Current Events > Do you negotiate salary on job offers? If not, you may be losing out on pay.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2018/05/30/6-steps-for-negotiating-your-salary/#606a9b243f48

1. Plan to do it, no matter what. Your prospective employer expects you to negotiate. Even if they come in at what you were originally hoping for, its still common practice to make a counter offer. Follow these mindset tips to pump you up.

2. Never give your number first. You dont want to unknowingly anchor yourself too low. See where your prospective employer comes in first, and then go from there. If youre asked directly what youre looking for, say youre open based on the range.

3. Know your worth. Remember, your boss will respect you for asking for what you deserve. Know your worth, and dont let the initial offer intimidate you. Its not uncommon to go back and forth until you get to a place where all parties feel good.

4. Dont make it personal. Salary negotiation is strictly business. The company is making you an offer based on what you can bring to the table professionally and the level of responsibility youll be taking on. Please keep it professional, and dont start complaining about your student loan payments. Instead, point to your resume and use that as leverage.

5. Think ahead. The average raise in corporate America is hovering at around 3% per year. If you dont plan on leaving your job quickly, consider yourself stuck with this salary until you change positions or companies once again. Now is when you have the most leverage, so take advantage of it.

6. Take your time. Its OK to ask for 24 hours to think an offer over. If youre waiting for other offers to come back the same week, you can ask for a bit more time and let HR know that you are excited about the role, but currently weighing it against another offer. Let them know youd prefer to work for them, but you need to crunch the numbers and will get back to them within 72 hours. If they need an answer sooner, theyll tell you.

I'll add to this, you can also negotiate things besides salary. You can ask for relocation expenses, a particular parking space, annual leave, paying your share of the premium for your health benefits, etc.

When you have a job offer in hand, you have the power. It is extremely unlikely an employer would revoke your job offer for negotiating unless your demands are unreasonable. Most employers leave some wiggle room for negotiating since they expect it may happen.

At worst, you won't get anything more than what was offered. But if you don't ask, you could be leaving money on the table.

I just negotiated with my most recent job. I was able to bump my pay by an additional $1500 just by asking for it and asked for extra vacation leave (they initially declined to give it to me but changed their mind later).

Too many people I know are afraid to negotiate and lose out on some great perks. The only caveat to this is that you need to be offering something of value to the employer that is unique to you. So this likely won't work if you are doing a job where you are easily replaceable (i.e. hourly jobs, retail). If you have skills they want, and they are offering you the job, they must value those skills. Use that to your advantage.

TL:DR: Negotiate when you get a job offer. Start with salary, but if they won't budge, try for other perks.
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Im getting ready for an offer in the next few days. I plan to counter even if they hit the number I said.

My current position I was pretty much backed into a corner and took off guard in my last interview to negotiate right then and there. I wont let that happen again!
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I am also getting ready for a job offer to go from being a contractor to a full time employee.
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good advice
I tried explaining it to my wife last year but she was happy with what they offered, so eh
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T_M0ney posted...

Im getting ready for an offer in the next few days. I plan to counter even if they hit the number I said.

My current position I was pretty much backed into a corner and took off guard in my last interview to negotiate right then and there. I wont let that happen again!

That's great! Don't let them pressure you to make a decision right then and there. If you were patient enough to go through the whole hiring process (that probably took weeks to months), they can wait a day or two for you to make a decision. Counter with a reasonable, but significant, increase in salary, and see what they counter with. If you're lucky, they could just accept it as is. 10-15% increase is the suggested amount to counter with.

CableZL posted...

I am also getting ready for a job offer to go from being a contractor to a full time employee.

Awesome! Have you considered negotiating? Does your industry seem in favor of it?
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prince_leo posted...

good advice
I tried explaining it to my wife last year but she was happy with what they offered, so eh

I will say that if you are happy with the offering, don't negotiate just for the sake of negotiating. This is something I disagree with that a lot of articles tell you to do. Negotiating takes a lot of effort, finesse, and back-and-forth. It's only worth pursuing if you really think you deserve more and think you can get it. Don't waste the employers' time with negotiating if you are happy with what they are offering.
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Zanzenburger posted...

