ASK THE HEADHUNTER Can salary surveys help me negotiate job offer?

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Can salary surveys help me negotiate job offer?

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Question I'm going to be talking with a manager who just made me a job offer. I’m going to say yes, but I’m inclined to ask, “Can you do any better?” I want to know how far to push it since my research on salary surveys indicates this is a rather good offer in my industry. Of course, I don’t want them to withdraw the offer, but it seems like I shouldn’t just say yes. I’d appreciate your insight. Nick’s Reply Why is it that when people get a good deal, they feel obligated to try and get an even

Join us for discussion! https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/16381/salary-surveys-negotiate-job-offer">Can salary surveys help me negotiate job offer?

                              

Question

I'm going to be talking with a manager who just made me a job offer. I’m going to say yes, but I’m inclined to ask, “Can you do any better?” I want to know how far to push it since my research on salary surveys indicates this is a rather good offer in my industry. Of course, I don’t want them to withdraw the offer, but it seems like I shouldn’t just say yes. I’d appreciate your insight.

Nick’s Reply

https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/salary-surveys.png" alt="salary surveys" width="300" height="200" />Why is it that when people get a good deal, they feel obligated to try and get an even better one? Maybe it’s because all those books about negotiating teach us that only the weak and meek take the first offer; that we can and should squeeze out a few more bucks. “Real negotiators know how to get more!”

Bunk. It isn’t about clever negotiating tactics. It’s about being able to answer the question, “What makes you worth more?”

Are you worth more?

Yes, I’m the same guy that recently advised you to https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/16357/demand-bigger-salaries">demand bigger salaries. Only you can determine whether you’re worth more. But you have allowed that you already have “a rather good offer.” It’s fair to guess you elicited such a good offer because you performed well in your interviews. Is there something you left out that would support a request for even more salary?

If you posture for more money when you don’t have a leg to stand on, you will fall over. And that’s the crux of this. Unless you can show the employer why — exactly — you are worth more, then don’t ask.

What about the salary surveys?

“But wait — the salary surveys say I’m worth more! I’ll show them the https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/11910/glassdoor-salary-data">salary surveys!”

Bunk again. Some “career experts” will tell you to use the survey data to support your salary request. What they don’t tell you is that the surveys describe a population of people who have similar titles and credentials. They don’t describe you.

Go ahead — try and tell an employer you’re worth what everyone else gets paid. It will earn you a blank stare, because any smart employer has evaluated you and decided what you are worth. “We don’t hire statistics. What are you going to do for me that’s worth more than I’m offering?”

That’s a tough question, and this is where people usually fall down flat. They think this is a matter of aggregate salary statistics when it’s a matter of one person’s value — yours.

Always negotiate?

Or, as you’ve admitted, “it seems like I shouldn’t just say yes.” Negotiating experts sell a lot of books marketing the idea that we can, and should, always negotiate! Every offer deserves a counter-offer, and only they can teach you how to make it.

If you can offer a compelling answer to the question https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/7280/stand-out-how-to-be-the-profitable-hire">Can you demonstrate additional value? then you should go for it.