Negotiations, whether they are part of the initial interview process when you are starting a job, or when they are part of a yearly review, can be a stressful and scary time. Oftentimes people will not ask for raises due to being ‘bullied’ into thinking they aren’t worth it, or they don’t want to seem greedy and get fired, or they just don’t have the confidence to ask for what they deserve.

You may think to yourself that negotiating is too much effort, or you might come across as greedy, or maybe you are happy with the salary you are offered. KICK ASS VETS recommends to always negotiate, no matter your scenario, as there are many different benefits of negotiations aside from a higher salary.

When you negotiate with a clinic, whether it is for a certain schedule, hours, salary, vacation time, CE allowance, car allowance, etc., you display a level of confidence to both your employer, and more importantly to yourself! Studies have shown that both employer and employee come out of an interview, or pay review, with an enhanced satisfaction with the interaction if a negotiation has occurred. Negotiating will also display confidence to your employer which will translate to you being a more financially valuable employee.

Another important reason to negotiate is that employers and managers EXPECT you to! They will come in with an offer that is lower than they are willing to accept because they expect to negotiate and have to go up a bit. If you don’t negotiate, you are letting the clinics pay you less than they had allocated for your employment.

Of course, a higher salary is one of the main reasons to negotiate. On average you will get anywhere between a 3-5% increase in salary, or $1500-$5000 from a negotiation, just by asking! This is when looking at yearly reviews. However, if you have been drastically underpaid or are looking to get a higher starting salary from an arbitrary starting point, then the increase you can achieve may be much higher.

Knowing how much to ask for as a starting salary, or as yearly raise, can be difficult to determine. It will depend on your experience, location, the current market, the industry standard, and your ability to negotiate. KICK ASS VETS addresses evaluating your worth as a New Grad and as an Experienced Vet in previous blogs. Below are are few other factors to consider when thinking about how much to ‘demand’:

COST OF LIVING: It is important that your salary will cover your cost of living at minimum. Work out what your rent, debt repayments, food, car payments, etc. will cost you. This will give you the lowest salary you can accept and pay for life.

MARKET RESEARCH: Determine what individuals of your experience, skill level, location and amount of work are making. This will help you determine the ‘Industry Standard’ which you can use as a benchmark.

3. BE REALISTIC: You want to find the balance between advocating for yourself and not being ‘greedy’. Demanding too high of a salary has a negative impact on negotiations, so asking for unrealistically high values may work against you.

4. DETERMINE YOUR RANGE: It is important to have a range in mind when going into a negotiation. With this when you receive an offer, or are asked for your ‘demand’, you are not blind-sided and you know how to react or feel about the offer.

RESERVATION PRICE: Below this value you will walk away. This is determined by the amount of money you need to pay for life, below which it is not worth it to take the job.
DREAM PRICE: This is the realistic salary that would make you jump for joy. The highest salary you could hope to get for that particular job.
TARGET PRICE: This is the ‘in-between’ value where your negotiation will likely end up. You will want to ensure that your target is at least equivalent to the ‘industry standards’ that you have determined with your market research. Given the current market you will likely want this target to be higher than the industry standard.

We recommend asking for your ‘Dream Price’, expecting to end up near the ‘Target Price’. Some studies show a range of ~$5000 will give you a better outcome, and other studies show a set value has better success. KICK ASS VETS recommends a range of values for initial salary negotiations but a set value for yearly reviews/negotiations, as you will have better idea of what specifically is fair and appropriate.

By having your Reservation Price and Dream Price determined, you can properly ‘gauge’ an offer, and know when to walk away from a clinic, and when to take an offer.

THE ANCHOR: The ‘Anchor’ refers to the first value that is put on the table in terms of negotiations. The value of this ‘anchor’ plays a large role in negotiating salaries, and is the biggest indicator of where the final salary will end up. If you are able to state your salary ‘demand’ first then take your opportunity to set the ‘anchor’ high.