Awesome! Have you considered negotiating? Does your industry seem in favor of it?

I looked at how much people in my city with my certs make and threw out a number in the middle of the minimum and maximum. She just asked if I was aware that we also get an annual bonus, and I said yes. She didn't argue any further, so I'm hoping it gets approved. The background check process is going on right now.
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Good advice for the private sector.
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Zanzenburger posted...

I will say that if you are happy with the offering, don't negotiate just for the sake of negotiating. This is something I disagree with that a lot of articles tell you to do. Negotiating takes a lot of effort, finesse, and back-and-forth. It's only worth pursuing if you really think you deserve more and think you can get it. Don't waste the employers' time with negotiating if you are happy with what they are offering.

oh yeah, for sure. no disagreement with you here
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Master_Bass posted...

Good advice for the private sector.

I work at a university, so this can also work in some parts of the public sector.

CableZL posted...

I looked at how much people in my city with my certs make and threw out a number in the middle of the minimum and maximum. She just asked if I was aware that we also get an annual bonus, and I said yes. She didn't argue any further, so I'm hoping it gets approved. The background check process is going on right now.

Sounds like she'd good with it. I doubt they'd go through the background check without finalizing an amount with you (considering there's a chance you could turn down a lower offer).
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You absolutely should negotiate for any skilled job. You have an ability that is in demand.

Zanzenburger posted...

Sounds like she'd good with it. I doubt they'd go through the background check without finalizing an amount with you (considering there's a chance you could turn down a lower offer).

Yeah, that's true. I had actually accepted a job in Nashville, TN with a fortune 500 company through another tech staffing company before I interviewed at this place two years ago. When I told them I was staying in Austin to work at this place, the recruiter at the other company was PISSED.
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I did when I was a mod
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I've negotiated a higher wage or salary at almost every job I've had.
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T_M0ney posted...

Im getting ready for an offer in the next few days. I plan to counter even if they hit the number I said.

My current position I was pretty much backed into a corner and took off guard in my last interview to negotiate right then and there. I wont let that happen again!

What happened to those porn things you did?
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EndOfDiscOne posted...

I did when I was a mod

I negotiated a 25% increase when I got hired as a mod.
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Say you get an offer for $60k
You look up the average income for that position, title, city, degree, experience, etc. and it's something like $55k to $75k
You decide to meet in the middle and ask for $65k. Do you rationalize it like I did the above, or do you just put out the number?

Also, what about negotiating when you're right out of school and haven't had a 'real' job?

Before med school I worked as a medical scribe. 99% of scribes were hired through a third party contractor that had an arrangement with an ER group and paid the scribes close to minimum wage and it was part time ($8/hr at the time). The company charged the ER group $20-25/hr to use one of their scribes. They knew the scribes would work for peanuts because it's great "clinical experience" that looks good on med school applications.

After I worked there for a year I thought to myself "screw the middleman" and advertised myself out to private offices looking for a scribe. I was fresh out of undergrad and had bills to pay. They couldn't afford these premium scribe services for $20-25/hr, but since I was freelance I negotiated to $17/hr full time with benefits. It's not the most impressive salary, but straight out of undergrad it was better than anything I could do that also increased my chances of getting into med school. And my scribe associates were all like, "wait you're allowed to do that?" and continued to work in the ER for much less than they were worth.

Learning to negotiate is the best skill anyone can have.
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Negotiated mine up to 55k during review
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KarmaMuffin posted...

Say you get an offer for $60k
You look up the average income for that position, title, city, degree, experience, etc. and it's something like $55k to $75k
You decide to meet in the middle and ask for $65k. Do you rationalize it like I did the above, or do you just put out the number?

Also, what about negotiating when you're right out of school and haven't had a 'real' job?

