How Do I Negotiate Salary?

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[jimmymcgill]

You never start with the amount you want. You always start higher.

[screwdriver_bandit]

Taking Dave’s advice on this subject would be like asking a car salesman how much you should pay for a car.

[Mkay]

I actually originally said 70K for a job offer, but they’re like wow that’s great that’s lower than we thought, so when it came to negotiations I wrote down a script,
“I’ll give you a number but I want you to know how I came there
*gave experience and premium skills
Given that background, my experience I’m looking for 90K.”
Yes I did take heat for upping my salary after I initially said a lower number, and older generation people told me to not do what I did, but I got them to 85K. You don’t have any control of salary once you join this is your only shot to get premium!

[Ryan-gxce]

I cannot believe anyone would suggest to not ask for more money. You should always ask for more money. Always. They're going to pay you as little as possible regardless of your experience. The worst thing is if you get hired, talk to coworkers who are less productive than you are, and find out that you make less than they do. Solely because they asked for more and you did not

[englishrose]

Lisa, if you’re reading this—there’s a fabulous book on negotiating called Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. I used it to double my pay. Admittedly, I was grossly underpaid, but it wouldn’t have happened without that book.

[doubleoseven]

This is a very frustrating and possibly the MOST frustrating part of employment in America. The worst part is once they get you locked in they will only give you marginal COLA increases year over year, the only way to a significant increase is to quit or get a promotion.

[qrcodeguy]

I negotiated from 45k to 61k. Never accept the first offer. If they really want you they will rethink their first offer. If not it wasn’t meant to be.

[bbtank]

Businesses should be required to always list the starting salary in the job posting. That way we wouldn’t have to waste our time applying to companies without even knowing what they can afford to pay us.

[Jayyy]

Most bosses don’t even wanna talk about pay. Scares them

[Jajaky]

first call i've seen where the caller left on her terms

[danpartridge]

I love how, when negotiating, the hiring manager usually tries out the line: "Well, you do need to take into consideration our competitive benefits package and other opportunities."

My response is usually, "I understand and I look forward to utilizing those, but fringe benefits don't pay my mortgage."

Just be ready to walk away. I've walked away from offers as well, but if you just ask, roughly 80% of the time, they will entertain a higher number. Most people won't even ask and then regret it later.

[jimroscovius]

About 25 years ago, I asked for $52k. They offered $$48k. I came back with $50k. They offered $49.5k, which I took. In a year, I was at $52k, and ended up at $62.5k. Start a little higher than you want, and come down if necessary.

[BengalTiger]

It’s pretty simple. If you’re already employed and looking to make a move only for a bigger payday, you have to be upfront with the recruiter during the initial conversation and tell them exactly how much it would take for you to leave your current role and join their company. If they can meet your requirement for the role you’re pursuing, great, if not, move on to the next.

Now, if you lost your existing job, that kind of changes the scenario completely as you’re probably looking to land another job ASAP and will take whatever you’re offered (as long as it’s not lower than what you were making).

Also, Glassdoor is a huge resource for assessing average salaries for positions within any company. They have pretty much every company listed with salary averages for most positions. That’s been my go to when trying to figure out what a specific company pays for a specific role.

[KHPCLUB]

CEOs give themselves millions in raises every year and do not feel the need to justify it
Why should anyone else?
Glad I'm self-employed, sole proprietor now so I don't have to deal with this nonsense

[daraghmorrissey]

Actually the most important part of your compensation is your level when you come into a big company. Your level is tied to all kinds of benefits like larger cash bonus, stock awards and more annual leave. You can also negotiate a salary increase or promotion in the future and time box it to 12 to 18 months. I would research their levels and negotiate on that basis

[markallison]

Dave is just dead wrong here. You have to play the game. Tell them you currently make more than you actually do and tell them you have other offers around that amount.

[karnypharax]

One of my current jobs offered 26/hr. I negotiated to 31/hr. Six months ago they dropped overnight oncalls onto our lap. Not happy about it at all but it does come with a small pay bump in and of itself. The point im making here is they will take as much from you as they can get. If i didnt get the extra money signing up then I would be seriously underpaid.

[markallison]

The reality of this is very different. Internal promotes never get properly compensated. External hires always make more. Biggest raises come with job hopping.

[fishingmasterxy]

Current company gave me a $5k raise this year. just got a job offer for $80k more. negotiation and hopping jobs is so profitable

[ice-mpdx]

Some companys dont give annual COL raises.