How to Negotiate Your Salary – The Ultimate Guide

On average, professionals leave between 10-20% on the table when they negotiate their salary for a new job. This article will equip you with the tools and information you need to (a) get the maximum out of your offer and (b) negotiate with zero awkwardness. Read on for resources, frameworks and highly actional tips which you can immediately apply to your upcoming negotiation.

Finding a new job that ticks all of the boxes is hard, and – judging from the fact that you’re reading this – you’ve done it. While it’s important to take a moment to celebrate this achievement, it’s also key to remember that you don’t need to be grateful for your offer. You’ve deserved it and your future employer is at least as happy as you are to have found the perfect match. So don’t give them a resounding Yes just yet. Instead, think about what you want to get out of your offer and make a plan as to how to negotiate your salary.

You may find the prospect daunting, think it will be awkward or that you’ll alienate your future boss and employer – but that doesn’t have to be the case.

This article will equip you with the key tools and information you need to make the most of this opportunity and to do it with maximum confidence and minimal awkwardness. If there’s a specific question on your mind, just jump to the relevant section below.

• 10 (non-obvious) reasons why it’s important to negotiate your salary
• What results you can expect
• Common pitfalls to avoid
• Understand your own priorities
• Understand your negotiating position
• Get the right data / benchmarks
• Set your negotiation target
• Prepare your storyline, prepare for pushback
• Actually negotiate your salary, i.e. speak to your future employer
• Negotiate some more
• Accept (or decline) your offer
• Need more help negotiating your salary?

For even more tips, tricks and helpful resources, you can also download the free Ultimate Guide to Negotiating Your Salary for a New Job.

10 (non-obvious) reasons why it’s important to negotiate salary

Before we jump into how to negotiate your salary, let’s have a quick look at why it’s important to negotiate your salary (beyond the mere fact that more money is typically better than less money).

Compounding effect 📈

Say we both get a job offer for 100k. You accept yours while I negotiate my salary up to 110k. Already, I have 10k more than you, which is nice. Suppose now we both stay with our companies for the next 20 years and get a 5% raise every year. That additional 10k will be an additional 26k in 20 years. Over the 20-year period, I’ll have out-earned you by 350k. We got the exact same raise every year, so this is solely due to the different starting point. Just imagine the difference if I negotiate my salary up a little bit better than you every year. Of course, the world is usually more complicated than this but you get the point.

Multiplier effect ❌

Some elements of your total compensation package are tied to your base salary – most commonly your pension and your bonus, but in some countries also things like additional holiday pay. If you’re a salesperson, your on-target-earnings (OTE) are often defined as 2x base salary; in other roles, your bonus is usually structured as X% of base salary; if you get stock options, the amount you get is usually tied to your salary as well. So, if you manage to negotiate your salary upwards, you automatically also increase other elements of compensation.

Salary = seniority 👵

The higher your salary, the more you will be perceived as senior. In a world of job title inflation, where someone with 2 years of work experience can be a “Head of”, people tend to look at your salary to determine how important your role really is. That’s highly relevant when you move jobs in the future – the higher your current salary, the more your next hiring manager will think you’re shouldering a lot of responsibility, the more senior your next role, the higher your next salary, etc.

Get non-salary benefits that are important to you 🌴

Even if you don’t want to or don’t manage to negotiate your salary upwards, you may be able to get other things out of your negotiation. A better job title, additional annual leave, higher bonus potential, an additional headcount for your team…the possibilities are endless.

Negotiating sends a positive signal 💪

I have never encountered a hiring manager who said “It was really inappropriate that they tried to negotiate their salary”. I have, however, encountered hiring managers who said “We don’t want anyone who expects less than X” or “They didn’t even negotiate their salary…”. Trust me on this one – standing up for yourself will make a good impression. It sends the signal that your talent is worth a lot and you know it; and it shows people that you can have difficult conversations in a poised and productive way.

Negotiating now sets the tone for the future 🎼

When you establish yourself as someone who knows their worth, you make it easier to negotiate promotions, raises, or other perks down the road. Employers are more likely to take your requests seriously if you’ve shown confidence and a sound approach from the start.