Regarding your first point, rationalizing it is always a great start. If your pay is below the median, negotiating for the median is a safe tactic.

You also want to analyze how your interview went. If you feel you rocked the interview and you can tell they really want you, or if you have some very specialized skills that are not easy to find in your industry/area, then ask for more. In your counter-offer email or phone call, you want to explain why you are worth the additional pay, and mention these skills that you have and remind them how good of a candidate you are. Also it is helpful to bring up the industry standards and why you should be paid the median (or above the median).

If you are an entry level candidate, you probably have less room to negotiate, but I would still encourage you to negotiate, at least a little. The above applies as well. How well did you do in your interview? Do you have any hard skills that they really need (like being bilingual, knowing a particular coding language, some kind of certification, etc)? The industry standard is to ask for 10-15% more than what they offer, but you could always come back with less than that if you feel that's too much. A 5% increase would be a soft ask that would give you a "win" and wouldn't cost your employer too much.

I negotiated a salary of $62500 up to $64000 and added an extra few days of vacation leave. I probably could have done more in the salary negotiation, but the vacation leave was really important to me so I settled for a $1500 increase. They accepted the increase as is without a counteroffer.
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BlameAnesthesia posted...

Before med school I worked as a medical scribe. 99% of scribes were hired through a third party contractor that had an arrangement with an ER group and paid the scribes close to minimum wage and it was part time ($8/hr at the time). The company charged the ER group $20-25/hr to use one of their scribes. They knew the scribes would work for peanuts because it's great "clinical experience" that looks good on med school applications.

After I worked there for a year I thought to myself "screw the middleman" and advertised myself out to private offices looking for a scribe. I was fresh out of undergrad and had bills to pay. They couldn't afford these premium scribe services for $20-25/hr, but since I was freelance I negotiated to $17/hr full time with benefits. It's not the most impressive salary, but straight out of undergrad it was better than anything I could do that also increased my chances of getting into med school. And my scribe associates were all like, "wait you're allowed to do that?" and continued to work in the ER for much less than they were worth.

Learning to negotiate is the best skill anyone can have.

This is a great idea. I'm glad it worked out.

Yeah, negotiation is an art. This is an effective, if not unorthodox way of getting a higher salary. I'm actually working on something similar for myself. Universities contract out a lot of their work to these administration companies that find them skilled people to do a lot of their filing, computing, assessment, and other administrative work. My goal is to offer up my services directly to universities without the middle-man administration companies. The universities will likely save money and I'd get paid more than if I went through the third party.
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Does this work for burger tier jobs
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To bad my industry is union based collective bargaining
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I didn't bother to negotiate my salary offer when I accepted my current position. Looking back I wish I did. BUT I also lied to my headhunter/recruiter and said I was earning $5k more than my actual salary at the time at my old job. So in the end I made roughly a $15K jump in salary just by changing companies. I felt grateful enough with that.
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Zanzenburger posted...

Universities contract out a lot of their work to these administration companies that find them skilled people to do a lot of their filing, computing, assessment, and other administrative work. My goal is to offer up my services directly to universities without the middle-man administration companies. The universities will likely save money and I'd get paid more than if I went through the third party.

Sounds like a similar situation for sure. Good luck!
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What do you think about counter-offers when trying to leave?

At my prior job, I put in my two weeks notice and had a few discussions with my supervisor and the department head. My supervisor wanted me to stay really badly but I told them that I had gotten an offer for slightly more in salary (like $1500 more) and I was getting better benefits. Its all true, no nonsense there, but I didnt specify the amount of increase or salary in any way. The department head said he wouldnt do a counter-offer because they basically just dont do that. So I accepted the new job offer the next day and then kept on trucking.

