Sarah tackles a vital topic: negotiating your worth - whether it's asking for a payrise or negotiating a better salary at job offer stage. Sarah delves into the importance of preparing both practically and mentally for salary negotiations, sharing actionable strategies to help you confidently advocate for the pay you deserve.

Episode Show notes

[01:00] The Importance of Understanding Your Motivation

• Explore why you’re considering a pay increase:
• Are you unhappy in your role?
• Do your responsibilities warrant a higher salary?
• Is it about fairness, recognition, or financial goals?

[5:00] Doing Your Research

Learn where to gather salary data, including:

• Glassdoor and industry job postings.
• Conversations with industry professionals and HR contacts.
• Membership organizations and gender pay reports.

[09:00] Preparing a Strong Business Case

Outline your desired salary and back it up with:

• A summary of your contributions and achievements.
• Responses to potential objections.
• Evidence from salary benchmarking.

[14:00] Timing & Building Relationships

Why timing is crucial: post-project success or organizational shifts can be opportune moments.

The role of your boss as an ally in the negotiation process.

[17:00] The Emotional Aspect of Negotiations

Strategies to manage anxiety and rejection.

Shifting your mindset to view the negotiation as part of long-term career development.

[17:30] The Pension Pay Gap and Future Planning

Learn why addressing salary negotiations is essential for closing the gender pension gap.

Discover how cumulative salary decisions impact your long-term financial security

[20:00] Backup Plans

Alternative benefits to negotiate, such as flexibility, additional training, or future reviews.

How to decide whether to stay or move on if your request is denied.

Useful Links

Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Book a Free 121 Clarity Call

Join The Love What You Do Facebook Group

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: sarah@careertreecoaching.co.uk, and let Sarah know how your negotiation journey goes. Remember, you’re unstoppable!

Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

2

leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

3

feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

4

selling out or burning out.

5

I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

6

like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

7

I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

8

coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

9

I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

10

on your career aspirations.

11

The day job can be all consuming.

12

Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

13

when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

14

And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

15

Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

16

inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

17

and achieve sustainable success.

18

If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

19

potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

20

Let's get started.

21

Welcome to episode four.

22

And today's topic is all about how to

negotiate your worth, how to ask for

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salary pay rise, or to negotiate a higher

salary when you've been offered a job.

24

It can feel difficult and often

people, shy away from doing it.

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It's really important to be prepared both

practically, but also in terms of mindset

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What I'm going to take you through

is four or five key things to bear in

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mind when you are about to do this.

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The first thing is what

is driving your request?

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Understanding Why am I needing to have

more money or why do I want to negotiate

30

a higher salary at job office stage?

31

Is it because I'm not actually happy

doing what I'm doing at the moment?

32

Often, what happens is if something's

not working in our current job

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or our current organization, we

can focus on the money side.

34

You know, they're not paying me enough to

take all this stress or they're not paying

35

me enough to deal with this kind of work.

36

But actually the research shows that

it's only money becomes that issue

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when other things aren't in place.

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It's definitely worth understanding

if it's because I'm not

39

happy in my current role.

40

What's not working for me.

41

That could actually lead you to take

other action as well, which I'm not

42

going to get into now, but it's good

to know, , is this desire to have

43

more money because something else

isn't working in my current job?

44

Or is it because there's a

change in responsibilities?

45

Maybe you've been asked to take on

a new project, you've been given

46

additional responsibilities or the new

potential job is going to be bigger.

47

You actually want to have a

higher salary to reflect that.

48

Or is this about a need for recognition?

49

In your current job feeling actually I'm

not being recognized for all the hard

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work I'm putting in, because not only

does that drive your desire to have a

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pay rise, but also means you might need

to have a conversation with your boss

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about recognition and getting the type

of recognition that's going to keep

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you motivated in your existing job?

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Or could it be that you feel that

what you're earning isn't comparable

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to other people in the organization

who are doing similar jobs?

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That could be around gender, or it could

be around knowing that actually less

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experienced colleagues who've come in

after you've joined are earning higher

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salaries and that sense of it's not being

fairly, , distributed amongst, , the team.