Banks care about your salary 🏦

Okay, this one is a bit niche but many of the people I help to negotiate their salary want to buy real estate, i.e. their first or next house. If you’re applying for a mortgage, banks care a lot about how much you make and – in a post-2008 world – you’re usually limited to borrowing 4-5x your annual salary.

Gender pay gap ⚖️

Historically, women have been less inclined to negotiate their salary than men and more inclined to think that the process would alienate people. This is one (of many) contributors to the persistent gender pay gap. So, if you’re a woman and you’re reading this article, make sure to negotiate at least as pro-actively as your male counterparts. Get all the support you need for your negotiation but don’t not negotiate.

It’s a big-ticket item 🦣

Some people “cancel” their Pay-TV or Wi-Fi subscription every year so their provider will call them with the latest offer and they can save a little money. I’m not ashamed to say that I do that, too. However, why put all that effort into saving you a few hundred a year if you don’t put proper effort into the big things that gain you (tens of) thousands a year?

Now is THE opportunity ⏰

Sure, you’ll have salary reviews and promotions and you’ll end up switching jobs at some point. But that’s all future talk. What if your company imposes a promotion freeze? What if the promotion simply never comes through? What if your new boss is making promises they can’t keep? Right now, you’re in a position of power and you can make something happen for yourself…why wouldn’t you?!

What results you can expect if you negotiate your salary right

The professionals I support with their salary negotiations typically achieve the following results:

1️⃣ 5-15% increase in base salary

2️⃣ 5-25% increase in total compensation (incl. bonus, signing bonus, equity, etc.)

3️⃣ 1-3 elements of additional benefits / outcomes (e.g. flexibility to work from home, better job title, commuting cost support, additional annual leave)

4️⃣ A positive experience – they go from thinking it’ll be a daunting and awkward conversation to having a poised, confident and productive discussion

If – after reading this article – you feel like you’d like to get extra support with your negotiation to achieve the above, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Common pitfalls to avoid, aka how NOT to negotiate your salary

Before we go into a step-by-step guide on how to negotiate your salary, let’s look at some of the biggest mistakes people usually make.

They don’t negotiate ❌

If you ignore everything else you read in this article, don’t ignore this. The single biggest step to a successful salary negotiation is to recognise that you’re in one and to engage in it. Don’t let any supposed awkwardness get in your way. First of all, it won’t be awkward if you prepare right. And second of all, even if you do go through 5 minutes of awkwardness, if you come out the other side with an additional 5k, that’s a decent reward for your troubles

They don’t negotiate enough 🛑

Once they have managed to get something, people start to feel really awkward about continuing to negotiate their salary. Sure, sometimes you can simply tell that you’ve reached the end of the road. And sure, you don’t want to go back and forth five times (there is such a thing as too much). But if they’ve moved into your direction, you know they really want you and they have committed to you. They know they’re close to locking you down and don’t want things to fall apart at the finish line after having invested all this time and money into finding you. So – if they told you 110k is the absolute maximum they can do, it may not be the right time to say “I want 130k”. But it could be the perfect time to say “I hear you, I’m genuinely excited about this role and I do want to make things work. To bridge the gap, could we consider increasing my bonus potential?”

They neglect non-salary elements 🌴

For all of the reasons discussed above, I do think that you should always negotiate your salary first. But that isn’t to say that there’s nothing else worth negotiating. Some obvious ones are (signing) bonus, flexible working, annual leave allowance, support with your commute,… The list is endless (though we do make an attempt of compiling it on p.16-18 of the Ultimate Guide to Negotiating Your Salary for a New Job).

They don’t come prepared with data 💾

It’s great to know your priorities and to stand up for what you think you’re worth. But you also need to help the other side come around to your way of thinking. You want to be able to root what you’re worth in some actual data, not just in your image of yourself. As you’ll see in the section on Benchmarking, there are many ways to get this data and you don’t have to be too scientific about it. But if you can’t point to anything, you’re making it too easy for them to push back.

They talk about what they need 🙏

The worst possible thing you could when you negotiate your salary is “I need an additional 5k because I can’t pay for my mortgage otherwise”. Nobody cares about your mortgage. I can’t buy a Ferrari and then ask for a raise because “I need it to pay for car insurance”. You shouldn’t be paid what you need – some of us need very little. You should be paid what you’re worth (or maybe a little more than that).

