4 ms·

My other tip is, there's always a little wiggle room to your advantage. When they give you their 'final offer' tell them to come up a little. They never fail t

My other tip is, there's always a little wiggle room to your advantage. When they give you their 'final offer' tell them to come up a little. They never fail to do it, even if it's only 1-2%, and it's increased my salary substantially over the years.

ams6110 15y ago
Typically your best opportunity for a big raise is in the initial salary number. Future raises are often at least partly formula-driven. And since they are likely to be computed as a percentage of your current pay, perhaps with a merit component as well, getting more in the initial salary also means your raises will be more later.
- shasta 15y ago
  Though if you're appreciated (I won't say good), you can get a big raise when you announce you're leaving.
  - dustingetz 15y ago
    if an employee has to threaten to leave to get a raise, someone is doing something wrong. probably the employee.
    - mattm 15y ago
      Can you expand on that?
    - emp_ 15y ago
      This is the sole model of all the SMBs I know, never worked on Big Evil Corp yet, some expanding is appreciated.
      - dustingetz 15y ago
        you don't have to threaten to leave to get a raise; you talk with your manager and tell him what you think you're worth and why its important to you that you make that, and you have a conversation about it. maybe you haven't demonstrated that you're worth it (go get a blog, speak at a user group, go earn your credibility). maybe the organization doesn't value talent at low levels [1], in which case you'll never get top compensation. [1] http://www.dustingetz.com/the-unnecessity-of-superstar-middle-management-in-bigcos http://www.dustingetz.com/the-unnecessity-of-superstar-middl...
  - krupan 15y ago
    If you have to announce you are leaving before they acknowledge (or realize) your value to them, you should probably leave no matter how much they offer you. That's hard to do if you really like the place, but it's usually a sign that there are bigger problems. I took a counter offer once, and it worked out OK, but things always felt a little awkward with my manager after it.
nirvdrum 15y ago
It helps if they know you're looking elsewhere and getting other offers. One of the jobs I ended up being really happy with made what I thought was a great offer to begin with, but I wanted to think things over. I had 7 days to accept the offer and planned on using that time to be sure it's what I wanted to do. Three days in they came back with an offer 10% higher if I accepted that day and halted the rest of my interviews. I thought it over for a bit and accepted 10 minutes later. Incidentally, I had a very good recruiter who was in communication with them. If you don't have a recruiter, use that to your advantage. A recruiter is probably going to get 25 - 33% of your base salary for commission. The company is saving a lot of money hiring you without paying a recruiter fee. That's why you see referrals as high as $10k -- it's substantially less than a recruiter fee. And my final tip is to consider the overall compensation package and let your potential employer know that. Salary is only one part of it. I wouldn't even negotiate lower pay if they cover health care, because plans change annually, but I would argue for higher pay if their health plan sucks. That sort of thing.

ams6110 15y ago

Typically your best opportunity for a big raise is in the initial salary number. Future raises are often at least partly formula-driven. And since they are likely to be computed as a percentage of your current pay, perhaps with a merit component as well, getting more in the initial salary also means your raises will be more later.

shasta 15y ago
Though if you're appreciated (I won't say good), you can get a big raise when you announce you're leaving.
- dustingetz 15y ago
  if an employee has to threaten to leave to get a raise, someone is doing something wrong. probably the employee.
  - mattm 15y ago
    Can you expand on that?
  - emp_ 15y ago
    This is the sole model of all the SMBs I know, never worked on Big Evil Corp yet, some expanding is appreciated.
    - dustingetz 15y ago
      you don't have to threaten to leave to get a raise; you talk with your manager and tell him what you think you're worth and why its important to you that you make that, and you have a conversation about it. maybe you haven't demonstrated that you're worth it (go get a blog, speak at a user group, go earn your credibility). maybe the organization doesn't value talent at low levels [1], in which case you'll never get top compensation. [1] http://www.dustingetz.com/the-unnecessity-of-superstar-middle-management-in-bigcos http://www.dustingetz.com/the-unnecessity-of-superstar-middl...
- krupan 15y ago
  If you have to announce you are leaving before they acknowledge (or realize) your value to them, you should probably leave no matter how much they offer you. That's hard to do if you really like the place, but it's usually a sign that there are bigger problems. I took a counter offer once, and it worked out OK, but things always felt a little awkward with my manager after it.

nirvdrum 15y ago

It helps if they know you're looking elsewhere and getting other offers. One of the jobs I ended up being really happy with made what I thought was a great offer to begin with, but I wanted to think things over. I had 7 days to accept the offer and planned on using that time to be sure it's what I wanted to do. Three days in they came back with an offer 10% higher if I accepted that day and halted the rest of my interviews. I thought it over for a bit and accepted 10 minutes later. Incidentally, I had a very good recruiter who was in communication with them. If you don't have a recruiter, use that to your advantage. A recruiter is probably going to get 25 - 33% of your base salary for commission. The company is saving a lot of money hiring you without paying a recruiter fee. That's why you see referrals as high as $10k -- it's substantially less than a recruiter fee. And my final tip is to consider the overall compensation package and let your potential employer know that. Salary is only one part of it. I wouldn't even negotiate lower pay if they cover health care, because plans change annually, but I would argue for higher pay if their health plan sucks. That sort of thing.