Negotiating the offer
The offer is when you have the most room to shape your pay and conditions. Learn to find your numbers, know your alternative, make one clear ask and get the result in writing, then put the whole course together.
Know three numbers before you talk
- The market range
What similar roles at your level pay here. Sources: people you spoke to in informational interviews, job ads that show pay, recruiters, and salary surveys in your field.
- Your walk-away number
The lowest pay that covers your costs and goals. Below this, the job isn't worth taking. Keep it to yourself.
- Your target
A specific figure in the upper part of the range that you can back with reasons: your experience, a scarce skill, results from your stories.
BATNA
Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement, a term from Roger Fisher and William Ury's book Getting to Yes. It's what you'll actually do if this deal doesn't happen: take another offer, stay in your current job, or keep searching. The better your alternative, the calmer you can be, and the more honestly you can say no to a bad deal.
A written offer from another company is a strong BATNA. "I'd keep looking" with savings for two months is a weaker one. Knowing which you have tells you how hard to push.
Check yourself
Sina has no other offer, but he can stay in his current job, which he likes well enough. That still counts as a real alternative that strengthens his position.
Show the answer
True
True. A BATNA doesn't have to be another offer. If Sina would genuinely be fine staying put, he doesn't need this deal at any price, and he can ask for a fair figure without feeling desperate. What he shouldn't do is pretend to have an offer he doesn't have.
THE FIRST NUMBER
Anchoring
Research on judgement, starting with Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, shows that the first number on the table pulls later estimates towards it, even when people know it's arbitrary. In a negotiation, whoever names a number first sets the anchor. If you give one, make it specific, researched and in the upper part of the range, with a reason attached.
Naming your walk-away number as your ask anchors the whole conversation at your floor. There's nowhere left to go but down.
Offer 2,000 a month
Market range (research) 2,000 - 2,400
Neda asks for 2,300
If they agree:
Difference 2,300 - 2,000 = 300 a month
Over one year 300 x 12 = 3,600
A 10% raise next year on 2,000 -> 200
on 2,300 -> 230One polite conversation: 3,600 more in year one, and every later raise starts from a higher base.Even if they only meet her partway, she's still ahead of the first offer.
Check yourself
Neda's offer was 2,000 a month. She asked for 2,300, and they met her at 2,200. How much more does she earn in a year than the original offer?
- 200 more a year
- 1,200 more over the year
- 2,200 more a year
- 2,400 more a year
Show the answer
2,400 more a year
Right. 2,200 − 2,000 = 200 a month, and 200 × 12 = 2,400 a year, before any raises built on the higher base.
MORE THAN SALARY
Negotiate the whole package
Pay is one line of an offer. Others can matter as much: bonus, insurance and benefits, remote days, hours, job title, start date, leave, a training budget, and a date for your first salary review. If the salary is fixed by a pay scale, these are often where there's room. Always check whether a figure is monthly or yearly, and before or after deductions.
"I understand the base is fixed. Would it be possible to have a salary review after six months, based on the goals we agree?"
Check yourself
Does each move strengthen or weaken your ask?
- Pay data for similar roles from ads and contacts
- Accepting on the phone, then asking for more the next day
- A specific number with two clear reasons
- Inventing a competing offer you don't have
- A real written offer from another company
- "Pay me this or I walk" when you wouldn't actually walk
Show the answer
Strengthens: Pay data for similar roles from ads and contacts, A specific number with two clear reasons, A real written offer from another company
Weakens: Accepting on the phone, then asking for more the next day, Inventing a competing offer you don't have, "Pay me this or I walk" when you wouldn't actually walk
The conversation, step by step
- Thank them and show you're keen
"Thank you, I'm really excited about this role." Negotiating from warmth works better than from suspicion.
- Ask for it in writing, and for a little time
"Could you send the full offer? I'd like a day or two to look at it properly."
- Make one clear ask, with reasons
"Based on what similar roles pay and my experience with X, I was hoping for Y. Is there flexibility there?" Then stop talking and listen.
- Trade, don't just push
If the salary can't move, ask about another part of the package or an early review. When you agree, get the final version in writing.
Check yourself
Match each moment to a good response
Show the answer
- They phone to say you've got the job → Thank them and ask for the offer in writing
- They want your answer today → Politely ask for a day or two
- The salary is fixed by a pay scale → Ask about another part of the package or an early review
- They meet you partway → Accept warmly and get the final version in writing
The whole course on one page
- Aim: a short list of target roles that fit your skills, values and the market.
- Get noticed: a one-page CV and applications tailored to each ad, plus a profile that matches.
- Find openings: weak ties and informational interviews, several channels, a tracker, polite follow-ups.
- Win the offer: a bank of STAR stories, calm answers to the hard questions, and your three numbers before you negotiate.
Check yourself
Neda's top-choice company phones with an offer of 2,000 a month. Her research puts the range at 2,000–2,400. She has no other offer, and her current job pays 1,800. What should she do on this call?
- Accept on the spot, since it's her top choice and asking for more might lose it
- Say she has another offer at 2,500, to give the company a reason to move
- Thank them warmly, ask for the offer in writing and a day or two to review it
- Resign from her current job first, to show the company she is fully committed
Show the answer
Thank them warmly, ask for the offer in writing and a day or two to review it
Yes. Warm thanks, the offer in writing and a little time. Then she can come back with one clear, researched ask, perhaps 2,300, backed by the range and her experience.
Lesson recap
- Before negotiating, know the market range, your walk-away number and a specific target.
- Your BATNA, what you'll do if this deal fails, decides how hard you can push.
- The first number anchors the talk: make yours researched, specific and in the upper part of the range.
- Negotiate the whole package, stay honest and warm, and get the final offer in writing before you resign.