They don’t prepare for pushback 👊

Most of the time, your hiring manager would be very happy to pay you more, but they can’t (meaning: it’s difficult / it requires effort on their part). HR has given them a certain budget; the salary bands are rigid and you’re right at the top; you shouldn’t be paid more than person X on the team. All of this could come up and all of these are legitimate reactions in a salary negotiation. You’ll want to think through your response to each of them ahead of time and you’ll want to avoid cracking under the first signs of pressure. More on this later.

You see that none of these pitfalls are about so-called negotiating strategies: about staring your counterparty in the eyes as you lay out your demands; about using silence as a weapon; about treating your negotiation like a hostage situation; or any of the other BS that comes up when you google “how to negotiate salary”.

90% of success in your salary negotiation comes from (a) negotiating in the first place, (b) knowing your priorities and (c) preparing the data, storyline and objection handling you’ll need. Whether you send your well-researched benchmarks in an email or lay them out while shaking your hiring managers’ hand with just the right level of firmness really doesn’t matter.

How to negotiate your salary

Understand your own priorities

There are many things that could be important to you at work and in life and therefore many things that you may want to get out of your offer. I do believe that salary should always be your first priority – remember, there are many reasons to want to negotiate a higher salary.

That being said, your salary can also be the most difficult element of compensation to negotiate. Some companies have rigid salary bands and they can’t / don’t want to redefine them just for you. Some companies have extremely defined budgets for each role which they can’t exceed. Some hiring managers may worry about paying you more than an existing team member in a similar role because they want to prevent any perceived unfairness.

So yes, you should negotiate your salary first and foremost. But it’s also worth thinking through what else is important to you and what you might push for when you’ve reached the end of the salary road.

Some obvious things you could negotiate include your annual bonus (or commission if you work in Sales); a signing bonus; your stock option package; your job title; or your annual leave allowance. That said, there are tons of other things you could negotiate for – for a full list, check out p.16-18 of the Ultimate Guide to Negotiating Your Salary for a New Job.

Understand your negotiating position

I do think you should negotiate your salary no matter the position you’re in – they’re telling you you’re their #1 choice, so what do you have to lose? Them taking away your offer because you negotiate will simply not happen. Worst case, they’ll tell you it’s a take-it-or-leave-it kind of thing (and even that is unlikely). But they will never take away your offer simply because you negotiated.

That said, you do want to understand how strong your position is and therefore, how aggressive you can be / how high you can aim. To this end, score yourself along the dimensions shown below – your approach can be guided by your total score as outlined here:

🙂 0-10: Low score but you are their #1 candidate so you should still negotiate. That said, there’s limited leverage so results will likely be modest.

😃 11-20: You’re in a good position and again, you are their preferred candidate for the role. Set yourself a sensible target and you’re likely to achieve it.

🤑 21-30: You’re in a very good negotiating position and can afford to be ambitious in what you aim for. There’s a lot to be gained.

🤯 31-40: You hold all the cards and can very likely negotiate your salary upward significantly – don’t let this opportunity slip by.

Get the right data / benchmarks

Why benchmarking is important to how you negotiate your salary

I can’t stress enough how important it is to get the right data / benchmarks. Consider the following 2 ways to negotiate your salary – which one sounds more convincing?

1️⃣ Thanks a lot for the offer. I would be very excited by the role, though I was wondering if there’s scope to increase the base salary by 10% to 110k.

2️⃣ Thanks a lot for the offer. I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching similar roles and roles occupied by professionals with a similar background to mine (e.g. this one, this one and this one). While I very much appreciate that the pension and other benefits you offer are excellent, I do think that, given (a) the crucial role I would be fulfilling with your company, (b) the package I am currently on and (c) the market benchmarks above, it would make sense to increase the base salary of the role by 10% to 110k.

Here are the likely answers to the above:

1️⃣ Thanks so much for getting back to us. Unfortunately, our salary budget for the role is pretty rigid. That said, we would love to direct your attention to the above-market pension and other benefits that our offer entails. We believe you could have a fantastic journey at the company and do hope that you’ll consider accepting our offer. We’d be very happy to jump on a call to discuss anytime.

💡 Nothing gained, nothing lost. Still good to have tried but definitely not the outcome you would have wanted.

