I received so many positive responses to the blog post I did on negotiating a salary that I thought it would be a good idea to publish the whole article that Dick Lam had written on this subject.

For those of you who are not familiar with Dick’s work, he’s an excellent coach who specialises in teaching job seekers to become more aware so that they can become more valuable to companies.

Dick can be reached at: d.lam@orgtek.org

I urge all job seekers looking to gain valuable advice to seek out Dick’s assistance.

Dick’s full article on how to increase your value to the employers is as follows.

The trick..

People ask me how to ‘get that job’ or ‘get that extra money’?

They are asking for ‘that trick answer’ in selling yourself.

General advice includes – prepare, think positively and imagine yourself in the job. Advice from friends & family will tell you to ‘be yourself’.

Assuming you are in a position to move up or elsewhere, there are different answers one can give to impress.

In general however – the $50K a year employee will give a $50K answer, the $100K manager will give a $100K answer and the $200K executive a $200K answer.

However, if the job is paying $75K, the answer is that they do not want a $100K or $200K person who will not join or stay. They want the guy who is upgrading to $75K but will deliver $100K.

They are not rare, but often they do not apply. So employers instead they settle for a $75K person but who has less potential.

There are 2 sides to this equation.

 Employer

The employer fails to get the right people because when they write the ad for the job, they have a big ‘wish list’ – the candidate should have X,Y,Z…

The candidates sees they can’t meet half of them and doesn’t apply.

But only those who are overqualified or those who are already paid much more really meet that criteria. These do not apply.

Only those who don’t read the ad or the ‘lucky’ apply.

Employee

The biggest problem with mid level people is not technical skill. At this level skill can be learned.

The problem is awareness and responsibility.

Not complaining about previous employers – most people know this. This is a level of awareness and responsibility.

But there are other levels.

1. First Impressions

It is said that there is ‘no 2nd chance to make a good first impression’.

In my experience, the first impression of most $50K candidates is….. $50K.

Make a ‘cheap’ impression, and you will be pushing uphill. I heard that it takes 7 consecutive ‘good’ impressions to overcome the first ‘bad’ one.

I once almost lost a very valuable employee, because when I interviewed her she thought that my ‘hair was messy’. I might have been a bad boss.

A person who is not aware of this level is going to have a big question mark over them.

But think the other way. Make a good first impression – and you have a running start!

2. The level of what you will accept

Some people are happy to get a little bit more money in a new job. Some might even have a very, very high success rate for their job applications.

This is not necessarily a good indicator.

If one is surrounded by $50K friends and family. One is apt to adopt $50K behaviour, dress and acceptance. So when a job comes along that pays $60K – they are very happy.

But what if they tried to apply for $75K? Rejection would have been higher, but what changes would you end up undertaking?

This is one reason that some people who end up in network marketing – end up ‘trading up’ their friends. The old less supportive ones drift away.

That most fail is because they haven’t learned the skills or haven’t let go of old ideas.

I remember, in the year 2000 (when graduates were only getting $30-35K), I went from a $40K job to a $100K one in the space of 3 months. How?

I simply started applying for better jobs. And didn’t accept the lower ones.

In fact, when I started, I rejected 3 jobs paying $45K, $55K, $65K. The pay was higher, but the responsibility seemed too ‘basic’.

And so I upgraded my skill & experience on a contract basis over the 3 months. But in the meantime, I applied for jobs that paid more and more.

I learned what it took to get a $100K job. But before that I decided ‘not to accept’ a lower position.

You might argue that the new experience got me the better jobs, but we are only talking 3 months experience. What I really learned was the ‘awareness’ of a $100K level person. It is not easy to fake. But before that, I had to ‘not accept’ a lower level.

In fact, I beat more qualified candidates asking less money with experience in an industry I had never worked in before – Telecommunications. The agent thought I was crazy, but the boss decided I was worth it.

And of course, I managed to deliver at that level. One can always learn quickly. Managers are also choosing the ‘best’ person to learn.

3. Selling Yourself

One of the hardest skills is to step back and observe yourself and what you might say or do in the eyes of a potential employer.

It needs to be done. Otherwise one cannot easily sell themselves.

“What you are shouts so loudly at me I cannot hear what you say” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Academic results are not always the thing to sell. In my Honours Graduation class, the guy who had the worst result – a 3rd Class Honours – got the best job.

He could sell himself. But he had something to sell and it wasn’t his degree.

This article is too short to give you the full answers on how to do this. But understand this – there are 3 sales.

1. Your resume and cover letter.

2. Your interview.

3. After you start the job.

All 3 skills are different and will need different training.

My main tip is this:

Don’t ask people who don’t know how to do this for advice.

There are lots of experts who do know. They are cheap.

In fact they can give you hours and hours of advice for $30.

It is called a book – written by an expert.

Sometimes though, the problem is that they are cheap and not a lot of time is devoted to learning what they say. This is where a book is not quite the same as a coach.

These are available as well.

Yes, upgrading your job and income can cost money and effort. But extrapolate say – $20,000 more a year in your next job and take that higher opportunity and project the effect over the rest of your working life?

We’re talking millions aren’t we?

In fact it is more. True value and confidence.