How to negotiate your pay

When a pay for a gig is not set in stone, it's important to know how to negotiate.

This article gives practical advice on salary negotiation, by recruiting consultant Bill Humbert. Here are some excerpts:

• "Don't offer salary requirements: When you are asked to include salary requirements with your resume, that is typically a company’s first screen, and it can be used against you. Humbert's advice is to simply put “Open” in that spot."
  
  
• "Don't give away too much: In many job applications, an employer will ask for your salary history. It is perfectly acceptable to write “Willing to discuss at appropriate time during interview process” and leave those numbers blank."
  
  
• "Keep networking: Once you have a job offer, it’s not a done deal until you accept it. Until that happens, keep networking and looking for jobs. It may give you valuable market-worth data about the position you’ve been offered."
  
  
• "Accepting the offer: Asking “Is there any flexibility in this offer?” may help to open a discussion of increasing the offer."
  
  

Picture from http://kizie.com/blog/business-negotiations-and-strategies.html