In this day and age, getting a decent IT job is worth its weight in gold. And even though times are tough, talented IT pros should not just accept any job offer without thinking about negotiating the salary. It can be intimidating, but do some research; have the right information and approach the negotiation process with the right attitude.

An recently posted About.com guide has a series of tips for approaching salary negotiation. Some of the suggestions include:

• Negotiate a salary after you have been offered the job since at that point, the employer is certain he wants to hire you.
• Make sure you know what the going salary is for the type of job you are being offered.
• Consider other forms of compensation being offered like health insurance, vacation, 401k contributions and bonuses that can make up for what may seem like a salary shortfall.
• Expect negotiations to happen in several stages, and don't be surprised if they take days or even a couple of weeks.
• Get your job offer in writing once you've come up with a mutually acceptable salary.

For more tips:
- see this About.com article

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