About a week before I left, the department head asks if I changed my mind and want to stay. No concessions or anything. I said I am not backing out from the new job. I had already signed the job offer and been making steps to go on. Two days before I left, he messages me and asks if I am serious about leaving and he said he would be willing to make a counter-offer now. He said he would match whatever I was given. However, the new benefits at the time were very important to me because I get way more time off annually and better medical coverage which helped with the birth of my daughter. I also had to travel a lot on the previous job, which I didnt dislike, but could be bad with a newborn. I was kind of cheesed off at that point honestly, which it shouldnt be an emotional decision, and I said that I wasnt interested in staying.

I left on good terms, but the run around with the counter-offer and doing it with so little time left just didnt make sense to me or appeal to me whatsoever. I tend to think of it all as me being resolute and that they were not taking my intention to leave seriously enough, but sometimes I wonder if thats more common than I think it would be and maybe should have been open to negotiatons.
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davyheinz posted...

What do you think about counter-offers when trying to leave?

At my prior job, I put in my two weeks notice and had a few discussions with my supervisor and the department head. My supervisor wanted me to stay really badly but I told them that I had gotten an offer for slightly more in salary (like $1500 more) and I was getting better benefits. Its all true, no nonsense there, but I didnt specify the amount of increase or salary in any way. The department head said he wouldnt do a counter-offer because they basically just dont do that. So I accepted the new job offer the next day and then kept on trucking.

About a week before I left, the department head asks if I changed my mind and want to stay. No concessions or anything. I said I am not backing out from the new job. I had already signed the job offer and been making steps to go on. Two days before I left, he messages me and asks if I am serious about leaving and he said he would be willing to make a counter-offer now. He said he would match whatever I was given. However, the new benefits at the time were very important to me because I get way more time off annually and better medical coverage which helped with the birth of my daughter. I also had to travel a lot on the previous job, which I didnt dislike, but could be bad with a newborn. I was kind of cheesed off at that point honestly, which it shouldnt be an emotional decision, and I said that I wasnt interested in staying.

I left on good terms, but the run around with the counter-offer and doing it with so little time left just didnt make sense to me or appeal to me whatsoever. I tend to think of it all as me being resolute and that they were not taking my intention to leave seriously enough, but sometimes I wonder if thats more common than I think it would be and maybe should have been open to negotiatons.

I don't have any experience with this, but in my opinion I'd be too paranoid about staying at a job I already started the process on leaving.

Like it's impossible to know if they just need you for a few more weeks or months in order to not lose productivity, but they know you're eager to move on and will start looking for your replacement.

And moving jobs while employed is a lot easier than getting one after being laid off. The meager increase in their counter-offer relative to your new position wouldn't seem worth it.
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Ill negotiate if it comes up but Ive never beem presented with a chance to. I always assume its uncouth and aggressive if you push the money button if the interviewer hasnt.
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Solid Sonic posted...

Ill negotiate if it comes up but Ive never beem presented with a chance to. I always assume its uncouth and aggressive if you push the money button if the interviewer hasnt.

Beta mindset.
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davyheinz posted...

What do you think about counter-offers when trying to leave?

At my prior job, I put in my two weeks notice and had a few discussions with my supervisor and the department head. My supervisor wanted me to stay really badly but I told them that I had gotten an offer for slightly more in salary (like $1500 more) and I was getting better benefits. Its all true, no nonsense there, but I didnt specify the amount of increase or salary in any way. The department head said he wouldnt do a counter-offer because they basically just dont do that. So I accepted the new job offer the next day and then kept on trucking.

About a week before I left, the department head asks if I changed my mind and want to stay. No concessions or anything. I said I am not backing out from the new job. I had already signed the job offer and been making steps to go on. Two days before I left, he messages me and asks if I am serious about leaving and he said he would be willing to make a counter-offer now. He said he would match whatever I was given. However, the new benefits at the time were very important to me because I get way more time off annually and better medical coverage which helped with the birth of my daughter. I also had to travel a lot on the previous job, which I didnt dislike, but could be bad with a newborn. I was kind of cheesed off at that point honestly, which it shouldnt be an emotional decision, and I said that I wasnt interested in staying.

