MARKET RESEARCH ANALYST: Job Applicant

MARKET RESEARCH ANALYST: ROLE-PLAYING SCRIPT FOR JOB APPLICANT,  Ms. Tuli, Bryant University

It is Spring 2008. You will soon graduate with a BA from Bryant University with a 3.8 GPA  reflecting your outstanding commitment to your studies.

Your father is a prominent physician in Providence, RI and your mother is a professor at the Bryant’s College of Business.  Through exposure to their lively work-related conversations with friends and colleagues who visited your home you became keenly interested in how newly developed medical equipment actually gets incorporated into physician’s offices and health care institutions. 

You worked every summer at a Providence consulting firm in their Medical Products Advisory Unit.  During those three summers, you prepared power point presentations for the principals to make to their clients, who were mostly manufacturers of medical electronics.  You also researched and assembled data on the current use of  various medical equipment in different medical care settings.  You gained insight into the analytic tools and data used to analyze the market potential of many products which clients were developing.  The firm was so pleased with your work that they offered you a position when you graduate.

Your goal, however, is to get a job as a entry-level market research analyst after graduation with a boutique consulting firm in Boston, Worldwide Advisors (WA). It has an outstanding reputation and is engaged by the most prestigious corporate clients in the world.  WA employs several dozen market research analysts. The company specializes in designing competitive strategies for corporate and business units, mergers and acquisitions, and innovative growth strategies. Among their most valued clients are flourishing communications technology manufacturers, energy technology manufacturers and medical products manufacturers located in the US, Europe and Asia.  Every year, WA hires 10 college graduates to meet the needs of the ever-growing demands of their business partners. You know that these positions at WA are highly sought after  and that your competition is fierce.

You’ve done your homework.  Www.wageproject.org tells you that the market research analyst position that you’ve been offered has a salary range of $46,000-$59,000 with a median salary of  $52,000.  The benefits package for this position is worth another $23,000. You’ve determined that your target salary is $52,000 which you firmly believe, given your summer work experience, your volunteer activity on the front desk at a long term care facility, and your 3.8 GPA is certainly justified.

You know that living on your own in the Boston area will be expensive. You have hefty student loans to pay off.  You want to buy a car so that you can go skiing in

MARKET RESEARCH ANALYST JOB APPLICANT (2)

Vermont on winter weekends. The minimum salary you can possibly accept is $49,000 and that would mean living VERY modestly.

You were thrilled yesterday when Mrs. Powers told you that she was very impressed with you and offered you a job.   She asked you to come back today  just to settle a couple details like salary, benefits and starting date and then sign a contract.

You have the last appointment of the day.  Mrs. Powers must leave in 15 minutes give a speech in Boston.

Can you and Mrs. Powers come to an agreement about a starting salary which you accept?  Can you get her to agree to your target salary figure? On a fair benefits package?  Make notes on what you consider your persuasive points. Decide the sequence in which you will present these points. Make notes about the language you will use. Make notes about her likely objections to raising her offer and what you will say.

Use every minute of that time to get her to your target. It’s you last chance to start out with the best salary you deserve. Remember, $52,000 is what you determined you’re worth doing this job.

Go for it!