DO YOU THINK SALARIES ARE SET IN STONE AND NON-NEGOTIABLE? THINK AGAIN. UNLESS THE JOB IS CIVIL SERVICE OR UNIONIZED, THERE’S USUALLY WIGGLE ROOM. Test the waters—after you have the job offer. Then you will be in a position of strength. So wait until they want you. Know the going rate, the low, median and average wage for your job title. You can find information on www.payscale.com; www.salarywizard and www.salary.com. One bargaining chip includes healthcare, for example. If you are married and do not need health benefits because your spouse has them, make that known to the company. Whether the prospective company requires their workers to pay into the benefits plan, or not, they are costly, anywhere from $5,000 or more a year for a single person to $15,000 for a couple. Perhaps they can come up half way in salary to cancel out the costs. If the company is non profit and absolutely cannot come up in your paycheck because of hard times, perhaps they can offer you three or more extra days off a year. Workers value free time sometimes as much as, if not more than, pay.

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