Offer negotiation is a process in which you and a representative of your current or prospective company discuss the terms and conditions of employment. This can include things including base salary, start date, vacation hours, relocation costs, and more.
Whether you are a long-time employee or a new hire, if you feel that your salary does not reflect your abilities, negotiate to ensure you are getting fair market value your skills, experience, and knowledge.
Why should you negotiate rather than take the first offer?
For those who are new to the job market, and need to find information about what is included in your offer. It’s hard to determine what is most important to you and what you want to negotiate for when you don’t understand parts of your offer!
A salary is a fixed wage, that does not depend on the amount of hours the employee works. This fixed wage may mean that you can work less than the amount you are hired for, or more.
Resources for Exploring Salary:
Health insurance pays (or helps pay) for your medical needs, which can often include doctor visits, prescription drugs, emergency care, and certain medical procedures. Here are some basic terms you should understand:
To learn more about health insurance, you can look at this guide by United HealthCare.
Retirement plans are savings plans that help you prepare for retirement. Common retirement plans that can be sponsored by employers include:
To learn more about health insurance, you can look at this guide to Retirement Plans.
Paid Time Off is the time you can take off of work. Often, packages may vary in terms of how much is offered per year, how much notice you have to give, how it is accrued, and when the accrual starts (immediately after being hired, or six months into employment).
Sick leave is paid time that you can take off of work when you are ill.
Life Insurance is a contract that pays a death benefit to the policy owner when the insured person dies. The policyholder will pay a premium (or fee) for the policy. You can learn more about life insurance by reading this Investopedia article.
Other things to consider include:
Research the typical salary for the work you are seeking by checking online resources, and by talking to people in the field. Ask them what is a normal salary range as well as issues or protocols that may be important in negotiating a salary in that field.
Thank you for letting me know. I’m really excited! When will I receive the written offer and benefit package and when do you need to know my decision by?
I want to share that I just received an offer and need to let them know by [date]. I’m very interested in the [position name] at your organization. Could you provide an update on the hiring timeline and if I might be able to hear back before [Offer A deadline]?
I have received a competing offer. I’m wondering if you be able to increase the base pay to $$$$ / match the offer at [$$$$] ?
I’m really excited about this opportunity. Before I officially accept the offer, I want to discuss the base salary. Through my research, I’m looking for an offer closer to [$$-$$ ]. Would you have flexibility to move to this range?
“Thank you! I’m so pleased to be offered this position! Could you send it to me in writing so that I can take some time to look over the pay and benefits package? I can call you in a day or two after I receive it.”
Florida State University (FSU) has put together a list of things that you can consider when evaluating a job offer.
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