The next stop on our tour is the Real Bottom Line, a negotiations field guide that offers industry-specific insight and tips from our insiders working for management consulting, investment banking, brand management, high technology, non-profit and start-up firms. Just as it's critical to research industries and companies in the job search mating game, it's very important to understand the compensation norms in different industries so you can design a negotiating strategy that is reasonable and successful.
You're just about ready for prime time, but not quite. A quick review of the elements of a prototype compensation package is just what the doctor ordered, so next we'll roll into the WFP Classroom and demystify the buzzwords. As our insiders repeatedly point out, those buzzwords are worth money, too. Unless you understand all the elements of a compensation package, you can't possibly negotiate the best deal for yourself--because you won't know what to ask for.
To help you think about which parts of the compensation package are most important to you, we've included a few custom-designed interactive exercises in this report. It's vital to spend some serious time before your negotiation identifying your needs, the areas in which you are willing to make trade-offs, and those in which you are not. You will rarely have as much leverage negotiating your compensation package with your company as you do right now, before you sign the dotted line. Your up-front investment in touchy-feely time will prove well worth the effort.
Finally, our tour through the world of compensation negotiation ends at the library, with WFP's time-saving Hot Off the Press review of recent articles, books and Web sites on the topic. Next stop: the negotiating room!
