Compensation negotiation is hard and a royal pain in the ass.
First order of business is to decide if you think that the company is likely to try to screw you by paying you as little as possible irrespective of other considerations. If so, they’re a shitty company and you should try hard to find better options because if they’re willing to screw you on comp, they’re going to be willing (and able) to screw you on a bunch of other stuff the whole time you work for them. I don’t have a lot of experience in that scenario and can’t really offer much in the way of advice there.
So assuming they’re not being short sighted assholes, they’re going to have two goals in mind. Offer you a package compelling enough that you’ll accept the offer. Have the offer be roughly comparable to what other people on the team with similar responsibilities are making. There is typically a fair bit of wiggle room to find an offer that meets both criteria. The recruiter is trying to narrow that down to a point they can make something concrete. The hiring manger usually has a rough idea of what they’re wanting to pay already and is looking to calibrate that against your expectations to see if an agreement can reasonably be made.
Now, of course at the end of the day, there is a fair amount of room for negotiation within that window. Understanding what industry standard is in your area for the job description and level of experience is your best asset in that scenario. Your current compensation is a useful starting point as a sanity check there. For example, if you’re compensated more highly than typical, to negotiate for higher compensation, you may be more successful arguing that you should be hired in at a higher grade level than the position is initially offered for and therefore your compensation should be measured against that scale instead. The more you can describe why you deserve compensation in terms beyond “I want more” the more successful you will be at getting it.
edit: Oh, depending on the kind of position, also be aware that there are often multiple moving pieces to the comp package and the amount of flexibility can be very different on each piece. Base salary, cash sign-on bonus, and RSUs are the three typical heavy hitters. Which piece is more important varies widely by candidate and figuring that out is an important part of putting together that compelling offer so that it really speaks to what that particular candidate cares about.
Also, make sure you look at the entire compensation package. An offer of, say, $65,000 with a medical plan with a huge deductible and large out of pockets, and no vision plan, and a poor dental plan, low 401K match, etc. may be not as good as an offer of $60,000 with a great medical, dental, vision, 401K match, perhaps a decent bonus program, etc.
When I’ve reached the salary question, I usually start by asking what is the range the company pays for this level of position.
Oh, thank you so much @ReptileHouse and @JeffL. This is all very helpful to think about. I am actually in the Greater Seattle area and I’ve been doing my salary searches and such and have a pretty good idea of the range for this area. I am probably underpaid right now because I am at a small company and I was unemployed when I took this job. Even so, I held out for an amount slightly higher than the one they offered me because I wasn’t sure I could make the initial offer work. Now I want to get back to the amount I was at before I got laid off, but I’m not going to say that during this negotiation. I’m going to talk about my experience. I have to think about ways to make a compelling case for myself. It was a great interview because they focused mostly on soft skills and team fit, and the assumption is that you’ve got the technical skills (which I do). So my pitch is going to be my tech skills, experience, and then soft skills.
@TimElhajj don’t forget to smile when it feels natural. That seems simplistic, but it helps you relax, and studies have shown hiring managers feel more drawn to candidates who appear relaxed and confident (not arrogant!) and happy. After reading that study I realized it was true, you want to hire someone you’ll enjoy being around.
And remember if you’re at the phase where they are making you an offer: they want you. When you’ve been interviewing, reading a bazillion resumes, interviewing people you don’t feel are a good fit, it can get discouraging. And when you finally find someone you like enough to make an offer to, you really want to close the deal.
In other words: don’t be afraid to be confident in the salary discussions. As long as you’re reasonable, and professional, and a pleasure to work with, they don’t want to let you walk away and be forced to go back into the search mode again.
This is speaking from experience. This past week we finally found a good candidate everyone liked for a QC role. The problem was his salary requirement was a bit on the high side of what we’d planned to pay. But our CEO/my boss said, what’s $5000 a year to us for someone we expect to have high contributions to the company for many years to come, vs. maybe a little less for someone we don’t feel will be as good? We ended up offering the $5000, plus a bit of a signing bonus, plus a 6 month review with a possibility of another increase at that time.
The latter. Heart wasn’t in it lately and absence caused by streak of health problems this last quarter did not help. Hoisted by my own petard as it were.
Depending on your goal, it’s a good idea to reach out to friends and colleagues at your formwrcompany. They will be great references who can give a bit of insight into your termination, and cast you in a great light (the new boss is an ass sounds better from someone else).
I remember I put down a spread of reference, but my current employer did call both reference that still worked at the firm that let me go.
I think securing references is great advice. But, personally, I’d request that my recommendations try to stay positive. Potential employers call references as a last step to check for red flags. There’s a high risk that any discussion that turns negative goes out of control. For example, maybe the new boss starts wondering what the candidate will do if the candidate decides that the new boss is also an ass.
20+ years is a great track record that doesn’t need to be overly-defended. Things changed at the old company. It was time to move on. If bridges weren’t burned, I suspect the old employer isn’t going to cause trouble.
Usually, the candidate will either have almost-secured the offer in the interview or they did not. A reference isn’t going to flip a “no” or “likely no” to a “yes”, but they can flip a “almost-yes” to a “no”.
Really sorry to hear that. But I agree that staying positive in interviews is the way to go. While the people interviewing you know that some bosses are asses, managers are very wary of hiring people who are negative. Company changed leadership and after seeing the new direction I decided it was time for a change and to see what’s out there, etc. Looking for a fresh challenge. Of course be prepared when they ask what was it about the direction they are going that made you want to change? But bottom line: people like hiring positive upbeat people.
Well, I’m losing my job after 35+ years with the same company. They’re outsourcing virtually all their IT and letting us go at the end of July. At 62, I guess I’ll be retiring sooner than I’d planned. Fuck!
