“I was raised by a professional negotiator and I will be in trouble if we don’t negotiate this offer” is how I usually open a salary negotiation. My parents have always strongly pushed me to negotiate a job offer and I’ve never regretted doing it. (BTW – The professional negotiator I reference is mom and she’s tough)
HR is expecting you to negotiate and they aren’t going to get offended.
73% of employers agreed they are not offended when people negotiate. Furthermore, a whopping 84% said they always expect job applicants to negotiate salary during the interview stage.
Negotiating is even more important for women who could end up losing up to $2 million over their careers.
Forty-six percent of men always negotiate salary following a job offer, compared to just 30% of women. And while 39% of men are apprehensive about negotiating, that number jumps to 55% for women.
There is lots of great advice on how to do this out in the world but here’s what I do:
- Research the market to know what others in the market are making in similar roles.
- Come up with an opening phrase like “My research has shown different compensation are you open to discussing this,” “Part of my job will be to advocate for the company so I want to show you that I can advocate for myself around this offer.”
- Then I ask if their is room for negotiation
Then I pretty much wait to see what happens, either the recruiter asks me for a salary range or they say they’ll get back to me. Sometimes there is additional negotiation but not much
Image: Escalators in Arlington, Va.