4 ms·

No, I actually was able to successfully negotiate a better position and higher salary after getting an offer from a different company.

shoo 6y ago
Having offers for alternative employment that you'd be willing to accept puts you in a strong negotiating position. If instead your current employer only had the information that you were searching for a new job, but didn't have any firm offers, then you might find it harder to negotiate (why does a raise make sense if the market doesnt seem to be making you an offer that you consider better than what you've already got -- maybe you're already over paid etc), and might also run afoul of some of the other considerations raised in this thread (managers not wanting to put you in key role on important project if there is perception that you may be gone soon). I've once had the strange and unexpected experience of resigning from a job without any competing offer lined up (was young & naive, jaded with the company, didn't immediately need the money) and then being offered contract work a few weeks later from the same former employer to do the essentially same kind of work on a new project at contract rates, i.e., more than twice what I was getting paid before, albeit with no security of continuing employment. So arguably there are also other ways to improve your negotiating position without needing a competing offer -- by resigning I gave a clear signal that I genuinely wasn't interested in letting the status quo continue. I don't recommend this as a strategy, it is far better to line up offers for new jobs you'd be comfortable doing well before you are sick of the current job. I wasn't resigning as some kind of considered move in a negotiation, with any expectation that this outcome would occur. But it was an interesting way to discover that in some job markets you may get paid a lot more as a contractor than as a permie employee if you're in a position to accept much more risk of having periods where the work just stops and you need to find a new project/client.

shoo 6y ago

Having offers for alternative employment that you'd be willing to accept puts you in a strong negotiating position. If instead your current employer only had the information that you were searching for a new job, but didn't have any firm offers, then you might find it harder to negotiate (why does a raise make sense if the market doesnt seem to be making you an offer that you consider better than what you've already got -- maybe you're already over paid etc), and might also run afoul of some of the other considerations raised in this thread (managers not wanting to put you in key role on important project if there is perception that you may be gone soon). I've once had the strange and unexpected experience of resigning from a job without any competing offer lined up (was young & naive, jaded with the company, didn't immediately need the money) and then being offered contract work a few weeks later from the same former employer to do the essentially same kind of work on a new project at contract rates, i.e., more than twice what I was getting paid before, albeit with no security of continuing employment. So arguably there are also other ways to improve your negotiating position without needing a competing offer -- by resigning I gave a clear signal that I genuinely wasn't interested in letting the status quo continue. I don't recommend this as a strategy, it is far better to line up offers for new jobs you'd be comfortable doing well before you are sick of the current job. I wasn't resigning as some kind of considered move in a negotiation, with any expectation that this outcome would occur. But it was an interesting way to discover that in some job markets you may get paid a lot more as a contractor than as a permie employee if you're in a position to accept much more risk of having periods where the work just stops and you need to find a new project/client.