trying to solve. As you describe your background be sure and use the same words they use to describe their issues.

The secret to building an attractive resume is to make sure the reader can quickly and easily see that you have the ability/experience to solve the problems they have. This requires a translation between your background and their needs. And the most effective way to accomplished this is for you to do the translation for them. Never, never, never, leave the translation to the hiring organization to figure out.

Too many of the resumes I see are obviously put together by people who have fallen victim the “wrong place/wrong assumption” malady which all but guarantees their candidacy will not survive the 15 seconds they have in front of the hiring manager.

If you do nothing else, give your resume the added focus that comes with taking a few moments to consider what the hiring organization is trying to accomplish.  You and your candidacy will be better for it. Rusty Weston, Founder and Chief Blogger over at www.myglobalcareer.com featured an article entitled “How Resumes Find Black Holes.” I thought our readers would find it useful to know they are not the only ones who send in resumes and never hear back. But once I had a chance to really think about it, I realized that the black hole for resumes is not much of a mystery at all.

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