2️⃣ Thanks so much for getting back to us and for sharing your detailed thoughts. We have a relatively rigid salary budget for this role but we do see where you’re coming from and are committed to making this work as we see you taking on an important role with our company. We had a discussion with Finance and unlocked an extra 5k of salary for the role. Additionally, we would be open to increasing your stock option allotment. Please let us know your thoughts and let’s jump on a call.

💡 Budget is still rigid and you didn’t get everything you wanted. But you got them to engage in a productive discussion and they’ve clearly made a step in your direction.

Benchmark externally

When you start looking for relevant benchmarks, the first step is usually to find similar roles in other companies and understand how much they pay. The simplest version of this would be googling “chief of stall salaries glassdoor” (or whatever your job title will be).

Consider this when you’re looking for benchmarks to use when you negotiate your salary:

1️⃣ Prioritise specific jobs over generic benchmarks

If you just get some aggregated data (“Website X says the median salary for this role is 130k”), it can often be easily refuted by a savvy People person (they’ll say something like “It’s important to understand that these publicly available benchmarks are often not particularly accurate and unverified. We pay for real-time benchmarking software and are pretty confident it’s a competitive offer”). On the other hand, if you can point to specific better-paid jobs that are similar in scope and that you could do, that’s pretty difficult to argue with.

2️⃣ Don’t just look for the one perfect benchmark but try to find multiple ones that fit well

They should be relevant for the job you’re offered but they don’t need to be perfect. The point is not to find an exact match and then say “this is what I should be paid”. The point is to find as much relevant data as you can and then be selective about what you actually use to present to your future employer when you negotiate your salary (i.e. the data points with the highest salaries).

3️⃣ Finding benchmarks from competitors is the holy grail

Every company, hiring manager and People person has some level of self-doubt and fear about not being able to attract the right talent. If you can point to a similar role with a competitor that pays more that what you’re being offered, you stoke that fear. They won’t just think about losing out on you, but also about losing out on future candidates and their existing employees. Therefore, data points from competitors that support your arguments for a higher compensation package are your holy grail.

4️⃣ Go for expensive locations

If you’re based in London, don’t look for benchmarks from Liverpool. However, if you’re based in Liverpool, do look for benchmarks in London. If you’re based in New York, don’t look for benchmarks from South Bend, Indiana. If you’re based in South Bend, Indiana, do look for benchmarks from New York. You get the point. Many companies don’t have a set policy on whether they set unified salaries per country or whether they differentiate city-by-city. When you negotiate your salary, your job is to find the data points that are most amenable to you. Let them worry about making the argument why you should be paid less for the same job just because you’re in a place with a lower cost of living.

For a list of high-quality data sources for external benchmarking, jump to p.23/24 of The Ultimate Guide to Negotiating Your Salary for a New Job. Or, if you want some additional help finding relevant benchmarks for your negotiation, feel free to get in touch.

Other benchmarks

External benchmarking is an incredibly useful process to understand how your offer stacks up in the market and to prepare data-rooted arguments for your negotiation.

That said, there are other data points that are extremely relevant to how you negotiate your salary…

Salary range from job description

If the job description had a salary range and your offer isn’t at the top end of that range, that’s a great hook for your negotiation. They made you the offer so they think you’re the ideal candidate. Why, then, should your offer be in the middle of the range? Sure, there may be actual reasons why it should be (“we also considered candidates with even more experience”) but it’s a great line of argumentation, nonetheless.

After all, you won out against those candidates with more experience. You ticked all the boxes. Impressed all the bosses. The budget for more salary is clearly there. Make sure they spend it on you when you negotiate your salary.

Company’s salary bands

Not every company has a defined set of salary bands. And even the ones that do often don’t have very sophisticated ones. When it comes to very large corporates, though, they do have them and they usually have multiple people in charge of keeping them up to date. They define something like 15 seniority levels, multiple tracks (Manager, Individual Contributor, Support) and many different functions (Product Management, Backend Engineering, Frontend Engineering, Sales, Operations, Business Development,…).

Then they use all of this to create an incredibly complex grid where every level on every track in every function has a salary range. Some companies make these ranges really tight to ensure fairness and equity, others keep them wide to give themselves more flexibility.