JUSTIFICATION PHRASE: When you are going into a negotiation it is important to have a ‘justification’ phrase prepared outlining your skills and attributes, and what you will bring (or continue to bring) to the clinic. This 1-2min phrase should be well prepared, concise and clear, and delivered with confidence! See Interview Guidelines blog for more details. The Justification Phrase is followed by your salary ‘demand’.

ARGUMENTS FOR HIGHER SALARY: When creating your Justification Phrase you want to highlight any skills, experience, or duties that make you more valuable. As a new grad you will highlight experience working in clinics, or talking to clients. As an experienced vet you will highlight any emergency experience, managing, roster/schedule making, mentoring/teaching, protocol creating/revisiting, undesirable hours/locations, on-call, client complaint handling, high 'sales' history, etc.

BENEFITS/PERKS: Salary is only one part of a contract. You can increase the value of your ‘package’ by negotiating other terms including moving bonuses/expenses, signing bonuses, increased vacation time, membership fees (VIN, journals, etc.), CE, cell phone, car allowance, different rates for extra shifts, etc. Ensure you get any terms written into your contract and check there aren't any stipulations/hidden conditions (ex. Must be an employee for 2 years first, etc.)

EMAIL NEGOTIATIONS: Communication via email is arguably the worst way to negotiate, as individuals ‘hide’ behind the screen, and also written word comes off as more aggressive than intended. If you are in a situation where you are forced to negotiate via email, sharing personal situations/stories to personalize the interaction improves success of negotiations.

MONEY ISN’T EVERYTHING: Salary is linked to job satisfaction, but there are other factors that contribute as well. These include a good working environment, education, health (good work-life balance), mentorship, location, potential for long-term employment, potential for advancement, etc. Think about the entire picture when picking a job. KICK ASS VETS looks a Picking Your First Job , Red Flags and Green Flags , when thinking about employment.

THE YEARLY RAISE: You should be pushing to have a performance review yearly at a minimum. As a new graduate you should ask for a review at 6 months as well. This is an opportunity to determine what is working, what isn’t working, and to ask for a raise! Prepare for this meeting as you would for your initial interview. Salary raises of 10-20% are acceptable for your first few years as you drastically increase your speed, skills and confidence. After this you would be in the range of about 5% a year until you reach the ‘maximum income’, after which your raises should reflect inflation, 2-3% a year.

TAKE YOUR TIME: Often when an employee makes a salary or raise ‘demand’ the employer will reply, ‘Thank you, we will look into the budget and get back to you.’ However, when offered a salary in a negotiation or interview we often feel pressured to answer immediately. If you are unsure of your response, take some time to think on it. Simply reply, ‘Thank you for your offer, I will think on it and get back to you.’ You have every right to take some time to assess any contract or offer.

GENDER DIFFERENCES: Veterinary medicine, despite being female dominated, is not exempt from the gender salary gap. Females are paid less even when factors such as experience, skill and hours are taken into account. Females are less likely to ask for raises, and females are harder on other females when we ask each other for raises. Women need to take an active step to decrease this gap! The first step is ASKING FOR A RAISE! Until we start advocating for ourselves and asking for appropriate compensation, we can’t blame anyone but ourselves. The second step is to be fair to one another. As working women we should be supporting eachother, not in constant competition!

Contracts are a part of our day-to-day lives, especially now when we click the “I agree” box for Terms and Conditions on a daily basis without thinking twice. Although you should read any contract you sign, none may be more important than your job contract.

Job contracts shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all document, they should be tailored to each employee-job situation. So, read over your job contract and have it changed and edited to address any particular needs. Also, once you negotiate your specific terms and conditions, ensure that it is written in your contract, don’t just have faith in your employer to uphold the conditions.

If you are preparing for a yearly review, an interview negotiation, trying to determine if an offer is 'fair', had a bad review you want to revisit, or have any other concerns you need to address, you can always sign up for KICK ASS Consulting where we will help you prepare and fine-tune your negotiation strategy!