The Job Offer

Make sure you clearly understand the following items in the offer and that they meet the needs of your financial realities, your career aspirations, and your personal lifestyle expectations.

  • Official job title

  • Job Responsibilities

  • Salary, type of compensation

  • Pay frequency

  • Benefits

  • Relocation, Sign-on bonus, other perks

  • Start date

  • Work address

  • Reporting Structure

Research

  • Understand your value to the employer

  • Talk to people at or previously at the employer

  • Investigate salaries for the area and for the industry

  • Sources: BLS, Glassdoor, Salary.com, Payscale.com, LinkedIn, Indeed

  • Caution, don’t over inflate the role or your experience

  • Evaluate the whole offer, not just the salary

The Salary Question

  • Delay discussion until there is a commitment to you

  • Prepare responses that focus on your interest in the job

  • If pushed, share a range, but reinforce the fact that you are open to a competitive overall offer inclusive of benefits, additional perks, job title and level, and the employment environment

  • Know you can negotiate the offer given to you

Negotiation Guidelines

  • Express strong interest in the company and job

  • Ask for a extra time to consider the terms of the offer

  • Begin negotiations with the items of consensus; save the hardest for last

  • Do it in person

  • Stay away from extremes

  • If you can’t negotiate for the present, negotiate for the future

  • Ask for a letter detailing the terms of the offer

  • Your last salary should have no bearing

  • If you have multiple items, place all of them on the table

  • Don’t be afraid to say no

Common Mistakes

  • Talking about salary too soon

  • Believing, “if I want the job, I better take what I am offered”

  • Not finding out what matters most to your boss/interviewer

  • Allowing employers to tell you what is “fair”

  • Projecting too much enthusiasm (desperate)

  • Projecting not enough enthusiasm (not committed)

  • Focusing on salary alone

  • Thinking, “I’ll get more later, when they see how good I am”

  • Thinking you should get more because you “need” more

  • Abandoning negotiations when you feel uncomfortable

Authorized Partners