Congratulations! You've received a job offer. Now what?
Do you accept it right away? Should you attempt to negotiate? When is negotiation really required?
If you have yet to visit my first blog post on this topic, Negotiation a job offer: Introduction and tools, please read that first.
In this blog post, I will address best practices and tips i.e. when and how to negotiate.
When is negotiation required?
There are various justifiable scenarios for doing so, such as:
1. Offer is below your minimum acceptable salary
2. You've received at least 1 competing offer from other companies
3. You've received a pay increase, promotion or both from your current employer
4. Your current employer has counter-offered to retain you
5. Company made addition(s) to the vacancy's job scope.
Below is a fun video to watch on negotiating salary, recently uploaded by Singapore's CPF board. Advice given in the video is pretty spot on in my opinion. Enjoy!
Time stamps:
1:00 A good and a not-so-good example of negotiation
4:00 Summary of what entails a successful negotiation
4:48 Useful job tips to help you with negotiation
Source: YouTube
The 5 scenarios and how to negotiate
Let's delve into each of the 5 scenarios and how to negotiate for the best outcome.
Scenario 1: Offer falls below your minimum acceptable salary
Naturally, you'll be disappointed when this happens.
In order to avoid such disappointments late in the offer stage, recruiters usually attempt to find out candidate's salary expectations early in the recruitment process.
A quick tip here: Always provide a salary range, instead of a fixed figure. It also helps to state if your expected salary range is negotiable or not.
The salary range should act as a guide on where your minimum acceptable salary lies, to what your ideal salary is.
Example: $5,000 to $6000 would generally mean $5,000 is at/near your minimum, and $6000 would be your ideal.
But what if you have already done so, still only to receive a disappointing offer that doesn't even match your minimum?
How to negotiate?
Firstly, it is not wrong to express disappointment to your recruiter if you choose to do so. However, make sure you do it professionally and respectfully.
Next, seek clarification on how the offer was formulated. Was there a critical skill or experience the hiring team observed you were lacking?
Was there any miscommunication on your expected salary that may have occurred along the way?
Was there unforeseen company budgetary constraints that resulted in such an offer?
The recruiter would usually be able to shed some light to help you process the situation.
Ask yourself if the recruiter's justifications are acceptable.
If the answer is no, respectfully state that you are keen to join them, but the offer got to make financial sense and express hope that they can adjust the offer upwards to at least match your minimum expectation.
Get a good benchmark of your market rate using tools here. If the offer falls below industry standards, be sure to share that insight with your recruiter to further solidify your stand.
You may also wish to further reiterate the value you'll bring into the organization if you join them.
Scenario 2: You've received at least 1 competing offer from other companies
Congratulations! The more competing offers you receive, the merrier.
The more you have, the more in-demand you will be perceived by prospective employers, and thus acquiring more leverage in negotiation.
This is also why in the CPF Board video above, advice given was to go for as many interviews as you can.
Note: Go for interviews but only with companies that you are keen to join. Do not spam-attend.
How to negotiate?
First, inform the company of your choice that you have received/soon receiving competing offers.
Why? Recruiters ALWAYS appreciate heads up, and we want to be kept in the latest loop about any competing offers.
This helps us better advocate for your interest when discussing your case with the hiring team.
If I am the recruiter, you will hear me ask this next: "between the other company (or companies) and us, which is your preference?"
It is a tough question and I do not expect a clear-cut answer.
Rather, I am seeking to understand your thought process and where your true interest lies.
I'm also trying to sound out if you have areas of concern with my offer, or if you have any other non-monetary concerns beyond my offer that we should quickly address or resolve at this point.
Second, think through the timing of the offers.
At the beginning of a job hunt, you often want to get at least one offer in order to feel secure...[i]ronically, getting an early offer can be problematic: Once a company has made an offer, it will expect an answer reasonably soon.
If you want to consider multiple jobs, it’s useful to have all your offers arrive close together.
So don’t be afraid to slow down the process with one potential employer or to speed it up with another, in order to have all your options laid out at one time.
This, too, is a balancing act: If you pull back too much—or push too hard—a company may lose interest and hire someone else.
But there are subtle ways to solve such problems. For example, if you want to delay an offer, you might ask for a later second- or third-round interview.
Moral of the story? Communicate, communicate, and communicate with your recruiter.
Partner closely with your recruiter(s) to understand company's timeline expectations.
This gives you key information on the amount of time you can buy to secure the maximum no. of offers within or around the same time period, for maximum leverage.
Third, project a healthy negotiation attitude.
Make clear to the company of your choice that they can secure you, provided they are willing to adjust certain conditions of the offer.
Note: Avoid playing hard-to-get even though you have multiple concrete offers. It is a huge turn-off and will likely end up being counterproductive. More on this shared here.
Scenario 3: You've received pay increase, promotion or both from current employer
If you want to leverage on this to negotiate for a better offer, share any expected pay increment and/or promotion coming up with the recruiter, as early in the interview process as possible.
If found suitable for hire, this gives the recruitment team visibility to factor it into the offer from the get-go.
For pay increment or promotion that catches you in surprise, do notify the recruiter as soon as you receive news.
How to negotiate?
- Advise the date you're expected to receive/have received the official company letter of promotion and/or increment. Will be great to provide soft copy as proof.
- Information on the % salary increase should be given to your recruiter for ease of factoring it into the offer.
- If you would like to revise your expected salary, make it clear to the recruiter and practise communicating it in a compelling way.
Scenario 4: Your current employer has counter-offered to retain you
If you receive a counter-offer, do inform your recruiter ASAP.
A counter-offer is presented because your current company wants to retain you. Not everyone has the privilege of receiving a counter-offer.
If you receive one, count yourself fortunate and think about how you can leverage best with it.
How to negotiate?
- If your decision is to join the new employer despite receiving the counter-offer, assure your recruiter that you will honour your initial offer acceptance.
- If you, however, intend to leverage on the counter-offer to ask for an improved offer, make it known to your recruiter and see what he or she can do, before giving your final word of commitment to join them.
If you never asked, you'd never know!
Scenario 5: Company made addition(s) to the vacancy's job scope
This can happen sometimes halfway through the interview process, especially if the vacancy is urgent to fill and may be a brand new headcount with no precedent, or is a restructured headcount.
For significant job scope additions like examples illustrated below, there is definitely a good reason to ask for an improved offer since a greater scope of accountability is involved.
Examples of job scope additions:
- Adding new country or region into the territorial portfolio coverage
- Adding a new business segment, product or service line responsibility
- Role changed from an individual contributing one to a supervisory role with people management responsibilities
- Much higher, more intensive travels required than initially discussed
- Etc.
How to negotiate?
- Be clear to the recruiter that with greater accountability involved, there is now a higher level of commitment required than was initially understood.
- Share your confidence in assuming the role despite the job scope expansion. If you have a past track record of assuming similar responsibilities, make sure to highlight them as well as your achievements attained in relation to it.
- You may wish to revisit and use relevant tools shared here to further justify your case for an improved offer.
Final Words
Be creative, think out of the box and explore using a combination of different tools to justify and solidify your chances at a successful negotiation.
Most importantly, maintain respect and professionalism at all times throughout the communication process with the hiring team.
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