Negotiating For Your First Job

Negotiating For Your First Job

Notes on Negotiation Written by Marty Latz, Latz Negotiation Institute

Our son recently interviewed for internships this summer (he’s a Northwestern University junior double majoring in computer science and psychology). It got me thinking about one of the most consequential negotiations of our lives, our first real career opportunity.

Why is this first job negotiation often disproportionately impactful? Because it almost always provides a baseline starting point for all  future job negotiations.

So, what is especially crucial here as a jobseeker?

Overall, as my regular readers know, start with a Strategic Negotiation Plan based on my Five Golden Rules of Negotiation. That’s the only way to ensure you comprehensively and strategically approach this based on the experts’ proven research.

In developing this, however, pay particular attention to the following. By the way, I consider this a bit different from salary negotiations (see Don’t Be Shy, Learn How to Negotiate Salary) or negotiating raises (see How to Negotiate a Raise – Part One and Part Two).

1. Set short- and long-term goals

I left thousands on the table in my first job out of law school by choosing to start my legal career in Phoenix. I would have made a lot more with a New York or even a Texas firm (Texas has no income tax). But I wanted to live in Arizona given its openness to newcomers and opportunities in the legal, business, political and non-profit communities.

Of course, money was important as I had significant school debt. But I figured I would be financially okay long-term.

What drove my goals? A deep dive into ascertaining and prioritizing my fundamental interests and needs and then making the hard choices based on them.

In doing this, make sure you evaluate and quantify your monetary and non-monetary interests. Is working from home two days a week worth giving up some income? Plus, keep in mind the value of a first-time employer who can help you establish effective and efficient long-term work habits. My first boss was obsessively detail oriented. I learned some painful lessons from him that have proved invaluable over the last 35 years.

2. Evaluate your counterpart’s interests/needs and the overlap

What company, opportunity or place is the right fit?

Summer internships and one-week paid work trials are fantastic opportunities for both sides to “kick the tires."

Find out if your personality jells with their culture and people. Consider your respective work ethics and interest in flexibility and work-life balance (or not). What will be your daily job responsibilities and activities? Will they set you up for long-term career and life fulfillment and success? Use your social networks, like LinkedIn, to help gather this information, too.

Of course, it’s not an exact science. Despite my due diligence, I left my first law firm after 18 months. It just wasn’t a great fit (although the people were wonderful and many of them are still my friends).

My point? Planning is crucial, but so is flexibility in implementing your plan. Sometimes you must pivot. And people are increasingly pivoting these days as it’s rare to be a lifer at one place anymore.

3. Target multiple possible employers

My son interviewed with a bunch of companies last fall. And that’s good. While this can be frustrating and time-consuming, doing this:

a) increased his potential leverage with any one possible employer (the better your Plan B to any one offer/Plan A, the stronger your leverage),

b) gave him the opportunity to develop industry relationships that may be helpful in his future (whether he ended up at their company or not), and

c) exposed him to many different types of personalities, companies and organizational structures.

This served him well as he explored and evaluated the pros and cons of each opportunity.

Latz’s Lesson: Choosing your first major career opportunity and then going for it might be the most consequential negotiation in a person’s life. So set your goals, explore everyone’s fundamental needs/interests, and target multiple possible opportunities.

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Marty Latz is the founder of Latz Negotiation Institute, a national negotiation training and consulting company, and ExpertNegotiator, a Web-based software company that helps managers and negotiators more effectively negotiate and implement best practices based on the experts' proven research.  He is also the author of Gain the Edge! Negotiating to Get What You Want (St. Martin’s Press 2004). He can be reached at 480-951-3222 or Latz@ExpertNegotiator.com

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