Speaking of negotiation, here is my slide deck on Negotiation from the 1990s: https://lnkd.in/ebFG4Qbg. I used to pack this into one class. Now, every WMU Supply Chain major has to take an entire course on Global Negotiation. Why? Industry asked us to. It is our fastest growing class. Thank you Dr. James Eckert! See his 1 page cheat sheet at the end of the slide deck. Note: my students go into “buyer” roles VERY early on in their careers (it often gets built into their job rotations). However, the supplier sales rep on the other side of the table is not early in their career (they often have > 10-20 years, if not more, work experience). So, LEARN to negotiate! Hint, use data.
Today, over 70% of current supplier contracts have price increase provisions. Here are some Practices that Can Make Your Commodity Related Supply Chain Job More Rewarding: https://lnkd.in/eUfxt_P9.
I have asked a lot of SCM managers how they “prepare” to negotiate price increase requests from their suppliers. In particular, I was curious about how and where they get their data from (i.e., CME, COMEX, etc.). Many said their suppliers provide that information. I am not convinced that using data from your suppliers is a form of “Preparation” for negotiation.
What are buyers to do? Procurement orgs need processes & “tools” to mitigate & negotiate on these requests in a strategic, data-driven manner (& we/I need to do a better job of teaching it).
Some of our alumni are already testing and / or implementing automated business processes based on such tools, serving as the basis for addressing price indexing implementations (formulas, economic adjustments, etc.) by champions in a few larger orgs, & we’re following these implementations from an academic perspective (so that we can teach it). https://lnkd.in/gNrUtNU5
Almost 1/2 of U.S. employees do not feel confident in their negotiation skills… > 40% don’t feel confident in their negotiation skills, while a 1/4 admit to never having negotiated at all in the workplace, per a LinkedIn survey.
The results revealed that men feel more confident about negotiating than women, with 37% of males feeling self-assured in their abilities, compared with just 26% of females.
Of the 8 countries examined, workers in the U.S. are the most anxious negotiators. My theory: lack of formal training & we throw them into these roles too soon.
The Institute of Supply Management identifies negotiation as the most important skill of SCM professionals & yet the weakest in terms of delivery. However, not at WMU. In fact, our supply chain majors take the class with Sales majors! Do you see the synergy?
Should college grads negotiate a higher starting salary? https://lnkd.in/gMJYNJkh.
Here’s what a lot of college grads don’t know about their first job offer: https://lnkd.in/gG2DeF2h. “Just 38% of new grads negotiate w/ their employers when they get that first job offer. But meanwhile, most employers actually expect to negotiate salary — even for a first job — so they build that in. That means, if you don’t even try, you could be leaving money on the table!”
Our case-based negotiation course is taught in conjunction with students from our partner universities in Germany (w/ students from all over the world). You will gain strong knowledge about the negotiation process through lectures & associated quizzes & then will apply the knowledge with LIVE student-to-student negotiation experiences.
Global Negotiation
This course is designed to be a “learning laboratory” for developing negotiation skills. The course will focus on the negotiation process & how individuals can understand & thus shape that process to achieve more desired outcomes. Negotiation will be explored with a global orientation so that students can understand the impact of culture & business climate on the negotiation process. The course will use multiple cases w/ students negotiating these cases to reinforce the concepts they learn.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sime-curkovic-61617a115_german-business-culture-april-25-may-activity-7259989203822768131-NFWb?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Trend: My students start their careers in 2-3 year job rotations and they only get a few days to decide on a full-time offer…Exploding job offers: some employers are giving students a few days to make decisions on full time job offers several months before graduation. One student asked if that was ethical or even legal. Exploding job offers & do you want a full time job to begin in a job rotation? https://lnkd.in/ervskG5.
Note, most companies will only give them 1week (or even only a few days!) to decide (way before the career fairs start, hmmm). I think we call that an “exploding” job offer. In other words, either accept now or take your chances with the job market. I am not a huge fan of these offers, but they are perfectly legal and employers seem to think it works to their advantage (they get the talent they want). https://lnkd.in/gmFMJfbC.
Should college grads negotiate a job offer (i.e., a higher starting salary)? Yes, but only if you know how to negotiate. I do have students that get offers in the $60K-$70K range & many successfully negotiate up to $65K-$80K. That is a 10-30% bump before you even start! Many people have to work a few years to get that bump. https://lnkd.in/gMJYNJkh
Many of our grads begin their career in a “Job Rotation”. I used to not be a fan of these job rotations (especially for students with tons of experience), but they have grown on me. See for more details: https://lnkd.in/ervskG5.
In general, firms with a rotational program have nearly a 20% higher first-year retention rate than those without a rotational program. I think that is a good number. After five years, firms with a rotational program saw a 10% higher retention rate than those w/o a rotational program. I am not sure if that is a good number.
Advantages of starting career in job rotation for students:
· Rapidly learn about your industry of interest
· Work on a diverse set of projects
· Find a mentor & learn about your potential career trajectory
· See what makes the company great
The Harvard advice:
https://lnkd.in/ghEYr3Qw
https://lnkd.in/gc4Kd_SE
Ideas from Yale:
https://lnkd.in/gggJFADW
https://lnkd.in/gxkjy3sm