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I have the opportunity TODAY to negotiate my salary and bonus structure for a job I was offered yesterday.
I received the offer letter year day afternoon, after taking time to review the offer, I see the medical/dental/ vision benefits are pretty expensive. The hiring manager told me on the phone, without me asking, “the salary is usually X but since you have more experience than most of our new hires I will see if I can get you Y”. At the time I said I would appreciate her going to bat for me. I don’t think I said I would take the job for Y. The offer letter included the higher salary she suggested, it still isn’t enough. The year end bonus is much lower than I expected as well. After all this information what do y’all suggest I do? Obviously I plan to tell them the salary and bonus are too low, but how?
1. Should I call the hiring manager or put it in writing?
2. Should I tell them what I expect and explain one of the reasons I am asking for more is because the benefits package is expensive?
3. Or do I just come right out an say, the offer is too low?
Help!
You are doing the right thing. Talking to your manager is better and make sure you stress how you like the new role/team during your conversation. All the best!
Have you been looking for a job for a while? Or has the search been easy for you meaning lots of interviews etc.?
Hi Katrina,
I had an amazing corporate job a few years ago, I had some medical problems which lead to me leaving. Since then I have been looking for a similar position without much luck. I have been working the whole time but not at any jobs at the same level. This new opportunity is still not on the same level but has excellent potential. The company is in the Fortune top 10. Because of the status of the company I am surprised by the low salary.
I'm not sure why you waited to respond to the HR manager, because that was the time to speak up about your salary expectations. In all fairness to yourself and the employer, I think that is a conversation that is necessary to have. You haven't started the job yet, so just ring the HR manager up and voice what your pay expectations are. Then go from there. You want to start off on a good note!
Thanks for the advice. The manager and I had only spoken about the salary. I was so caught off guard with the number I froze. Now that I have the whole package and have studied it, I know I must negotiate. I did contact the manager, we are scheduled to talk next week.
If the offer is too low, then tell them.
I would send an email, "Because of my experience and my proven ability to impact the companies bottom line , I would like to discuss the current offer. I'm eager to move this process forward, but I'd like to have another discussion regarding my compensation" and then ask for a call.
I like having conservations about my value instead of sending an email but if an email works best for you, then send the email.
Here is what I include (in the email or on the call)
1. the value that I bring ("you are going to pay me $ABC and you're going do recoup x25s that wage by the value that I bring or save x10s that money")
2. options for increasing your total compensation package outside of your wage, if these additional items work for you:
a) bonuses outside of year-end bonuses like a quarterly performance bonus
b) additional "bonuses" like; You pay for my Master's degree, I only work four days a week, I get more vacation time
c) if you are applying at a publicly-traded company, you can ask for stocks upfront or negotiate a more significant year-end bonus by having them add stocks to that bonus.
I successfully negotiated a stock + cash bonus for the first three years that I worked at a large publicly traded company. This company had a set bonus structure that wasn't tied to an individuals performance, but the overall companies performance, and I negotiated an additional stock-only bonus that was quite sweet.
d) you could negotiate around the job title.
If this job is a stepping stone to your next job, you could ask for a higher title, which would set you up for an even higher position. I did this once with a startup - The wage was acceptable but not what I wanted, and since they couldn't go higher with the wage, so we settled on a new job title of Sr. Managing Director (instead of just Director)
These are good replies! I learned something from them. Thank you for sharing!
This advice is amazing Barb! There are a bunch of strategies I hadn’t thought of. I will work on my “script” over the weekend, I have a call with the manager on Monday afternoon.
Ask the hiring manager for a few days to consider the offer, and schedule a time to discuss then.
"Thank you for this offer! I'm excited to work with your team. I'm sure we can come to an agreement that works for both of us. Can we discuss next (Tuesday)?
Then ask for what you need to be an awesome employee.
Thank you Elissa, I took your advice and asked to have a few days to review the offer. I set an appointment with the manager for Monday afternoon.