Everything is negotiable, or the opposite may be true, nothing is negotiable, depending on the situation, the position, how flexible the company is, the company’s culture and your skills as a negotiator. You have to be perceptive enough to determine your bounds, while remembering that, you can only get what you ask for.  The it being an extra $10,000 salary, a 30% bonus, a hiring bonus, an extra week’s vacation, reimbursement for your COBRA expenses, a company car, or other financial or non-financial benefits

You can do your homework and check salary surveys, industry practices and even interview various company employees to determine what practices they are willing to share concerning their own actual hiring experience.  When you get into final negotiations, a lot may depend upon whether you are talking to the Human Resources Representative or to the Hiring Manager who has a need for which hiring you may represent the solution.  HR will have an interest in avoiding non-standard employment agreements and may not relate to the financial value you are able to bring to the company.  However, HR will likely know what is feasible and what is outside their control when it comes to the timing of items such as insurance coverage and 401k qualification.

‘Screening’ questions may be asked of you early in the process like, “The pay range for this position is $X to $Y, is this agreeable to you?”  Although no contract has been signed, this does indicate significant bounds have already been set.  Negotiations have actually begun back even earlier in the process with the job advertisement or the job description. If the job listing indicates the potential salary range, the title, the number of people supervised, the dollar responsibility---any of these may represent difficult obstacles to overcome.

Also an important factor will be what ‘Edge’ you have to position yourself favorably for the negotiations, i.e., being currently employed, possessing a skill the company badly needs, the company’s need to expand, the rapport you have established with the Hiring Manager or with  HR, your other viable job offers which would allow you to walk away from this opportunity.

What is negotiable also varies by management levels – the higher the position the more that's generally negotiable. You need to gather information during the interviewing process on the company's standard practices regarding certain items that are typically negotiable.  Get a "read" on how flexible the Hiring Manager and company culture are during the interviewing process to have a feel for what they may be willing to negotiate later.

For successful results it is best to accomplish much of the negotiations after the decision to extend the offer to you, but before the formal offer is put into writing.  That way the list of formal changes will not be as extensive.  You certainly want to avoid overwhelming them.

Generally not negotiable:

·         Medical Insurance Effective Date

·         Entry date for Retirement/401(k) and receiving company contribution

·         Vesting date on qualified plans (401(k), Profit Sharing, Pension, Stock Option Plan.)

Commonly negotiated items, varying with level of position:

·         Vacation amount higher than standard accrual rate. Specifically scheduled dates.

·         Bonus 1st year minimum guarantee.

·         Early Pay Review.

·         Severance - 6-12 months. Outplacement Services -# months not $ cost.

·         Relocation Expenses.

·         Employment contract.

·         Car or automobile allowance.

·         PDA, Cell phone.

·         Home office expenses, laptop, internet connectivity.

·         Hiring bonus.

·         Educational assistance ahead of schedule.

·         Stock options.

·         Professional association dues

·         Certification exam expense.

·         Reimbursement for COBRA expenses.

·         Early or late start date.

·         Flexible working hours.

·         Telecommuting arrangements.

Recognize that a job offer can be withdrawn at any time and particularly at a point where it is interpreted that the offer is being turned down or when a counter offer is put on the table.  This occurs if your demands are considered beyond the company’s range of flexibility or if you just become too much of a pain to work with and they have concluded that you will be too much of a high maintenance employee.  So, keep your demands few and easy to satisfy if you want the job.

Jon Harvill CPC, APICS Atlanta Career Center Director, can be contacted at 770 952-0009 or visit Professional Search of Atlanta’s website at www.professionalsearchatlanta.com .

Think of your résumé, not as a biography, but as a marketing tool.  To avoid including a lot of data that you may be very proud of but that does not sell your suitability for this particular position, try to emotionally separate yourself from the résumé writing process.  Imagine what an ad agency would choose to include and what they would choose to leave out.  Your résumé should clearly show your employment goal and give supporting arguments in a powerful and easily understood way, and leave out most of the rest.

RÉSUMÉ FORMATS - The use of one of a couple of a traditional résumé formats will make it easier for the hiring official to quickly read (or visually scan) and come away with enough good reasons to consider you further.

Because your most resent employment is typically the most important, an Inverse Chronological résumé puts that information right up front and therefore is used most frequently.  It will show each employers’ name, dates of employment, your last title there, your primary duties and your major accomplishments.

Some reasons to opt for a Functional résumé, which lists your skills and accomplishments first and then lists only your former employers’ names, your titles and the periods of employment; are the following: :

• a need to play down the subject’s age,
• to disguise a job-hopping pattern,
• to show transferable skills to support a change of careers,
• to disguise a lack of steady advancement or consistent career path.

With either format, your résumé should include complete contact information, your educational background (unless by omitting your education you avoid calling attention to your lack of a degree), related honors and certifications and, at least, the most recent ten years of professional experience.  Your résumé should be no longer than two pages, preferably one, with enough white space for an interviewer to be able to make notes in the margins.

