“The hiring manager and interview team were very impressed with your qualifications and experience and would like to offer you the position…”
First of all, congratulations! Getting a job offer is the result of a successful job search and interview process. Now comes a part of the process that most people don’t think about (until now):
“How do I know your offer is fair?”
“How do I trade to get what I think I’m really worth?”
Step One: Do your homework.
There are many resources on the web that can provide you with information on base salary for your field, and in some cases, even on the company that made you the offer.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is an old standby, but can provide general guidelines for your field (usually not for your specialization, though).
PayScale has a great wizard that helps you evaluate a job posting based on title, years of experience, and location.
Salary.com is another old standby. It’s worth throwing into the mix.
Glassdoor.com provides crowdsourced salary information submitted anonymously by current or former employees at your target company. Take this information for what it is: anonymously submitted data that may or may not be 100% accurate (and may also be out of date in some cases). ‘
Tech Company Pay is an interesting tool: It takes H1-B visa application data provided to the DOL by companies, which requires them to list a pay range, and combines it with data from LinkedIn.
H1-B Company Data: This is a database of public information that companies submit when applying for an H1-B visa for a foreign employee. Businesses are required to declare a minimum wage as part of the application. Note: This may not be fully indicative of what an experienced person in this position may be doing (ie the actual market range for this position is likely higher).
Now you’ll have a pretty solid idea of whether your current position is adequately compensating you and what your ‘make me move’ price is (thanks for lending that to me, Zillow).
The first thing I recommend: do not lie to the recruiter about what you earn now. If you are undermarket, and your research makes it clear that you are, then say so. “I’m currently at $85,500, but due to the internal promotion policy they haven’t been able to get me to the market. My research shows that someone in my role with my skill/experience level is averaging 90 in this market right now, so That’s where I’d like to be.”
Second, consider the entire compensation package against your own. Not having target setting on the base offset number. That’s the easiest point of comparison, I agree, and it’s also the number we tend to compare against. That will work against you at a company like Amazon, where they provide a satisfactory base compensation number and combine it with a large signing bonus that is often paid within the first two years of employment. The base offset number may not be as high as you expected; however, the overall compensation package for the first two years is likely to be very rich.
Also, don’t forget to look at things like 401(k) contribution, health benefit premiums and coverage, vacation (if you have 3 weeks vacation, 10 paid sick days, and 8 paid holidays now, that’s 4 weeks of PTO, one week off on vacation, and 9 paid vacations, better or worse in your mind?), other perks (free food, traffic allowance/paid parking, etc.). Depending on the benefit, something you might overlook could add $1-2000/year back to your pocket (or retirement account), or cost you the same amount compared to your salary. your current job
What if the position is exclusively work from home? That means no buying a work wardrobe every year, much lower out-of-pocket costs in terms of transportation (no more $50/week gas station trips or $250/month bus pass, lower insurance, less car wear), etc. That can easily put $1500-2000/year back in your pocket.
Now that you have done all the research and compared the current total compensation to the current total compensation. the offer, it’s time to decide: Is the offer presented by the company your ‘move me in’ number? If not, let the recruiter know where your offer is falling short of expectations.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to join _______ and work with this team. In reviewing the offer compared to my current total package, I noticed that I would end up paying about $1500/year more in benefit costs with your company. I want to to make this move, but I’m sure you understand that I don’t want to lose money by doing it.Would it be possible to increase the base salary by that amount to catch up?
Keep in mind that most companies won’t budge on anything related to paid time off or benefits. It is highly unusual for a new employee to successfully negotiate more vacation time, for example. I totally understand that it sucks to lose what you have worked for after 5 years at your current company; but often that’s a cost of making a job change.
One last thing. Never end your negotiation with “…but I’d be totally flexible with that number.” I have had several candidates do this throughout my career. There is a lot of perceived risk in negotiating a job offer. What if they think you’re being unreasonable? What happens if they rescind the offer entirely? But by adding the above statement, you give them permission to ignore your negotiation request by stating that you are not a real negotiator.
If you do your homework using the above tools and present the recruiter with very specific bargaining points backed by market data and/or a specific delta between your current compensation package and your offer, you should get what you deserve.