How To Negotiate To Get Higher Chef Wages?

Getting the reasonable wage being a chef is important for you deserve it for all the hard work that you have put in. Being a chef is tough especially if you spend long hours in the kitchen to endure the heat and sweat.

Therefore, if you know you are being underpaid for all the hard work that you have done, don’t be shy or afraid to negotiate with your current employer for a higher salary. You deserve it. You won’t know if you will get a raise if you don’t ask. A lot of employers will just keep quiet as the loser is not them but you.

Here are a few tips on negotiation skills to get higher chef wages. These salary negotiation skills can be applied for chefs who are already employed and also for chefs who are interviewing with a potential employer for a chef job opening.

• Discover what you’re worth by researching salary surveys for your position in the food services industry, experience and location. What that means is you should do a thorough research and study before negotiating a pay rise with your boss. You should know what your pay is for your experience level and number of years working as chef. Besides, you should also find out the average pay for chefs in your location based on the position such as Executive Chef or Pastry Chef.
• Research the company or restaurant to see if they’re booming or hurting financially. If booming, go for top salary, benefits and perks. If not, get what you can comfortably live on, but think twice about working there. Even if you are working in a small establishment such as a small restaurant or cafeteria, you should know if the business is doing well or not by judging from the number of daily customers.
• Also research yourself so you can sell your skills, talents, accomplishments, work ethics and experience for top pay. What this means is find out what your strength is. For example, if you are good at menu design and creating new recipe, then mention it to your potential or current employer that you have actually created new menu and dishes which keep existing customers coming back.
• Politely sidestep salary (say it’s negotiable, open or competitive) until you’re confident they want to hire you. Then you have leverage. This is especially useful when interviewing with a potential employer when you are certain that they want to hire you. In that case, go straight to the salary negotiation process for higher pay.
• When asked point-blank about salary, counter by asking what the range is, so you know the boundaries. Some restaurants or companies have a cap on how much they are willing to pay for chefs with certain experience level and number of years working as chef. If the cap is lower than your current salary, you might want to ask if the company has extra perks and benefits such as bonuses, stocks or shorter working hours that make up for the lower pay.
• Command rather than demand, while working toward a win-win situation. There is give and take in the salary and benefits negotiating process. Be flexible if the proposed salary is not far from your expected figure. If you are really keen to work in the respective food service establishment and you know there are a lot of promotional opportunities in the company, then go for it even if the proposed salary is only a bit lower than your expectation.
• Be eager and enthusiastic, but willing to walk away if you’ve reached an unsatisfactory negotiating ceiling. Don’t burn your bridges, but rather politely decline the offer.
• Even if you get what you want, wait to accept for a day or two to think it over, time permitting. Better if you have several offers from different companies. Compare them carefully and consider not only the figure but also the reputation of the restaurant or company and the availability of training and promotional opportunities.

Extra Tips on Chef Wages Negotiation:

• Never lie about past salary. Reference checks might expose you.
• Consider the value of benefits and perks too, such as stock options, bonuses, telecommuting options, and promotion potential.
• Ask about extra benefits and perks, so it appears that you are compromising if you don’t get them, or attempt to trade them for a higher salary.

In conclusion, it takes skill and time to become a good negotiator in pay rise. Don’t worry if you are a bit jerky or fail in your first few times of talking or interviewing with your employers, you will get better at it after a few trials and errors.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 10:53 am and is filed under chef wages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.