Salary Negotiation: A Role-Play Exercise to Prepare for Salary Negotiation

Abstract

Although most employers report room for negotiation in their job offers to recent graduates, fewer than half of recent graduates report attempting to negotiate. Considering that every raise employees receive throughout their career will be a percentage of their salary at the time, failure of new employees to maximize starting salary through negotiation is a serious omission. Developing business students’ negotiation skills should be an objective incorporated into business curricula allowing students to succeed in their job offer negotiations. The role-play exercise herein is designed to provide business students a foundation in basic negotiation through a scenario that boosts student interest and engagement and allow quick applicability in their professional lives. The exercise is designed for use in courses that focus on negotiation, management, or business communication, but it is adaptable for nearly any upper level business course.