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Understanding what is driving your

motivation and also understanding what

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you would do with that extra cash.

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If you're going to be asking for

a significant amount of money,

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what would you do with it?

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Is it because you want to save more?

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Do you want to be able to have a

bigger mortgage or buy a house?

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Is it about increasing your

lifestyle, having better

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holidays, that kind of thing?

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Because that can also

help your motivation.

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to ask for more because

sometimes we'll put it off.

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We're like, okay, I'll do it next

year or I'll do it at appraisal or

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I'll do it at the next opportunity,

but really understanding a what's

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driving your motivation and be what

you want to use that extra cash for

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can help to fuel your decision to

take this action now and ask for a

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pay rise or negotiate a higher salary.

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That's the first thing.

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The second thing is to do your research.

76

, you can't just walk in and say, I

want to be paid more because I'm

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feeling undervalued at the moment.

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You want to be actually giving evidence

to your, , employer so you can make

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it easy for them to say yes to you.

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That's what we've got

to be thinking about.

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I've got to collect research and

evidence that means my employer

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can actually say yes to my request.

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I'm going to run through a few ways

you can do that because sometimes this

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can feel a bit tricky but you want to

be able to do some benchmarking and

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there's lots of different sources you

can look at for the benchmarking piece.

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There are sites like Glassdoor which

will have some Not necessarily for

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all job types, but there certainly

will be certain job types still

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have salary information for.

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So that's one option to look at.

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You can also look at adverts for

similar jobs and see what other kind

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of salaries that are being paid.

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What's the range of salaries that

are being offered at the moment?

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But always bearing in mind that the

jobs in adverts are starting salaries.

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So if your current salary is,

significantly lower than some of those

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starting salaries, and you've been in

your job for three to four years, that's

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giving you information about the fact that

you are falling below the market rate.

97

Looking at job adverts and collating

that information can be really useful.

98

Similarly, talking to people in

your industry, which can feel

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a bit uncomfortable, because

you can't say, oh, do you mind

100

telling me what you're earning?

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But you could ask them if they

know what the range is, the salary

102

range, in their current employer,

for the type of job that you are

103

doing, or that you're being offered.

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, you can also talk to HR HR

contacts, obviously they're

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closer to the salary ranges.

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They're great source to understand

what the salary ranges in the industry

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in which you're working for both your

internal HR, HR contacts in the industry.

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Similarly, if you have a membership

body, if you're a member of, , say CIPD

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for HR professionals or the, , financial

bodies, marketing, fundraising, lots of

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different membership organizations, if

you're in a part of that, they will have

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access to our information on salaries.

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You can ring up , or get in touch with

the information office and ask them

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to release salary information to you.

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And you can also look at the competitors.

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Who is your employer's competitors

and look at what salaries they're

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offering for jobs in your area.

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Cause obviously that's going to be quite,

, powerful for your employer to think about,

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okay, I need to stay competitive to retain

and attract talent in my organization.

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You can also look at gender pay reports.

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Organisations that have over

250 headcount have to produce a

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gender pay report every year, and

that is in the public domain, so

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you can certainly look at that.

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They will also have an action plan as a

result of that gender pay report, so you

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can see what they've committed to in terms

of,, ensuring parity between the genders.

125

That can also be part of

your evidence gathering.

126

We've got, , thinking

about what's driving you.

127

Then we've got thinking about gathering

evidence and information to be able to

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say, where am I in terms of the market?

129

And, , how far away am I

from where I want to be?

130

Then we want to prepare a business case.

131

This is super important when we're asking

internally for a pay rise, but also

132

when we're thinking about negotiating

that salary at job offer stage, we

133

can use elements of the business case

to justify why we think we deserve

134

a higher salary at job offer stage.

135

, preparing a business case, helps to take

some of the emotion out of it because

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we're going to talk about the emotion and

managing that Because , it is emotional

137

asking for a pay rise because it feels

a bit vulnerable you're putting yourself

138

out there preparing a business case

helps to make it a little bit more.

139

Factual and business evidence driven.

140

What we want to think about though

is first of all, what do we want?

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, what is the actual salary

that we want to be asking for?