A "Profile/ Accomplishment/ Keyword" format is sometimes used when catering to the résumé-scanning software that automatically screens résumés and fills in databases from the data and keywords found in the résumé. This type of software has gotten pretty sophisticated and can handle most résumés but may still have difficulty processing overly fancy formats and deciphering résumés made up of tables, floating text boxes, graphics and embedded images.

Omit personal information that is unrelated to the job you are applying for.  Omit marital status, age, height, weight, number of kids, social organizations, references, salary, reason for leaving, religious organizations, etc.  There is also no need to waste a résumé line advising that, ”References can be provided”.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVES.  Your résumé should present your professional background in the most positive manner, and answer questions without raising unnecessary new ones.  Use strong, confident language to describe your achievements, not just by describing a feature you bring but also spell out the benefit the new employer can extrapolate receiving.  For example, "As the chief manufacturing engineer, I redesigned our assembly line process, cutting production time by 20 percent, increasing annual profits by $2.3 million."  Or, "As senior account supervisor, brought in seven new clients and increased existing client business by 25 percent. These efforts boosted the agency's profitability by more than 15 percent over the previous year."

Use strong action words such as directed, established, created, designed, earned, saved, produced, took control, accomplished, lead, developed, installed and implemented.  For job pursuits within most for-profit industry, weaker words to avoid are administered, documented, liaison, participated, attempted, tried, requested, and coordinated.

For the benefit of the résumé scanning software, show keywords in all their common forms, avoiding proprietary nomenclature, unexplained acronyms and uncommon job titles (give more commonly used titles in parenthesis).

PERFECTION COUNTS.  Neatness counts and typographical errors, poor spelling and faulty grammar are unacceptable   It may take several drafts to turn your résumé into your ideal marketing tool.  Proofread it carefully. Have someone else proofread it, too. Get another opinion on its content and presentation. Now make sure it answers "yes" to the following important questions:

• Does it effectively describe your background?
• Does it highlight your strong points and accomplishments?
• Is it honest and accurate?
• Is it complete, yet concise?
• Is the format clean and attractive?
• Is it a successful marketing piece?
• Does it focus on your value to your previous employers?
• Does it make you stand out from the crowd?

Jon Harvill CPC, APICS Atlanta Career Center Director, can be contacted at
770-952-0009, JHarvill@professionalsearchatlanta.com or Professional Search of Atlanta's website at professionalsearchatlanta.com

Step 1: Structure Your Job Search

12 tools to make your job search effective:

• A well-written Resume.
• A 30-second verbal resume.
• Business cards.
• Daily planning and telephone log or a Contact Management software.
• Home office or outplacement office space.
• Internet access for research and email.
• Telephone and answering machine.
• A personal support organization.
• Action Plans.
• Thank-you note stationary.
• An interview uniform.
• An impressive list of favorable reference

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Step 2: Resumé Tips

The resume has one primary purpose: to lead to getting a job interview! It is a marketing piece, not a personal history or autobiography. The following suggestions may help make it more effective:
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And, your 30-Second Resumé

How many times have you been to a party, seminar or networking group and someone asked you "What do you do?" or "Tell me about yourself?" How did you respond? Did you fumble for words or lose your listener attention with a long drawn out explanation involving technical words that they could not understand. The conversation could have gone much smoother if you had a short oral resume prepared that highlighted your background and job objective, and still kept your listeners attention.
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Step 3: Networking

Many of you have heard my opinion of job search priorities. In a job search, your highest priority activity is to be face-to-face with a live person. If possible that person should be in a position to hire you, but more likely they will just know someone else who may need your talents. During normal working hours, when you are not successful at being face-to-face, you should be on the phone trying to get face-to-face. After hours is the only time you can afford to work the less effective methods such as the job boards, internet searches, newspaper help wanted ads, emails and correspondence.
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Step 4: Interviewing Skills

Your physical appearance is as important as your interviewing skills and credentials. Dress attractively, but conservatively, even if you tend to be more flamboyant normally. Men should wear well-tailored suits, preferably dark blue or gray; solid neutral shirts, striped or solid-colored ties; dark, well-polished shoes solid black or navy socks. And, don't forget to get a good haircut. Women should wear business suits or tailored dresses with jackets; medium-heeled closed pumps; and have your hair done in a conservative style. Remember, first impressions count.
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Step 5: Negotiations

Everything is negotiable or nothing is negotiable depending on the company, the hiring official, the situation, and the position. You have to be perceptive enough to determine your bounds. Negotiations begin with the ad or job listing. Serious negotiations begin after the initial offer is received. If the job listing indicates the potential salary range, the title, the number of people supervised, the dollar responsibility---all of these things are indicators of rigidity or flexibility.
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