Any tips for dealing with this? I have not had very much success in the past. Basically I usually find a job work on it for a few months, find the last person made A LOT more money than me. Then I ask why, they say, “because he was here longer than you.”
Then I just quit and go to a competitor and they pay me the salary I want.
In otherwords the only way I ever get more money is to jump companies. Which in my line of work is no big deal.
Anyway I have a job and it’s in a different city. I thought the range they stated was low, the high end of that range would be the least I’d accept. Of course I live in a city where I don’t need a car so if they offered the highest my standard of living would go down cause I’d have to buy a car.
Rents, food and the rest are all about the same.
They’ve not made me an offere but if they do how is the best way to conter offer.
I really want to move so I guess even if they say no, I’d just take the job and work it for a year anyway. But I guess my fear is I don’t want to lose the offer if I make a counter offer. Does this ever happen?
All the time. Sometimes you win at the negotiation game, sometimes you loose. It depends on what wiggle room the employer has for salary. In my field (government contracting), I know that my company has a mulitple of my salary that they charge the government. Knowing what the base amount they get makes it a tad easier for me to negotiate.
Another factor is need…both for you and the employer. Do you need the job? If not, then it’s easier to say no to an offer and make a counter-offer. Does the employer need to have the position filled? Again using my field as an example, if my company doesn’t have a body in an awarded position, they loose that money that would be the difference between my salary and what the contract pays. So they want to put someone in the position.
General rule that I go by (and I may have even gotten this advice from the board here) is that whoever names a number first, looses. So you want them to make an offer first, before you even get into what you made before, or what you’re looking for.
I don’t know where you’re at in your career, so I don’t know how much you’ll be bringing to them. But my current job I got much more than the first offer because I didn’t need a job, and they really needed me in an empty position.
Good Luck!
(edited to add)
Oh, and don’t just say no to their offer. Salary negotiations are a big song and dance between the players. So give them reasons why you need more money. Mention the fact that you’re moving to a city that does not have as efficiant a public transportation system as your current location. A favorite of mine is vacation…“I’d love to take this job, but you have to understand that I’m giving up my earned vacation time and have to start over accruing it” Always have a well thought-out reason that you need more money…not just that you want it.
Except you. I suppose you have a point, though, you can quite easily determine if an offer is reasonable through objective criteria, but not if you want to actually accept it or not.
I’m kind of wondering what you do when an offer is reasonable and you have no reason for wanting more money other than greed?
Say you’re being paid enough to live on, maybe average for your job…It seems that basing negotations on reasons about why you need more money would be rather fruitless, since you don’t need more money.
Do you make something up? I need to save money for retirement, and you’re just barely paying me enough to live on! (sure, it could be phrased more tactfully, but you get the point)
Yeah, the better more tactful approach is to pretend like the money is more about points in a football game than about something you need to make car payments. The HR guys doesn’t care about how you manage your money. So you need more for retirement, that’s your problem.
“That offer isn’t sufficient to entice me to switch positions. I’m fairly happy where I am now, and I do have some stock options that are worth something.”
Possibily, depending on the HR guys “Humm, is that a starting offer? I was hoping to see a little bit bigger number.”
In my experience, the offer often leaves 10% wiggle room. But I last interviewing during the IT boom and that isn’t universally true. We’ve just stopped dealing with people if they don’t seem content with the offer - or if they counter too high. We figure they aren’t going to be happy with us.
Thinking about this a little more - if the offer is good enough, and you want the job, you need to word it in such a way that doesn’t close the door if that isn’t available “I was hoping” is better than “I need more.”
Your best bargaining position is when you don’t need the job. Then you can say “that offer isn’t high enough.”
Backing up a wee bit… what about those jobs that don’t specify what the salary will be, but ask you to give salary requirements at the time you apply? I hate this practice, but it seems more and more common in the business world.
That’s tougher tiger lily…but I usually leave that space on my application blank, and if asked during the interview I explain that I thought salary negotiations are best handled face-to-face. Although again, that depends on your job and field. Usually I just tell them to let me know what they’re willing to pay, and based upon that we’ll know if we should continue the discussion. It’s a very subtle difference in that (again depending on your circumstances) I find it helpful if I look at it as I’m considering taking a position with that company, not they’re considering hiring me for a position. See the difference? One way of looking at it puts more control in your hands. Now obviously if I’m out of work, or I know my current position is going to go away soon, I’m much more in the “take anything that pays the bills” camp. But sdguy doesn’t seem to be in that situation.
I find myself having to think about actively hunting for a job for the first time in a very long time, and I just feel well out of touch with all the tips and tricks these days.