I left on good terms, but the run around with the counter-offer and doing it with so little time left just didnt make sense to me or appeal to me whatsoever. I tend to think of it all as me being resolute and that they were not taking my intention to leave seriously enough, but sometimes I wonder if thats more common than I think it would be and maybe should have been open to negotiatons.

In this particular case, I think you made the right call. It seems the new job offered more than just salary as a perk.

But counter offers by your current employer are a thing, more common in some industries over another. If you have a good relationship with your employer, there is nothing wrong with accepting a counter offer. However, you take it before you give your official letter of resignation. After that, it just gets awkward cause HR has already started on the paperwork to post your position as open.
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3khc posted...

Solid Sonic posted...

Ill negotiate if it comes up but Ive never beem presented with a chance to. I always assume its uncouth and aggressive if you push the money button if the interviewer hasnt.

Beta mindset.

Im trying to get hired, not see how far I can pusb things...
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Solid Sonic posted...

Ill negotiate if it comes up but Ive never beem presented with a chance to. I always assume its uncouth and aggressive if you push the money button if the interviewer hasnt.

That is a very common belief among job candidates. I can see that being true if you come off as confrontational when you negotiate. This isn't a "take it or leave it" type of situation.

You both want something. You want employment and your employer wants a happy employee who will make them money. You both want to get to a happy medium. If the salary they offer doesn't get you to that place, it's okay to ask for more. It's such a common experience that most HR departments give hiring committees a small "negotiating" allowance specifically for the purpose of negotiating. In fact, in a lot of companies, they will actually offer you less than they normally would because they expect you to negotiate your way up a bit. And if you don't, that's savings for the company.

I'll say it again because it's worth repeating. It is extremely rare that a company will rescind a job offer because you asked for more money. They've spent tons of time and resources trimming down the candidate pool to decide on you. There's no way they're going to go back to the applicant pool just because you asked for more money. The worst they'll say is no, this is all we could offer you.
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BlameAnesthesia posted...

I don't have any experience with this, but in my opinion I'd be too paranoid about staying at a job I already started the process on leaving.

Like it's impossible to know if they just need you for a few more weeks or months in order to not lose productivity, but they know you're eager to move on and will start looking for your replacement.

And moving jobs while employed is a lot easier than getting one after being laid off. The meager increase in their counter-offer relative to your new position wouldn't seem worth it.

I understand and agree with that. Making it known that you arent loyal to the company anymore kind of puts you in a different position; they may need you badly or still really like you, but you have basically started showing your hand and could face some... retaliation or something.

One thing I didnt really do that I think could have been worthwhile was negotiating for less travel. It was a consultant gig though, and they usually expected more than 40 hours a week. If I could have gotten a good promise, specifically in writing and such to amend(?) my contract, then I would have been more open to staying, regardless of the new jobs salary and benefits. I honestly didnt trust them to do something like that though. The general feel was that you travelled or you werent going to get projects to work on.
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Ill admit I got my current job thanks to old boys club politics, not purely on talent alone. Not afraid to milk it.
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Zanzenburger posted...

In this particular case, I think you made the right call. It seems the new job offered more than just salary as a perk.

But counter offers by your current employer are a thing, more common in some industries over another. If you have a good relationship with your employer, there is nothing wrong with accepting a counter offer. However, you take it before you give your official letter of resignation. After that, it just gets awkward cause HR has already started on the paperwork to post your position as open.

Thanks for the response. That makes sense to me, to accept a counter-offer before taking too many steps. Thats part of what seemed so crazy to me about their persistence at the very end.
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The best negotiation tool is having the upper hand (or having no real stake in the situation). So really the best time to job hunt is when you feel satisfied at your current job. Just take a look and see what's out there. I've received massive boosts by doing this. You can go through the interview without pressure because you don't need the job and you can ask for the world upon being selected because even if they turn you down at that point, you fall back to a job you're already satisfied with.
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