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@@@ The labor market has healed considerably since the Great Recession but it鈥檚 still hurting. The unemployment rate was 6.2% in July, more than a point lower than a year ago, and the economy added 209,000 new jobs last month, capping off the strongest six months of payroll gains since 2006. Yet 9.7 million Americans are still out of work and last month, wages didn鈥檛 rise at all. In fact wages were only 2% higher in July than they were a year ago. Given that lackluster picture, if you are one of the lucky people who is in the process of landing a new job, it鈥檚 helpful to know how to negotiate for the best possible salary. A compact and entertaining book by Wired magazine鈥檚 former associate director of marketing, Jim Hopkinson, : Learn the Salary Negotiation Secrets No One Ever Taught You, lays out some of the basics of salary negotiation <a href=http://www.saclouisvuittonhomme.com/milticolor-monogramme-ceinture-25>Milticolor monogramme ceinture</a> in an engaging style. The best part of this slim volume is Hopkinson鈥檚 personal story about how he went from college grad with a degree in Computer Information Systems to unpaid intern to clerk in Staples鈥?computer department, on to several more jobs that culminated in his last post, in the marketing department at Wired, a division of Conde Nast. Hopkinson left Wired in November 2011, and now works as a consultant and blogger. He peppers his book with first-person anecdotes about his career decisions, and lessons he鈥檚 learned. The most novel aspect of Hopkinson鈥檚 approach: he recommends preparing a single-page document he calls the IRS, or Industry Research of Salaries, that takes into account salary data from websites like Salary.com, Payscale.com and Glassdoor.com, and from personal networking. He even suggests candidates hire a designer to prepare the IRS sheet, which would graph the salary range for a position from low to high, and list details about achievements, including years of experience and skills like 鈥渁ccomplished speaker,鈥?and specifics about the job, eg. Seattle area, manage a team of three. To me, this exercise seems like overkill. By all means, candidates should do plenty of homework and research the salary range for a position in advance. They should also give serious consideration to salary goals and limits, and what sorts of perks, like vacation, benefits and flextime, they would be willing to trade for money.  But the most important rule of salary negotiation is the one Hopkinson notes in another chapter: The candidate should not be the first to name a number. He helpfully covers how to fill out applications that try to force job seekers to pick a figure. In the blank where it says 鈥減revious salary,鈥?he recommends writing, 鈥渃ompetitive.鈥?Where an application asks for desired salary, write 鈥渘egotiable.鈥?Hopkinson advises that even when applications say, in all caps, 鈥淎PPLICATIONS THAT DO NOT INCLUDE FULL SALARY HISTORY WILL BE DISCARDED,鈥?do not fill in the blank with a specific number. The way around this demand is through networking. Find someone at the company who can put your application into the <a href=http://www.saclouisvuittonhomme.com/trunks-et-sacs-damier-ceinture-28>Trunks et sacs Damier ceinture</a> hands of a hiring manager. Hopkinson also includes suggestions on how to answer salary questions in an initial interview. When the human resources rep asks about your desired salary, you can say, 鈥淲ell, I鈥檝e actually done a fair amount of research while preparing for this interview鈥?what I found is that there was a pretty wide range depending on a number of factors, and I鈥檇 really need to have the full picture of all the responsibilities before I know what that range is.鈥? Another creative response to the what-were-you-making question: 鈥淲ell, the reason I didn鈥檛 list my previous salary on the application is that I鈥檝e been freelancing since I was laid off, and the compensation for that would equal $200,000 if you calculated it annually.鈥?Hopkinson also points out that most large companies issue policy handbooks that include the instruction that employees should not share sensitive company information with the public. If the HR rep presses you and says she can鈥檛 <a href=http://www.saclouisvuittonhomme.com/chaussures-louis-vuitton-33>Chaussures Louis Vuitton</a> move you on to the next interview without knowing your current salary, you can say, 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry but the employment contract I鈥檓 under with my current employer does not allow me to reveal my compensation. However, I鈥檓 sure that when the time comes to discuss salary, we won鈥檛 have a problem settling on a number we can both agree on.鈥? For Hopkinson, the crucial stage of the salary negotiation process comes after the potential employer has suggested a number. He recommends that candidates always try to push the offer higher. One strategy, when you鈥檙e offered a range, is to take the top number and then just repeat it and add the word 鈥渉mmm.鈥?So if you鈥檙e told the position is budgeted at $65,000 to $75,000, your response would be, 鈥?75,000, hmmm.鈥?Hopkinson encourages candidates to push for a higher number, while emphasizing their experience and accomplishments.  Negotiate for perks like title, benefits, bonuses, vacation and periodic salary reviews. This is an update of a story that appeared previously. For more information on negotiating your salary: