Salary negotiation can be tricky, but with a bit of forward planning you should be able to obtain a suitable salary and benefits package.

Financial awareness

Before you discuss your salary expectations with a potential employer, you should conduct some research into the financial performance of the company. Did it post profits for the last financial year or was it operating at a loss? Do industry experts predict strong economic growth in the sector for the coming year? Has the company made any redundancies recently? These are just some of the factors that will contribute to the employer's perception of a realistic salary.

You also need to discover what people in similar roles, both inside and outside the company, are earning. There are various online salary surveys which will help you determine the current market rate. Have salaries been increasing or falling in the sector over the past 12 months? Is there a high demand for people with your skills and is the sector suffering from a talent shortage? The answers to these questions will help you benchmark realistic salary levels.

It can be easy to become overly enthusiastic when you are offered a higher headline salary number but before you jump in, take a step back and consider whether there will be additional expenditure attached to the new position. You may have increased travel costs or lose out on benefits such as free health insurance. Of course, the reverse could also be true and the new role may have a slightly lower salary than you expected, but come with a company car and other benefits that you did not have in your previous job.

If you are relocating to another country or jurisdiction it is important to take into account local tax rates and potentially different costs of living. Considerations such as these can impact in either direction so it is simply a matter of factoring them into your preconception of an acceptable salary package and reacting accordingly. Less money in a lower tax jurisdiction may work out just as well from a net perspective as a higher gross amount elsewhere.

An informed point of view

Once you have conducted your research you will be armed with a ballpark figure to work around in your negotiations and it will prove to a prospective employer that you are approaching the important matter of remuneration from an intellectual rather than an emotional standpoint. Always keep in mind you have to live on this salary, so do your sums and make sure the overall package is financially viable and delivers in terms of providing an acceptable standard of living. Don't be afraid to negotiate but do so sensibly and sensitively and from an informed point of view.