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And I would encourage you to be

bold here because this is your

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opportunity to, Renegotiate your

salary or ask for a higher salary.

144

, and you want to be bold 'cause they might

negotiate you down and you don't want them

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negotiating you down from your minimum.

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Really thinking about what you want

and also crunching the numbers.

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Okay.

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So if you're gonna ask for a

five or say 10 K pay rise, what

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does that look like monthly?

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What does that look like after tax?

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And how motivated would that feel for you?

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Maybe I'll only ask for a grand.

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That is going to be nothing after tax

on a month on your monthly salary.

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Really thinking about what do I want?

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What would make me feel good?

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, and being aware that they might

not say yes to your offer.

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They might negotiate you down.

158

, the second thing is to, , think about

potential objections that they might

159

have so that you can answer those

objections in your business case.

160

what might they say as a reason

why they can't give you this

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and how can you navigate that?

162

What solutions could you come up with?

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, the third thing would be to think about

demonstrating the value that you bring.

164

, thinking about what you've delivered,

what you've achieved over the

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last six months or so and putting

that into your business case.

166

Thinking about how you can showcase

the added value that you bring,

167

, because we're all individuals and

we'll all have different strengths,

168

different experiences that contribute

to us doing our jobs really well.

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, think about, , if I left,

what would they miss?

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What would the organization not have

that I bring that's unique to me?

171

Demonstrating your added value.

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And then obviously presenting

the research that you have done.

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, thinking about, structuring

your business case, you don't

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want a 12 page business case.

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You want to make it sharp

and punchy, easy to read.

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That's got all the necessary

information for them.

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, but also within that thinking

about who are the decision makers.

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Is it your boss who's the decision maker?

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Or are they gonna have to

take it higher up the chain?

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, is HR gonna be the decision maker?

181

, what information do the decision makers

need and making sure that that's put

182

into your business case because you don't

want them to say, well, we can't make a

183

decision because we need more information.

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You want to preempt that so that your

business cases sound . Grounded and

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full of the information that they need.

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And then also be thinking about

who are the champions for me

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that I need to get involved.

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, is my boss going to be my champion?

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Cause they're going to

have to escalate this.

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So thinking about, what's important to my

boss, , that I can also demonstrate that.

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by paying me more, I'm going to

be able to, , solve more of their

192

problems, make it easier for them.

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and I'm going to come on to the boss

relationship in a minute, but also

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thinking about maybe HR is going to be

my champion, because certainly HR will

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be involved in that salary discussion.

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They'll be thinking about precedent.

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They'll be thinking about

their salary ranges.

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They'll be thinking about the budget.

199

So guessing HR involved in your

business case can be quite useful.

200

If you've got a good relationship with

your HR contact, your HR VP for your area,

201

, you can bounce it around with them.

202

You could ask them for

salary range information.

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, you could even get them to have a

look at your business case before

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you submit it to your manager so

that you're getting their take on it.

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And they can be a useful source

of information in the organization.

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Going back to the relationship with

your boss, if they are going to be

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your champion and they're either going

to be the decision maker or they're

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going to have to champion you, thinking

about the foundational work you can do

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in advance of, putting your business

case in, , in terms of making sure

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you've got a good relationship with

them, that you're having regular one to

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ones, that you're selling yourself at

those one to ones, you're telling them

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about, , what you do, the challenges

you negotiate, navigate, the things

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that you've done that's added value.

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So they know your contribution.

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They're going to be.

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able to sell in your contribution

much easier because you've built

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that good foundation with them.

218

, if you don't necessarily have a

strong relationship with your boss

219

now, but you're wanting to put in a

business case, then thinking about

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building that relationship with

them, , and maybe bringing out more

221

of what you do when you're having a

one to ones with them will be useful.

222

And also you want to think about

the best time to ask for a pay rise.

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, if you've just delivered a great

project for them, , and they're

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really valuing your contribution,

that can be a great time to then

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be having that pay rise discussion.

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Or, , if maybe you're thinking about,

okay, January, there's a lot of

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movement in the organization, they'll

be worried about people leaving.

