Interview and Negotiate Like a Lawyer

Interview and Negotiate Like a LawyerInterview and Negotiate Like a LawyerFollow these tips from lawyers to convince a hiring manager to offer you the job (and the salary) you want.Lawyers are trained not only to argue a position but persuade judges, juries and even adversaries to try to binnensee things their ways.What can they teach job seekers about convincing a hiring manager to give them the job (and the money) theyre after?Ladders asked two attorneys, who coach other lawyers on how to interview and negotiate, for tips and tricks.Stephen E. Seckler, president of Seckler Legal Consulting in Newton, Mass., spent 15 years as a legal recruiter. He now runs his own business helping law firms manage their businesses more effectively.Veteran litigator Victoria Pynchon works as a mediator at ADR Services, helping other lawyers negotiate their way out of sticky conflicts.Dont burn the interviewerThe first thing to remember when taking advice from a lawyer on how to persuade and negotiate is that your end goal is very different from a lawyers end game, Pynchon said.When lawyers argue, their goals are to win, not generally to meet the other party halfway or form a lasting bond, she said.You negotiate based on positions Im right, and youre wrong, and here are 10,000 reasons why youre wrong and I should get the biggest share of the pie, she said.Thats not a bad approach in the courtroom or across the negotiating table from an opponent after the lines have been drawn and the first shots fired in a dispute, she said.Its not so good in a job interview when what youre trying to do is establish a relationship, Seckler agreed.A salary negotiation isnt a conflict to be resolved, Pynchon said. There is a lot of push and pull, but what youre building is a relationship which you both hope will last a long time, not a scorched-earth business deal.Still, there is more back-and-forth in a good negotiation than most Americans are comfortable with.Pynchons other tips on negotiatingM ake the first offer. This goes counter to every guide to salary negotiations, but lawyers know that the person who names a number first sets the range for the discussion. Even if the other side disagrees, everything else is judged by how much higher or lower it is than that first number. Thats why they call it an anchor, Pynchon said. Its a cognitive issue we cant help it. Any number you introduce early in the negotiation will exert a pull on your negotiating partner.Dont negotiate with yourself. One of the things they did teach us at law school about negotiating is, dont bargain against yourself, she said. If you say you want $190,000 and the other person says thats well beyond the range, dont come back and say, How about $150,000? Wait for their response dont bargain yourself down.Justify and rationalize. Always give a reason, preferably a good one, for what youre asking for. If you dont have a good reason, give a bad one. In studies of human behavior, people offering a ridiculou s reason for asking a favor have nearly the same success rate as those offering logical reasons, Pynchon said. Offering no reason drops your success rate by more than a third. A good reason in this case would be a favorable comparison with what others in your position make, or a quantification of your contributions in your last job that demonstrate your real value.Be generous, long before you need to be. Reciprocity is one of the strongest human motivational factors, Pynchon said. Its why waiters put mints on the plate with your bill a little gift for which youll feel obligated.Hiring managers will feel the same way if they have a reason to feel obligated to you for the answers or support youve given members of his or her team through a social-networking site, for recommending job candidates or business opportunities anything that is clearly generous and selfless that affects hiring managers or someone who works with them.Be real.It has to be genuine, though, and you have to do it all the time, Pynchon said. People dont like it when youre clearly out to gain something. It makes them feel hustled.Make small concessions.Research shows that peoples satisfaction with the outcome of a negotiation is primarily tied to the number of concessions the other side makes, Pynchon said. Set your expectations high and make small concessions, or offer to do more work for the same money, to make people happy. Youre trying to build something durable, so it helps if both people come out feeling as if theyve won something.