Are you a woman in tech with a job offer in hand? Congratulations! Have you considered negotiating to make more money? Do you know how to negotiate salary? Worried it’s too late to even think about a negotiation because you have to respond to your hiring manager within 24-48 hours? Are you beating yourself up for not getting started sooner, thinking, “Holy Moly, how am I EVER going to pull this off?!”

While the best outcomes are achieved when you learn how to negotiate salary ahead of time, all is not lost! You can still put together a really great salary negotiation after the interview process—even if you already have a job offer in hand—but you need to be strategic and act fast!

Here are the most critical salary negotiation tips to focus on right now:

1: Ground yourself in data. As women in tech, we rely on data everyday to make decisions. You cannot begin a salary negotiation hoping for an astronomical number that’s not based in reality, nor do you want to be underpaid by asking for a number that’s below your actual market value. The key to determining exactly what your in-demand tech skills are worth in the marketplace is conducting salary research from a number of sources to uncover hard, solid data.

If you have a job offer in hand that you need to respond to ASAP, the good news is you can gain an accurate picture of your fair market value within a couple of hours. Grounding yourself in data is the key to evaluating if an offer is good or not, countering that pesky imposter syndrome that gets the best of us, backing up your position in your negotiation, and handling employer pushback with confidence. Grounding myself in data was critical to my gaining the confidence to negotiate and that resulted in me tripling my salary in less than 2 years.

2: Determine your numbers. It isn’t enough to simply know what you want and do your research. Women in tech who are successful NegotiatHers put hard numbers to this. Three critical salary numbers that you must have in your head before you talk money with a company are your target, ask, and walk-away numbers.

If you already have a job offer, you must determine these numbers quickly to negotiate with confidence! Since you are the only person who knows your current financial & life circumstances and what’s best for you and your family, only you can determine for yourself the salary number you’re targeting, what you’ll ask for, and what your walk-away number will be.

3: Identify leverage points. In a perfect world, every woman in tech would learn how to negotiate salary before searching for a job. That way, you can identify leverage throughout your interview process, while using that leverage to negotiate for the premium offer that you deserve.

But if you already have a job offer, the good news is you can still get leverage! Now is the time to reflect back on your interviews— recall what your interviewers said they liked about you, or where you had a leg up. Try to remember an identified pain that the company has where you can provide value.

4: Prepare for Pushback. If you decide to negotiate to earn fair market value, I guarantee you will get pushback. Don’t let that stop you though!

If you have a job offer in hand, now is the time to quickly focus on getting your numbers and building your talking points to back up your position and prepare for the pushback you will receive. You can handle that pushback with confidence by asking your hiring manager a key question like, “Where did you get your numbers?” Since your salary negotiation numbers are grounded in actual data from a number of sources, you’ll be able to have a conversation with professionalism that will impress your employer, and set you up for success!

It’s time to close the gender wage gap one woman in tech, one negotiation at a time!

—

While you can prepare to negotiate on your own, if you’re looking for a one-stop shop to quickly figure this out, check out DevelopHer’s Become a NegotiatHer course. In just a little over two hours, I walk you through all the sources that I personally use to ground myself in data and show you exactly how to calculate your numbers so it takes the mystery and overwhelm out of it. You’ll also receive my scripts to handle pushback and help you prepare your talking points. You can learn everything you need to know, short circuit the process and take the stress out of negotiating. I’ll show you exactly what you need to pull off a masterful negotiation, even if you have a job offer in hand and only 24 hours to learn this! I guarantee you that you will more than get a return on your investment in the course and finally earn what you’re worth!