I left out the full conversation, but I did tell the CEO he was making a mistake by attempting to low-ball the candidate. To no avail, though -- it was simply t

I left out the full conversation, but I did tell the CEO he was making a mistake by attempting to low-ball the candidate. To no avail, though -- it was simply the CEO's chosen way of doing business. Very strange, as my negotiation had been quite easy. Your take is right -- the CEO was merely trying to exert some level of influence, for reasons I fail to understand to this day. I'm now in an engineering-centric organization, and comp negotiations are the least of my concerns. Finding the best people continues to be the hardest to do.