Career Test: Quiz Your Negotiation Skills!

You choose a nice, professional outfit, you have a clean copy of your resume, and you have practiced typical interview questions including how much you expect to make. You are ready, so you can relax now!

You are discussing a promotion with your boss and are excited about the opportunity. It’s the job you were hoping he’d offer you. You hear his offer and, rather than giving him an answer right away, you tell him you will think about it and get back to him the following day.

Your company is interviewing external people for a job you want. You have no experience and you estimate that you know about 60% of what’s needed to do the job. Yet you think that your advantages are that:  Many of your skills will be transferable, you know the culture of the company, and you’re willing to learn in the job. You decide to apply for it

You are a woman going through several rounds of interviews for an executive position in a company where the majority of the executives are men.  You decide to wear a conservative, dark suit, and to turn down the volume on your passion and your lively communication style. You want to come across as trustworthy and competent so you speak in a direct, matter of fact way in order for the men to feel they can relate to you.

You have to negotiate a large proposal with a new client that you know very little about. You work out all your numbers and review everything you’ll be responsible for including the time and resources investment on your part.  You know exactly what you need to get out of the negotiation. So you go ahead and write the proposal which you’ll have to negotiate in person after you submit it.

During the job interview you and the interviewer get along famously. You’re sure that you’re the perfect fit for the position and are excited about the possibilities. As the interview comes to an end, the recruiter says she’ll get back to you with an offer. You think about telling her that you’re interested in the job, but you hold off because you believe you’ll look stronger if you let her come back with an offer first.

You’d like to move to a different department within your company where you can challenge yourself while putting your higher skills to use. You know the head of that department. A colleague suggests that you send an email detailing how you could contribute to that department’s bottom line and that you attach your resume. You decide to walk over and speak to the head of the department directly.

You work on salary plus bonus and your accomplishments this year lead you to believe you deserve a good bonus. But asking for money has always made you uncomfortable and anxious which in turn makes you look undeserving. You’ve been thinking about scheduling a meeting with your boss for several weeks. Finally, tired of waiting until you are calmer, you schedule a meeting with your boss right away.

You’re negotiating a contract for a new job that will pay you an advance against commissions. You ask for a guarantee (a minimum you’ll be paid regardless of how much you make on commissions.) You’ve agreed on the amount of the guarantee. You ask for a year’s guarantee and they come back with a six-month offer. It seems to you your only option is to propose a nine-month guarantee because compromise is what negotiation is all about.

You walk into the room where you’ll be negotiating a contract with a client. There will be two people from your company (you and someone else) and two from your client’s. You make sure that you are seated next to the key decision maker rather than across the table where you could see him/her better.