Follow these tips to get the best salary

New Delhi: After proving yourself well qualified for a particular job during the interview, you need to ask yourself the tough question: the salary. Salary negotiation is a skill, one that does not come naturally to many job seekers, who are most concerned on impressing the interviewer and often overlook the opportunity to negotiate a better salary once they have been offered the job.Many people struggle when trying to obtain a salary they deserve and one that accommodates their lifestyle. The reasons behind this because of urgent need of a job, don't want to loose the company, or don't want to spend time to research or mull over the offer.From the employers' perspective, they want to get this question out in the open for these reasons: 1) They want to know whether you're willing to work at or below the top of their pay scale for a given job, and 2) they ask you to negotiate against yourself. Job hunters are often at a loss (figuratively and literally) trying to both get the job and obtain the highest possible compensation. To make sure that you walk away with the best possible offer, here are some simple tricks that you can make use of:1. Depend on research, not guessworkFor every job you apply to, there is usually a well defined salary range. This means you need to understand how much an employer is willing to pay for to the job that you have applied. Some of the tools used by companies in order to decide what is the good amount to a particular position include:Average pay at other companies in their industryAverage pay for professionals with your level of experience and educationAverage pay for professionals in your field in their area of the countryYou can easily calculate the salary by knowing how much your skills are worth and how much similar jobs pay in that particular region. Research sites like Salary.com, Payscale.com, monster.com, shine.com and a host of others to get as much knowledge as possible about how people with similar skills and education, years of experience, and levels of responsibility are compensated nationwide and in your particular geographic area. After knowing the low end of the pay scale and the salary you are aiming for, you can determine the right amount that will not seem unreasonable to the recruiter.2. Be responsive, but don't commit early on There's an old saying “The first person to bring up money, loses.” Going into salary discussions early in a discussion indicates that you place high priority on rupee rather than being a good fit for a company's culture. But if in case the recruiter suddenly brings the salary related question then it is always better to change the subject to showcase your entire personality.Probably you can say: "I'm sure that if I am a great fit, we will each work to treat each other fairly when it comes to determining a specific salary for this job, right?"3. Tackle “This is what we can afford right now” deftly In case an employer really wants to hire you but has limited resources, he/she may come with the excuse “This is what we can afford right now”. If you are in a dire straight to get the job then you can ask, “Is there performance based bonus?” You could say “Let's talk about specific, measurable results that would improve your bottom line and increase my earnings.” Get any incentive pay agreements in writing during the hiring stage so your employer is committed to following through.4. Justify your request You negotiation skills carry lots of weight while deciding the right amount of salary for a job. If you think you are the best possible candidate for a particular job then you can back up your demand by talking the whole world of possible things that you can do once you are on board. Some of these include: how you can add to the company's bottom line, what efforts have you done for your previous employer, what additional responsibilities you can take, and how your hiring will be an overall benefit for the company.5. Be brutally honest with yourselfIt is of extreme importance that you first evaluate your own qualifications. If you are more than 50 per cent sure that you deserve that extra mount of money, then you should go ahead and ask, but if you are less than 50 percent sure, err on the side of not pushing for a higher salary and instead prove yourself once in the job.