What do you do if you're transitioning careers and facing salary negotiation challenges?

-Research salary ranges. -Highlight transferable skills. -Network for insights. -Practice negotiation. -Be flexible but firm. -Show enthusiasm. -Consider total compensation. -Know when to walk away.

For career transitions and salary negotiations, research the new industry's salary range, highlight transferable skills, and remain confident yet flexible during discussions. Effective communication and preparation are key.

Decide what is most valuable about the position you are going after. It may not be just salary. If this position will enable you to gain the experience and reputation you need to apply for much bigger positions and salaries later on, then decide if it is worth taking a lower salary and for how long. Also, you may be able to negotiate benefits that are really important to you in return for a lower salary. Perhaps and additional week of vacation time, working from home 2-3 days a week, flexible work hours etc. If the job is strategic to your plans, be flexible in how you approach salary, but have a limit to how long you will go at that pay grade.

Take Salary Databases like Glassdoor with a grain of salt. Glassdoor and PayScale both use publically aggregated salary data. This means anyone can go in and share salaries, accurate or not. I highly recommend using salary databases like Robert Half or Randstad, as the salary data is business aggregated -- meaning it comes directly from businesses, collected by salary data consultants who report this data back to their customers -- aka your future employer! Businesses themselves rely on this salary data, so it is less likely to be artificially inflated like Glassdoor's data and more in alignment with their pay expectations.

Speaking the language of the industry you're transferring into is the difference between being taken seriously and having your resume thrown out. Take time to educate yourself on the critical skills and vocabulary for that role. What are the common certifications people get? (You might not need to take the cert, but watch some YouTube videos about the content they cover!) How do the teams work? What are their methodologies? A great way to find out is to have an informational conversation with someone already in that field. Having this language in conversation will help you appear knowledgeable and ready to jump into the role!

Horrible advice. Salary negotiation begins from the first call with the recruiter, not once an offer is on the table. Your first job in a recruiter screening is to validate that the salary range for the role is in alignment with your reaching salary ask. I call this number "reaching" because it should be a number that they'll work you down from. Being "flexible" will land you with a salary that is below your expectations, aka underpaid. Repeat this number early and often throughout the interview process. This sets a bar that must be negotiated from, rather than begging for more by the time the offer is on the table.

Remember, a coach is a mentor who is contractually obligated to support your advancement. Many folks struggle to find mentorship that lasts. Coaching is an exceptional tool that is underutilized, often due to the cost. Yes, you have to pay for a coach, but you also paid for your education and every certification you've ever taken. Learning often has a cost. Ask yourself, will the investment be paid back in dividends when you accomplish your goal? Additionally, you're more likely to act on the advice if you've got a little skin in the game.

We often treat salary negotiation as this extremely rare event with defined boundaries: - Receive offer - Negotiate - Sign offer This is a fallacy. You're ALWAYS negotiating. Whether you're building a case for your next raise, working through a severance negotiation, or even trying to get yourself out of bed and go for a run in the morning, life is full of negotiations. Fearing this particular one builds pressure, stress, and anxiety which leads to you accepting an offer below what you're worth. Remember, you've got this! And you'll be so proud of yourself when you get the salary YOU want. Remember that in every hectic and stressful moment of your interviewing process!