Know your “thamani” - your true value
Following my last post I posed a question of salary expectations vs what you ended up accepting to my LinkedIn network, the results of which started me thinking.
Alongside this we’ve moved onto Tanzania, a country with such a blend of Safari, Mountains and you can’t forget Zanzibar! If you’re looking for a break incorporating these things, Tanzania is hard to beat.
There is a caveat however, it’s expensive for safaris, particularly when compared to Kenya’s Masai Mara. Tanzania borders the park in the Serengeti, giving it the same ecology but the cost per night is nearly double in Tanzania.
Incredibly though, we at no point regretted our spending because of the returns!
Relating this to your interviewing process and the question above, you have to know your value and be confident to stick to it when it comes to negotiation as Tanzania does.
It’s virtually impossible that you will be the only candidate applying for a role, it’s likely you’ll have similar backgrounds and experience too. Therefore, if you go through an interview process and get an offer then the other candidates are irrelevant, your interviewers want you in their business.
Although everyone’s reasons for accepting a lower salary vary, I was surprised by the majority proportion who stated they had accepted lower salaries than targeted.
One aspect that isn’t covered is the reasoning for this but I do wonder how often it would be the company under offering to save a few pennies and you as a candidate feeling under pressure to accept.
This is where I think it’s important to make sure you have the tools to be confident in this process (this is what the Interview Initiative offers) do your research, be assured in your reasoning and don’t sell yourself short. It’s much harder to negotiate a pay rise than a starting salary.
If you can do everything you say you can on your CV and through the interview, why would the company regret paying a few extra pounds / dollars / Bitcoin but you need to know and be confident in your value.
You get what you pay for after all!