Patrick McKenzie: Salary Negotiation
- Only negotiate salary after you have agreement in principle from someone with hiring authority that, if a mutually acceptable compensation can be agreed upon, you will be hired.
- The absolute worst outcome of negotiating an offer in good faith is that you will get exactly the contents of that offer. Let me say that again for emphasis: negotiating never makes (worthwhile) offers worse.
- I’m sure you can find a company who still makes exploding offers, where you get one yay-or-nay and then the offer is gone. You have a simple recourse to them: refuse them and deal with people who are willing to be professionals.
- The ideal resolution to the job interview is for both sides to be optimistic about the arrangement, and then you close with a warm handshake and “I look forward to receiving your offer by, oh, would tomorrow be enough time for you to run the numbers?
- Volunteering a number when asked says the same thing to people with hiring authority that flunking FizzBuzz says to an engineer: this person may be a wonderful snowflake in other regards, but on the thing I care about, they’re catastrophically incompetent. It will also cause them to retroactively question competencies they’d previously credited you with.
- Objection: “I really need a number to move the process forward. What you should think: “You’re lying to me to attempt to get me to compromise my negotiating position. What you should say: “I’m more concerned at the moment with talking to you about discovering whether we’re a mutual fit. If we’re a great fit, then I can be flexible on the numbers with you and you can be flexible on the numbers with me. If we’re not a great fit, then the numbers are ultimately irrelevant.”
- “We want to figure out whether you’re an appropriate candidate for the position.” What you should think: “You’re lying to me to attempt to get me to compromise my negotiating position.” What you should say: “It’s so important to me that this is a good mutual fit for us. Let’s talk about why I’m a great fit for this position: I know you’re concerned about $FILLINTHEBLANK.”
- “I’m sorry, great try at a dodge there, but I just can’t go forward without a number.” What you should think: “You’re lying to me to attempt to get me to compromise my negotiating position.” What you should say (if you’re an engineer): “Well, you know, I would hate to have to walk away from the negotiation over this.”
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/