How much? There is no easy answer for this question but the best way to address is it is to understand a company’s typical thought process. Regardless of what companies will openly admit there are three things that will determine what a company will offer you when changing jobs:

What you are worth in the Market
This has nothing to do with your perceived value, it is important to distinguish your perceived value from your market value. Your market value is simply based on what others with a similar skill set and experience (your competition) are currently or willing to make. I have had candidates tell me: “I saved the company $500,000 dollars last year why can’t they pay me 50% more?” And the answer is pretty straight forward, harsh, but straight forward: Because they don’t have to if someone else can save them the same amount for 25% less than what you make.

So, research the market when setting your expectations. Once you arrive at market data it is important to understand how it is used. If you take market statistics as a reference, consider that companies will try to make offers below the 50 percentile to guarantee room for growth and development. The area above that percentile is reserved for compensating performance and experience at the corresponding level. If at any point you are able to negotiate above the 50 percentile be cautious of what your future will look like. You might be staring at a few years with below average salary increases.

Your current salary
This becomes a none-issue if you are at market, but if you are under the market it will force a question: Why are you below market? In many cases there is a valid reason. But beware of how you present your case. Companies will know about other companies more that you might expect. Company names in your resume and your current salary will hint to what your performance has been. Questions marks will fly if you have been with a well recognized organization for the past 4 years and your salary is below market. Regardless of how well the interview process goes and how good an organization may be when evaluating potential employees there is never a guarantee that a new hire will perform as expected. So if you are below market don’t expect a significant immediate increase to bring you to market level. Companies will typically provide an increase to bring you on board but it will be up to you to bring yourself to market level by performing. So worry about positioning yourself in an organization that will FACILITATE getting back to market level within a certain amount of time versus trying to find a sponsor that will immediately take you there because they feel for you and believe your story.

It is also important to consider that while companies understand that money is important they will seek a candidate’s decision based on the challenge, expected career path and career development and not on an immediate boost in pay. For that reason, most organizations will shy away from providing sharp increases when presenting an offer. The average increase, assuming that the increase does no put you outside the hiring companies range for the position is between 15-25%. The higher the salary the lower the percentage tends to be. In very few instances do we see organizations that are willing to increase an executive’s salary by more than 25% when they bring them on board. So once again, worry about positioning yourself in an organization that will provide a level of responsibility, training and experience that will allow you to progressively increase your market value and consequently your salary.

Chase responsibility and experience that can be marketed and the money will come.

Their internal pay structure
You would think that the pay structure in most companies would match market data. Unfortunately it is not always the case and not because organizations would not want it that way. External events can change the market quicker than what a company can or would be willing to react to. When we see a mismatch it is typically a temporary supply and demand issue for specific industries and disciplines. In most instances companies will prefer to take more time to fill a job opening or even lose a few employees to a hot job market over turning their cost structure upside down or generate disgruntled employees by increasing the salary range for specific positions while keeping other similar ones the same.

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit www.heidrick.com

The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily represent the views of Heidrick & Struggles.