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Typically, it tends to be a bit of shift

in people changing jobs in January.

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That might also be a good time when

they're worried about retention.

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So thinking about your

timing is important too.

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And then practically, you want

to book a meeting with your boss

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to talk about your business case.

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You don't want it to come

as a surprise to them.

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When you're booking a meeting, you want

to give them a heads up that you want

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to have a salary discussion with them.

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So they're not feeling on the

back foot or feeling defensive.

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, they know what's coming.

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They know what, , what you want

to be talking to them about.

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If you're thinking about, , negotiating

a hire, salary off the stage, then,

240

, you want to be making sure that you

are really enthusiastic about the

241

job that you're being offered, but

saying you want to think about it.

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Don't say yes, , until you've negotiated

that, , salary increase, because you're

243

in a much stronger position when , they're

wanting you, you haven't said yes

244

yet, , than if you said yes to the job.

245

So they know they've got you already.

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Timing is really important.

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And don't think at job offer stage,

well, I'll maybe negotiate a salary

248

increase, but I've been there for three

months, and I've shown what I'm worth.

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You're already an employee, then

your power of negotiation is reduced.

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Job offer stage is really when

you have the power to negotiate a

251

higher salary or different benefits.

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Then the fifth thing we need to think

about is the emotional part of it.

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The first thing is to acknowledge that

you are feeling maybe a bit anxious, maybe

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a bit, , nervous about it, a bit scared

about doing this, maybe excited as well.

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But , there are going to be

emotions flooding around as you.

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present that, , that salary

negotiation, , whether it's with the

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potential employer or with your boss.

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, just knowing that, , those nerves,

those anxieties are going to come

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up, maybe naming them, talking them

through with somebody first, , even

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practicing your pitch or what you're

going to say can be helpful, can

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take away some of that anxiety.

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, and just knowing that actually there is a

potential for rejection, but that's okay.

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This is about, you in terms of your

work, it's not about you as a person.

264

, and as always, we're going to talk about

a backup plan in terms of rejection

265

as well, but also thinking about

what's the worst that could happen.

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It's not the end of the world if

they say no, it just means you've

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got choices about what you do next.

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Being able to position it in your

mind, , as okay, I'm going to

269

have, , this conversation with my

boss, and it could lead to something

270

really positive, or it could lead to

me rethinking, things for myself.

271

, but it's not the end of the world.

272

And also, I think there's something

quite important to acknowledge as

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well in terms of, , the potential

Pension pay gap particularly for women.

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This is super important to think about

whatever age you are Because the pension

275

pay gap gender pension pay gap tends

to be about 40 percent Which is huge

276

because typically women are earn less

because a they don't have these salary

277

negotiations or, , pay negotiating

conversations as much as men do.

278

And also women to take

time out in their careers.

279

So there are gaps when they can't

contribute to their pension.

280

So the pension pay gap can be

up to 40 percent by the time you

281

retire, which is significant.

282

What you can think about as a motivator

is thinking about your future self and

283

what they would want you to do in terms

of this salary negotiation, because you

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do want to make sure that you are getting

higher salaries throughout your career.

285

So your pension pay gap is smaller

because obviously having a lower

286

salary cumulatively, , contributes

to that 40 percent pay gap.

287

Thinking your 67 year old

self, , facing retirement, wants

288

you to have this conversation now

and at all stages in your career.

289

Every time you're being offered a

new job, you want to be thinking

290

about negotiating that salary.

291

At regular points in your career, , you

want to be thinking about, , having

292

a pay rise conversation with your

boss because you don't want to

293

have that 40 percent pay gap.

294

You want to be having the opportunity

to have a great retirement as well as,

295

living well throughout your career.

296

Hopefully that's given you some

motivation as well around having

297

these conversations because it's

easy to put them off to think,

298

maybe I won't do that now.

299

, then when you're in that conversation

with your boss, you want to be calm.

300

, remember we've tried to

take the emotion out of it.

301

You want to talk them through

your business case, which is why

302

it needs to be short and punchy.

303

You're going to give them a written,

, copy of your business case, but you

304

want to talk them through it to explain

your rationale, particularly if they're

305

going to have to be your champion and

represent you with other decision makers.

306

And also not to expect an

answer straight away, okay?

307

They're going to need to

go away and think about it.

308

They're going to go away and

perhaps talk to people about it.

309

But you do want to find out

what their timescale is, okay?

310

So what's going to be the

timescale for their decision?

311

You don't want this

hanging around for months.

312

You want to know they're going

to be able to come back to you

313

within a specific time period.

314

Scale and you want to keep them to that

similarly if you are, negotiating that

315

at job offer stage You want to know when

they're going to be able to come back to

316

you to let you know Because you might have

other offers on the table , , and then you

317

want to think about having a backup plan

318

If they say no, for whatever reason,

you've got to think about what else

319

would I accept if, , they can't say

yes to me, because There is a bit

320

of reciprocity going to kick in.

321

You've asked for something.

322

If they can't say yes to it, they're

gonna feel like they want to give

323

you something to keep you sweet.

324

This is your opportunity to think

about, , what else might I, accept?

325

Those other things could be

things like more flexibility.

326

So you might say, okay, well could

I work a nine day fortnight so I

327

could work five days, one week?

328

four days the next week,

but be paid for 10 days.

329

Obviously we don't want a salary

reduction here, but they might be able

330

to give you flexibility, or it might

be they can increase their pension

331

contribution to you, which is financially

valuable, or maybe you want to ask

332

them to fund some training for you.

333

Maybe there's a qualification

you want to do, or you want to

334

increase your training part.

335

Or, , maybe you want to build in a

review in three to six months time.

336

And certainly at job offer stage, you

can think about all these things as well.

337

If they can't say yes to your

higher salary, maybe there's

338

other things you want to negotiate

with them at job offer stage.

339

And then you also have to be clear

with yourself is would I leave or would

340

I say no to that job if they're not

going to meet my salary expectations?

341

But you want to be thinking through

that in a logical way, trying to

342

take the emotion out of that, of

them saying no, and be clear with

343

yourself about what the other benefits

are going to be to taking that new

344

job if they can't meet your salary.

345

, Or if it's your existing job, be

clear, , you don't want to make a knee

346

jerk reaction of going, okay, they're

not saying yes to me, I'm just going to

347

hand my notice and I'm going to leave.

348

You want to leave, , on your terms.

349

So you want to be leaving

for the right next role.

350

You want to be you know, ending

your, time with that employer well.

351

You want to have a good relationship

with your boss when you leave.

352

You don't want to be leaving

because they've said no.

353

But it gives you a choice.

354

If they're saying, no, we can't

meet your salary expectations.

355

Things are tight for us now.

356

We can't, , do anything

for at least another year.

357

That gives you information about,

okay, well, I've got choice to make

358

then about whether I stay or go.

359

, but , thinking about what other things

you might get renegotiate, , which

360

don't always have to be financial.

361

It might be about, okay, maybe I want to

work on this particular kind of project

362

and maybe that will give you enough to

make you feel valued enough to stay.

363

I hope that's given you food for thought.

364

, these kind of pay discussions, they

are part of your personal development,

365

, they are about you, doing that in a way

that allows you to , know your worth

366

and ask for it to be assertive and

to, , know that you have put yourself

367

forward to, , get the pay that you

are worth in terms of what you're

368

bringing, what you're delivering.

369

I do encourage you to to do this,

particularly if you're feeling that

370

you're being underpaid in your current

organization, for whatever reason, but

371

thinking about it in both practical

research business case way, and also the

372

mindset way of managing your emotions,

thinking about your relationship, thinking

373

about who the decision makers are, and

priming it for a successful outcome.

374

I'd love to know, if you go for it,

if you do ask for a pay rise, and

375

you're successful, do let me know.

376

I'd love to, to hear how it went.

377

. Thank you for joining me

378

Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

379

and Unstoppable podcast.

380

I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

381

tree coaching.co uk, and I'll

also put links in the show notes.

382

If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

383

so you don't miss the next one.

384

And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

385

and I will personally thank you.

386

Remember, you're capable of more

than you know, shine brightly.

387

Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

388

Be unstoppable.