During a job interview, when the potential employer offers a salary, can it be detrimental to ask for more money? What could be the short term and long term costs to doing this? Ever heard of a potential employer taking back an offer because you asked for too much (but were still willing to accept the original offer)?
Typically they won’t take back the offer, but what you are essentially telling the potential employer is that you are refusing the offer at the current salary level. I’ve rejected two offers over the past month because they were like 40% below my previous salary. Basically I told them their offer was not acceptible and I was prepared to walk away. They were unable to come close so the deal fell through.
I’ve never heard of anyone rescinding an offer. The closest I ever came was a company offered me a job and I said “I’d like to take a day and think it over and get back to you tomorrow.” They said, “No we need an answer right now,” so I let it pass.
Those were the good old days anyway where people were fighting for me 
The thing is go online and look for some examples. You can’t expect a company to shell out more without a reason. You should be able to say something like, "my research for similar jobs in this market indicate an average salary of $55,000. (Let’s say they offered $50,000), and then you can say, I realize in these hard economic times, it’s hard but as a compromise may I suggest, $52,500 or whatever.
There are lots of ways of putting it better. You want to come across as knowledgeable but not overly demanding.
One thing I found is in the last two years, companies are less flexible. I have had so many interviews just tell me outright, this is what it pays, period, so to speak.
Google around for salary negotiation and you can get better ideas on how to word it. And please let us know if it worked for you.
Good luck
You should -always- negotiate on salary. Not doing so can cost you tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your career. No company in their right mind is going to withdraw an offer if you make a counter unless you just go ridiculously over.
That is an excellent point that is so often forgotten. In most jobs, you get raises as percentage increases starting from your initial salary. Even if they won’t consider a higher salary, there shouldn’t be a need to accept or turn down an offer immediately. You can tell them you need to think about it, and if they’ve made you an offer they’ll want to wait a few days to find out. You do risk someone just as qualified, or more so, to ask for less though.
You have to read the situation well, but the best bet is to steer the interview process towards your abilities fitting the company’s needs, and avoid the question of salary as long as possible. If a company decides they want someone without the question of salary being addressed, they’re more likely to come up from their initial offer to close the deal.
This too is a good point. Salary should come up last, once you’ve both agreed you are a good fit. As someone else suggested, find out what others in that position and in your area are making; www.glassdoor.com and www.salary.com have information, so you can have reasonable expectations of a salary range. If you’re asking for the high end of that, have concrete reasons why you think you should get what you’re asking for.
As an example: The company offers you 47k. The typical range for that positions is 45-60k. You might say, ‘Well, I was thinking in the neighborhood of 60k, because I have (an advanced degree/a list of certifications as long as my arm/an amazing rack), but because I’m interested in the position and excited about working for WidgetCo, I’d like to ask for 55k.’ They might come back with 50k, or say, ‘no, 47k is the highest we can go’.
This is also the time to negotiate other things like working from home, extra vacation time, bonus structure, sign-on bonus, and other non-salary compensation you may desire.
Of course, be reasonable and be judicious about the situation. But definitely negotiate.
That almost never happens with legitimate companies.
I would disagree with this, even though it seems to be conventional wisdom. You know what you are worth and the company already has a range in mind when they start interviewing you. It isn’t like you are going to wow them so much they throw you a 50% bonus.
As I mentioned before, I went through interviews at 2 different companies only to find out the salary was not even in the ballpark. Had I known that right from the start, we wouldn’t have wasted each other’s time.
It is not detrimental to try to negotiate salary if you are reasonable and know what your options are. I have never heard of an offer being withdrawn after the candidate made a counter, but if in making the counter the candidate reveals himself to be a total asshole then I suppose it could happen.
There may be other ways to negotiate besides cash compensation; for example, getting more vacation time.
I have tried and failed twice, though. Once I said, “This decision would be a lot easier for me if the salary were $5K higher” and they just said no. I took the job at the offered salary, which turned out to be a good decision. The second time was at a tech company that was offering stock options. I was a bit risk-averse and said I would rather give up the options and take a higher salary, but that didn’t happen either. And I’m glad it didn’t.
I have been a manager in the IT industry for over 20 years and nobody ever looks at your hiring salary to determine your raise five years later. It’s all about performance and budget, and that’s it. I once gave a guy a 25% raise because I thought he was being underpaid (and I had to jump through hoops to get it), and I have given underperformers 0% raises on rare occasion. Yes, you should negotiate your salary, but it won’t have much impact over the course of your career. Other industries may be different.
It’s going to vary with the company, and the industry, but I’ve observed that this is generally what is done, even in IT. Many managers won’t do what you did to get someone proper compensation, and you seem to be admitting it’s not your company’s standard practise. And for someone who turns out to be an underperformer in someone’s eyes, the 0% increase is still based on the existing pay rate.
Can I piggyback a related question, please?
Say you have a candidate, a new graduate with no real experience in the field, but with another degree and 4 years of experience in an un-related field (both subject to rigorous governmental oversight, so some transferable skills). This person has worked at your company as an intern for 3 years. Said graduate doesn’t really want to negotiate salary, but simply asks for 3 weeks vacation instead of the standard 2 that new employees get.
Is that likely to succeed? I know there are a million factors involved, but I’d appreciate your opinions on this!
There just isn’t enough information there. Some companies have strict vacation policies, others allow some variation. Since you’ve been working there for 3 years…I mean the hypothetical person has been working there for three years, he should have some idea what those policies would be. Many companies allow employees to take unpaid leave of absences, which is a way to skirt the issue. You can always ask. And asking for more vacation time is equivalent to negotiating for salary.
What if you’re applying for a job that only requires a BA and 1 year of experience, and starts at, say, $28K…and you have a Master’s and 2 years of experience, plus 3 years in a related field? Would it be okay to ask for $30K?
Sounds pretty reasonable to me. The conventional mode of negotiating would be to ask for 32K if you want 30K. But there are so many details that play into negotiations. Do your homework. What do you know about company policies, experiences of other employees, industry average compensation for the position, etc.?
If you aren’t comfortable negotiating yourself, look for jobs through recruiters and personnel agencies. These guys are often thoroughly disreputable, so don’t sign exclusive contracts. They may want to steer you toward any open position so they can collect a commission. But if you explicitly state your job and compensation requirements, and pick an organization that specializes in your industry, you can do well. They have the advantage of experience in placement with particular companies, and know how far the company will bend. Companies may feel more comfortable going back to a recruiter that has successfully placed personnel in the past. Many companies have a general anxiety about hiring someone who is essentially a stranger, but familiarity with a recruiter helps get past that.
And I should mention, the best way to get a job is through personal connections within a company. Nothing beats a recommendation from an existing employee, or better yet, a manager, executive, or owner.
I know it’s very variable. I guess I just want a sense of whether or not that’s even a reasonable request. It’s been 3 summers of really basic student paper-pushing tasks, not three years of actual employment and not in a department that I would be applying to. I guess it is the same as negotiating for salary. I’ll just have to ask.
The job only requires a BA. Why would they pay more for a degree that’s not needed. The experience factor seems like a more likely reason for the higher wage.