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How to Negotiate a Job Offer

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Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#81

Post by josephhardin »

Ecio78 wrote: post #64
rm445 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could nitpick a couple of grammatical points, but your English is better than that of many native speakers I have worked with. Unless you sweated over a dictionary for an hour to write the above comment, or your speaking is much worse, please make sure to market yourself as fluent in English!

Thank you for your kind words, could you tell me which grammatical points are incorrect so I can improve? Thanks!

Also the me should be an I, and listed after the others. Though to be honest, most people make the same mistake. Your English is at the level where you can pass off as a native from an English speaking country so I would not worry too much. Everyone has at least a few mistakes in almost everything they write.

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#82

Post by ams6110 »

jcomis wrote: post #59
GavinB wrote: post #14

The "Pre-Reqs" piece is not right. You really don't need to have another job offer or a current job to negotiate. A while ago I wrote up this script for how to negotiate a job offer with no leverage at all when you intend to accept it no matter what: http://bit.ly/1185CGm Most job offers come with leeway for negotiation, regardless of your situation. All you really have to do is ask.

What if they put the initial number on you? As in, they ask what you are expecting?

I've had reasonable success answering this question by saying something along the lines of "I'd have to consider the full offer, salary, benefits, etc."

If pressed, have a number ready, that's somewhat higher than what you think is realistic. Unless you are so far out of the ballpark that you look ridiculous, a high initial salary demand is not going to knock you out of consideration if you're an otherwise good candidate.

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#83

Post by ams6110 »

roguecoder wrote: post #36
conroe64 wrote: post #13

Here is a quick tip, especially for those non confrontational types. When the company makes an offer, just say "Hmm.." and pause for a bit. If the person offering the job is insecure in what they are proposing, they may think you are about to decline and this may provoke them into upping the offer. If they don't up the offer, it's easy to just say yes after whatever they say next. So, you aren't really risking anythi…

I bought a car this way once. It was the last day of the selling season and the dealership was really, really close to meeting some goal. Every time I'd break eye contact and look thoughtful they'd lower the price. I have never felt so powerful in my life :)

That's just what they wanted you to think :)

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#84

Post by ams6110 »

One thing to keep in mind, specifically about positions in academic institutions, but perhaps others: you have to get what you can get on your way in. Once hired, you will not get more than cost-of-living raises (if that) with perhaps a percent or two leeway for performance. The only way to get a real raise in these organizations is to get promoted to a new position, which is why they are constantly doing internal reorgs and creating new titles and reporting lines for the same bunch of people.

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#85

Post by eru »

jcomis wrote: post #59
GavinB wrote: post #14

The "Pre-Reqs" piece is not right. You really don't need to have another job offer or a current job to negotiate. A while ago I wrote up this script for how to negotiate a job offer with no leverage at all when you intend to accept it no matter what: http://bit.ly/1185CGm Most job offers come with leeway for negotiation, regardless of your situation. All you really have to do is ask.

What if they put the initial number on you? As in, they ask what you are expecting?

Actually, you always want to provide your own numbers first. That's what they call `controlling the document' in the legal profession, and `anchoring' in Psychology.

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#86

Post by DanielRibeiro »

GavinB wrote: post #14

The "Pre-Reqs" piece is not right. You really don't need to have another job offer or a current job to negotiate. A while ago I wrote up this script for how to negotiate a job offer with no leverage at all when you intend to accept it no matter what: http://bit.ly/1185CGm Most job offers come with leeway for negotiation, regardless of your situation. All you really have to do is ask.

As Mark Suster's mom used to tell him[1]:

You don’t ask, you don’t get.

[1] http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2013/05/15/the-one-word-t...

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#87

Post by hippich »

on contraire, i would recommend always negotiate price you want and not settle if "you are going to work for this company anyway". Reason is simple - every year what you earn gives you 3% less purchasing power on average. If you are not getting at least the same increase in income - you are losing. Unfortunately, not all companies consider annual salary increases and ones which do - do it on their own discretion.

So you have to have something in back pocket when it is time to leave this job and look for new opportunity and use you current wage as a leverage to get more. As such, you should make sure you are compensated fairly. It is just like bonus vs. early salary increase. Higher base salary means higher base salary for the next job (and for current one higher bonus, higher annual increase, etc). Do not settle for bonuses/stocks/"unlimited" vacation and any other similar tricks.

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#88

Post by Ecio78 »

josephhardin wrote: post #81
Ecio78 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your kind words, could you tell me which grammatical points are incorrect so I can improve? Thanks!

Also the me should be an I, and listed after the others. Though to be honest, most people make the same mistake. Your English is at the level where you can pass off as a native from an English speaking country so I would not worry too much. Everyone has at least a few mistakes in almost everything they write.

thank you both, of course "companies/company" was just a distraction while "I/me" is due to the fact that many times in Italian you can swap them (maybe it's not perfectly correct in Italian too but for spoken language it's ok)

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#89

Post by kelnos »

run4yourlives wrote: post #57
GavinB wrote: post #14

The "Pre-Reqs" piece is not right. You really don't need to have another job offer or a current job to negotiate. A while ago I wrote up this script for how to negotiate a job offer with no leverage at all when you intend to accept it no matter what: http://bit.ly/1185CGm Most job offers come with leeway for negotiation, regardless of your situation. All you really have to do is ask.

>You really don't need to have another job offer or a current job to negotiate. No, but if I know that you don't have another option, I'm not going to be as willing to give up more. A known secondary option puts pressure (sometimes, tremendous) on your negotiating partner. The absence of such an option does not. That's what the article is saying.

> No, but if I know that you don't have another option, I'm not going to be as willing to give up more.

That doesn't really make sense. The candidate has at least this much in their favor:

1. A recruiter has had probably 2-3 phone calls with them, a technical person (or two) has done a phone screen, and they've taken up the time of, say, 4-6 people for in-person interviews. The company has already spent a not-insignificant amount of time (aka money) evaluating this person, and losing them over a (reasonable) salary increase would be foolish.

2. Having evaluated the candidate, the company has decided they want this person to work for them. Assuming the candidate is great for the position, but the only sticking point is salary, why would the company go back to square 1 to save a little money? Hiring is hard.

Available comp for a particular position is usually a range, and the initial offer will rarely (if ever) quote the top of that range. If the budget is available, and the candidate is good, whether or not they have a competing offer isn't relevant, unless you know that they'll be forced to take your offer even if you don't budge (which in tech, at least, is pretty rare, I'd think).

Re: How to Negotiate a Job Offer

#90

Post by netrus »

byoung2 wrote: post #39
antjanus wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ask for a higher pay based on an offer from another company, you're already screwing yourself over. Your current job MAY accept your pay increase but if they do, there's already a break in trust. And you're setting yourself up for being replaced. You may as well take that new offer right now. Better option is to negotiate based on skills, experience, responsibilities, and other factors.

You may as well take that new offer right now. That has been my strategy 4 times in the last 6 years. You can get a much bigger raise if you switch companies than if you stay and wait for a raise. If I had stayed at my first programming job, even with generous 10% raises every 12-18 months, my salary would only have increased by 50-70%. Instead, by switching jobs, I was able to get 20-35% raises each time, and now my…

You just have to know when to slow down. The recruiter will recognize the pattern, and might fear you will leave at the first best opportunity. I always felt that 3-4 years with each employer is the most promising strategy (European job market).
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