Does anyone have any tips for negotiating salary for a new job? Basically I’ve been offered a job with a company that approached me because I have expetise they currently haven’t got but the offer (about 8% more than now) isn’t as much as I had hoped (at least 20%). The role sounds interesting and will be a challenge to help them enter a new category but that brings it own risk especially as I would be leaving a secure job in a company that has been growing massively for 10 years.
I’ve no experience of negotiating salary; I have a feeling that they have chanced their arm with a low offer and expect me to negotiate. Do I just state what I want or go in way above that and expect to meet in the middle?

Sorry if this is a bit vague but I’d rather not give out specifics.

Depends on how much you want the job? And also, how much they want to employ you?

If *they* want you, more than *you* want them, the salary increase swings in your favour.

Opposite applies the other way round.

You currently have a job, which means you have a much better position to negotiate from.

Just say that the offer isnt compelling enough to compensate for ….

Expected bonus?
Training offered?
Extra travelling?
Holidays?
Work environment?

… but say £Xk would do it for you.

Tell them what you want and ask them what they can do. Don’t refuse the offer as such (unless it really isn’t enough). At worst they’ll say they can’t improve the offer. I’d expect them to be able to improve on some part of the package to do the deal. The key thing is to engage in a discussion.

Lie about your current salary. (-:

I’d be tempted just to be straight. “I’m very interested in your offer, however your renumeration package isn’t quite what I’m looking for.”

Don’t refuse the offer as such (unless it really isn’t enough). At worst they’ll say they can’t improve the offer.

That’s exactly what they’ll do. They’ll pay the minimum they think they can get away with. If they think you’ll take the offer regardless, you’ve a whelk’s chance in a supernova of getting a better offer.

Thanks for the replys, I went in high and they are going to come back to me…

I was in similar situation, but for a job I was currently in. They offered me a promotion, but the increase in work and responsibility didn’t match the pay rise. I just went to my boss and said why I deserved more, basically laid out everything I had done for the company etc. you could do the same, let them know why you are worth it! I also found this article when I was figuring out what to say to my boss, http://www.cv-builder.co.uk/need-a-better-job.php, it may be of some help to you too.

Its a risky strategy! We once decided not to employ someone because he pushed his luck with what he thought he was worth. He tried the “this is a risk for me” stuff (we don’t like people who are risk averse as they spend too long worrying about jobs, and pensions, and stuff and not enough time actually working!). He suggested 25% more than we had offered.

We declined and withdrew the previous verbal offer. He came crawling back saying he’d do it for the original offer. But by then had already pissed off two of the directors with his attitude so was not employed!

8% + a more interesting job sounds good to me, in the current climate.

think you did correctly [though I would have said what I would have worked for and said I was not haggling they were either willing to pay it or not] as you are not sure you want to ake the job and 8% for the loss of security in the current climate would not tempt me

Depends on the field I reckon.

Sales or other target-driven environments they’ll expect you to go in high and haggle.

Any more civilised field and I would just be straight with them.

Good luck – and come back and let us know what they say.

Tell them you are addicted to crack and whores and/or crack whores which don’t come cheap in this current economic climate.

One word, ‘retainer’!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDJGEdF_F4E[/video]

Its a risky strategy! We once decided not to employ someone because he pushed his luck with what he thought he was worth. He tried the “this is a risk for me” stuff (we don’t like people who are risk averse as they spend too long worrying about jobs, and pensions, and stuff and not enough time actually working!). He suggested 25% more than we had offered.

We declined and withdrew the previous verbal offer. He came crawling back saying he’d do it for the original offer. But by then had already pissed off two of the directors with his attitude so was not employed!

And is potentially now working for one of your competitors, and you lost out on a high quality employee worth ££££££ to your company for the sake of a few quid.

Do you think your companies policy is mirrored by FTSE top 100 companies?

it doesn’t matter how ‘good’ they think they are.

No, it matters how good they actually are. Do you let a good employee go because you’re not prepared to pay what they’re worth? As an employee, should you accept less than you’re worth?

I’m not paid anything like what I know I’m worth (not big-headed, just fact; I’m not paid enough for my job description). But I have a 15 minute commute, can work from home when I like (so long as I “usually” go in), and am largely my own boss day to day. For me, that all has a worth too, which offsets the lower salary and makes it worthwhile.

Ultimately, a salary has to be as low as possible whilst still being high enough to retain valuable staff.

Is it through an agency? If so, ask them to negotiate it on your behalf. Be honest with them about what you want. They’re generally well practiced at this and get paid based on how much you get so will extract the maximum with out risking the offer bein retracted.

If not, an internal promotion is generally 10% so you need to shoot for 15-20% to make the risk worth it.

If you need to move this is completely irrelevant.

Also do not under-estimate the value of a pension – either at your company or the one who are offering.

But have you approached you current company to ask for a raise?

Jujuuk68 –

Unless the OP is being recruited by a FTSE100 co, then their HR policies are irrelevant – the rest of the market doesn’t necessarily follow the same practice (which may or may not be a good thing).

I can certainly say that the people who have worked for us and negotiated or tried to negotiate salaries are always those who have been least happy in their job and who were most likely to move on (because they are just trying to get better pay). Those who accepted offers with minimal discussion fit in and seem to appreciate the non-financial benefits of working with us.

There was some not very clever negotiation on the part of the “candidate” in that he said he wouldn’t come for less than £40k when we had offered £32k (which was a fair and reasonable salary for his skills, experience and the role). The fact he backed down from that meant he’d lied to us before he even got the contract so we weren’t concerned that the “competition” might get a big headed, arrogant lier!

It’s hard to negotiate a high salary. As someone who routinely interviews people around doing my day job, unless someone really knows their stuff, has a good personality, and is a really good fit for the role, then the acceptable salary from a business point of view will start to degrade accordingly.

Nothing turns me off more than someone asking for an astronomical salary. Interviewed a guy on Monday who was wanting at least 5k more than I’m paid, and upon interrogation was really quite average.

Asking for lots of money makes it less likely an offer will be made, as it’s much more risk taking someone on at a high salary – they need to be more or less instantly productive.

My best tip is to know the market value of the skills you have to offer. Big companies will benchmark these with competitors. Weigh up the value of the entire package – bonus, pension, shares. A more interesting job, more responsibility, better commute etc… have intrinsic value, but as one poster said, a rise of 8% isn’t bad in the current climate.

If the job change could also be viewed as a promotion from your current role, then I’d look for a minimum of 10-15% for a serious step up. If not offered, and you clearly impress, a good manager will be looking to retain your skills and you will be in a good position to ask for a performance-based salary rise.

wear something slutty.

I would have had a look at the total package and stated the salary I would take, rather than go for something more expecting them to want to negotiate down. Where I work the salary bands are dictated by HR anyway so there’s not a whole lot of room for manoeuvre but then again it’s more a generic IT field rather than looking for people with niche skills so it’s easier to work out what the market rate is etc. Good luck though…

I think it really depends on the company, how much they want/need you and what their budget for this role is.

Negotiating salary is much like negoatiating for anything else..say buying a car?! You need to use what you know against what you suspect you know and use your good judgment. I would be tempted to go for the most you can get, don’t worry about sounding too money grabbing.. this is why we go to work.

if all else fails and they say ‘no sorry we can’t go higher’, then you’re still in the position to accept the original offer.