In my experience, most employers start with a lower offer under the assumption that the candidate will want to negotiate. If the employer starts with their best

In my experience, most employers start with a lower offer under the assumption that the candidate will want to negotiate. If the employer starts with their best offer and the candidate wants to negotiate they have no room to increase the offer and see this as being a negative. I suppose they want to be able to counter during the negotiation and seem responsive. Personally, I always focus on making the best possible offer first and if the employee wants to negotiate telling them it's the best offer. It shows the potential employee that you respect them and have spent time considering the offer, instead of just floating something to see how they react. If you hold back, aren't you just telling the candidate that you were trying to pull a fast one on them if you increase the offer later?