Students can learn how to negotiate salaries in their future careers at a workshop offered by Career Services 4 p.m. on Dec.1.

Linda Moore, Career Counselor and director of Career Services, said that to negotiate a salary, one must have solid information.

“Employers are not going to give you more salary just because you want it or need it,” Moore said. “This is a business decision, even if the employer is not for profit.”

Some things Moore suggested students should know when negotiating salaries is the salaries of graduates going into the field they are looking at, the geographic difference in salary, if one exists, and how their skills might exceed the normal graduate thus be worth more money.

Moore said some students have asked employers for a higher wage when they have returned to work after being absent during college.

“Some students have related experience that gives them transferrable skills to salary negotiation, if they have the good salary data to back them up,” Moore said. “Most students have not negotiated a salary before.”

Moore said it is a good idea to start talking about negotiating salaries now, even while they are still in college.

“Students are getting jobs and internship offers now, so this is a good time to discuss the mechanics of salary negotiation before one actually has that conversation with an employer,” Moore said.

There can be consequences for students, especially ones coming out of college, not knowing how to negotiate their own salaries.

Moore said research does show that college graduates can actually lose the job offer because of the nature of their approach in salary negotiation.

“Being aware of the boundaries and the sociocultural influences on negotiating are important,” Moore said.

Moore said people can even end up with a low income because they did not know about negotiation.

There are a number of jobs that allow their employees to have some negotiation in their salaries.

“Enough provide room for salary negotiation that it is important for us to spend time talking about it,” Moore said. “Helping our students get a good financial start is very important to us.”

There are certain things students should know before they go through the process of negotiating and accepting salaries.

“First, you have to know the facts,” Moore said. ”We have the salary offers by industry, job type and region.”

Someone’s gender could also make salary negotiation for different people.

“There are significant gender biases in how one approaches salary negotiation,” Moore said.

The workshop will be free, and it is open to all majors.

Students can RSVP by calling 581-2412 or going to eiu-csm.symplicity.com/students/.

Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]