Negotiating an offer…  It can be stressful! It can be hard.  It isn’t easy, but I can try and help a bit.  This is a big subject with a million scenarios, I will try to keep this concise. 

It is perfectly acceptable to negotiate an offer. As a Recruiter, I am prepared for you to. 

Why should you negotiate?   

• You never know what you can get.  Keep it reasonable and be prepared for them to say no.  There have been plenty of times where I had to say, “I cannot do that, the offer you have is the best we can do.”  There was no malice, we had just reached the limit of what we could offer. 

I have been on both sides of this multiple times in my career.  As a candidate and a Recruiter. 

• One time I was not offered any equity (stock options) in my offer, I asked for it in my negotiation and got it. 

• One time I asked for a higher salary and was told no…  (I still took the job) 

• I had a candidate try to negotiate everything (salary, bonus, stock, PTO, benefits…) went back and forth for a week, until I finally told him this is the best we can do.  He then accepted.  I think he was just trying to see what he could get out of me.  A few months later I worked with him as the Recruiter to help him build his team! 

FYI – There are some RED FLAGS that can come up during the negotiation process.  Here is a sample: 

• If a recruiter or hiring manager is upset with you for negotiating. 

• If they rescind the offer as retaliation for negotiating. 

• If they give you a short deadline to consider the offer, like by end of day, or tomorrow 

• You should have a few business days and a weekend to consider the offer.  You don’t have to take that long, but you should get some time. 

When the interviewer gives you the salary range, ask if it is just the salary or total compensation (salary plus any bonuses).  No harm in asking for clarification. 

When you negotiate, the worst they can do is tell you that the offer is the best they can make, and they cannot negotiate.   

What you can negotiate:   

Salary: 

you should negotiate this.  Why not?  You may get a higher salary  

You should be reasonable.  You should have an understanding of the pay range early in the interview process.  If the pay range is 100K – 120K and you ask for 170K…you won’t get it.  It is too far out of range. 

Sign on bonus: 

Same as above…why not?  You might get an increase, or if one was not offered, ask for one. You might get it. 

• There are various reasons a company will, or will not, pay a sign on bonus.  We can discuss later if you like 

Start date:   

You can negotiate this.  Perhaps you want to take a week or two off between jobs…but also keep perspective.  A company is not going to wait too long for you to join.  The reason the role is open is they have work that needs to be done. 

PTO previously scheduled. – (it happens all the time!)   

Example: “I would like to accept the role and start March 1, but I have a family vacation planned for a week in May.”  I have yet to work at a company that this situation is a deal breaker.  Most of the time, since you have not accrued enough PTO, you will have to go into PTO debt, but it is usually not a big deal.  Meaning if you accrue 2 weeks of PTO a year, since you used a week, at the end of the year you will have accrued 1 week. 

In my experience, there are some things that are not negotiable: 

Most companies will not negotiate PTO time, benefits costs, or annual bonus amounts.   

• PTO and benefit amounts are usually the same for every employee when they start, to maintain fairness.   

• Most bonus % amounts are tied to the level of the role, again, for fairness.  All senior engineers should get the same % bonus (for example 10%), all Lead Engineers should get the same %, (for example, 15%).  Managers get a certain %, Directors get a certain %… 

How you start the negotiation… There are many ways to start that conversation, you have to find what works for you.  You can say things like, “I am excited about the opportunity, but I have a question about the….(salary, bonus).  Can you increase the salary to XX?”  “if you could put the salary at XX, I would accept the offer today.”…  “The salary looks fine, can we talk about the sign on bonus?”  “I would really like to start at a salary of XXX” 

It is recommended to negotiate an offer.  Minus any red flags, again, the worst they can say is the offer is what it is.