Your Salary Negotiation Began Before You Walked In — a Money Expert Explains How
Written by
Laura Bogart
Edited by
Kristen Mae
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You’ve spell-checked your resume, picked out your most flattering yet professional suit, and practiced sample questions and answers over and over until your closest friends are sick of hearing you rehearse your greatest strengths and weaknesses. You’re ready to get the job of your dreams and negotiate the salary you’ve always wanted.
Or are you? According to Mandi Woodruff, who goes by MandiMoney on her popular TikTok channel, the time to secure a real win at the negotiating table starts well before you’re sitting across from your hiring manager — or even before you enter the room. The time to truly position yourself for success in salary negotiations was years ago.
Woodruff says that by taking a few simple actions now, you can help yourself build the kind of career that will make you irresistible to employers. And once they fall in love with you, they’ll be more inclined to meet you at your price.
Be Vocal About Your Successes
Though you may have been taught that modesty is a virtue, it can work against you when it comes to boosting your career long-term. Woodruff wants you to highlight your successes on LinkedIn or other social media platforms — not just when you’re looking for work, but with every win, even in your current role.
Did you publish something new? Help your team score a win? Start a new process that will help save your department money? Write it up and share it on LinkedIn. This not only enhances your desirability to recruiters and hiring managers but also helps you create an ongoing inventory of your accomplishments at work — a resource you can reference in the interview itself.
Become a Recognized Expert
Woodruff encourages you to remember that you’re a highly skilled professional, so you should absolutely be actively promoting yourself in your industry. Think about the specific skills, talents and expertise you bring to your field, and remind your peers of just how valuable you are.
Apply for panels and pursue opportunities to speak at conferences, all with the goal of gaining recognition for your skills. While you’re at it, have referrals from previous employers on hand to help bolster your claims of being a leader and innovator in your space.
The term “thought leader” might feel overused these days, but even if it makes you roll your eyes, it offers a helpful framework for how you should present yourself in professional settings.
Create a Professional Brand
The idea of branding yourself may feel odd. After all, you’re not a can of soda or a pair of running shoes. But creating a professional brand is essentially about building the persona you want to bring to the office: skilled, smart and ready to lead. Because the person you want to be is the person a company wants to hire — not just hire but actively seek out.
Woodruff breaks it down simply. Every step you take to brand yourself and position your professional image should make potential employers as excited about you as possible.
“By the time you get to the negotiating table, it’s not even a question — ‘We have got to get this [person],'” she says. “‘We’ve got to get this [person] on the team, so we’re gonna do whatever we can to work with [them] in the counteroffer process.'”
If you want a potential employer to fall in love with you to the point that the salary negotiation process feels effortless, there are a few simple ways to make it happen. Smart self-promotion, public expertise, and professional brand-building are the arrows that can help you hit the target of landing a new job — at a salary you want.
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