Now, the first step for you is to figure out whether your company has well-defined salary bands. If they do, ask to see the bandings for your job / function. It’s a legitimate question to ask – after all, you want to understand (a) how senior your role is and (b) what your growth potential is. If you do get to see the bandings, check where you sit within them – this can give you great ammunition to negotiate a higher salary within your band; or to be considered for a higher seniority level and go up a band.

If you can, it’s always better to argue for a higher seniority band rather than a higher positioning within a lower band when you negotiate your salary. If a company’s Head of band is 80-110k and their Director band is 100-130k (yes, salary bands can overlap between levels), you’d be better off making 100k as a Director than making 100k as a Head of, simply because you’ll have a lot more room to grow within your level.

Your own salary history

The final data point that will help you negotiate your salary is one you already have – your own current pay. It’s relevant because very few companies would expect you to take a salary cut. The exception is if you go from a large corporate or professional services firm (Consulting, Law, Banking,…) to a start-up, in which case you’ll for sure be paid less (though the good ones will try to compensate you with equity).

So, if you do get an offer that’s below what you’re currently paid, then – even if the benchmarks and salary bands suggest it’s competitive – you have a great basis to negotiate your salary upwards.

You can also get a bit creative about how you frame your current salary. Say you have a salary of 100k and got a performance bonus of 15% last year. And now say your new company offers you a role with a salary of 110k but no bonus. Would you tell them “Great, that’s 10% more than my previous salary” or would you say “Compensation is a bit of a challenge as I’m currently on 115k”?

Set your negotiation target

Right, by this point, you should have a lot of data. Now is the time to distil all of this info and set a target for your salary negotiation.

When setting this target, consider the following…

• Be ambitious: don’t aim for the average of your data points but for the high point – when you negotiate your salary, you want to be reasonably bullish and go into the discussions with an ambitious starting point. Usually when I coach people, I find that they underestimate what they could target if they properly negotiate their salary by about 10%. So as a rule of thumb, think about what would be an ambitious target based on all your benchmarks. Then add 10% and you have your starting point.

• Take your negotiating position into account: you’ve scored your situation against all those smart dimensions above. Now’s the time to use those scores. If your position looks really favourable, go more aggressive. If your position looks less favourable, negotiate your salary anyway but be aware that you have slightly less leverage.

• Negotiate your salary even if (nah, especially if) the offer is very competitive: say you’ve done all your benchmarking and the offer comes out 10% higher than you thought was competitive and 20% higher than what you currently make. Lucky you! It would be pretty comfortable to congratulate yourself and accept the offer. But consider this – if they made you a really competitive offer, it probably means that (a) they really want you and (b) they generally pay very well / money is not an object. Therefore, you may actually be able to get a lot out of your negotiation. Sometimes it can be easier to negotiate your salary up further from a high starting point than to get a company that low-balled you to improve their offer.

Prepare your storyline, prepare for pushback

The exact approach to preparing how you negotiate your salary will depend on your exact situation, i.e. factors such as…

🎯 Your priorities, e.g. do you care most about salary or total comp? Do you want to work full-time or part-time?

💪 Your negotiating position, e.g. how good of a fit are you for this role? Who will you be reporting to? Do you have another offer?

📊 The benchmarks you found, e.g. is your offer hyper-competitive or are you being low-balled? How does it stack up against your current salary? Does the company have salary bands?

🏭 Your industry / type of job, e.g. are you transitioning from a generally high-paying professional services firm to a generally low-paying start-up? What business function will you work in?

🗣️ Your interviewing process, e.g. did you apply to this job or did they find you through a recruiter? Who have you mainly been communicating with?

That said, here are some guidelines you should always follow….

Explain your rationale

The very basic principle here is that, when you negotiate your salary, explain why. Don’t just say you want 10k more. Explain that you’re currently paid more than what they’re offering you and don’t want to take a step back; that you’ve seen similar roles on the market that come with a higher salary; that you have a higher offer elsewhere and that you want to ensure you take the role that gives you the most responsibility and impact potential; etc.

Prepare a clear structure of arguments / a storyline

As you explain your rationale, make sure you have a clear structure of arguments ready. The exact storyline will of course depend on your situation but, as an illustrative example, consider the simplified one in the email below:

Note the following:

• The message has a positive tone but doesn’t imply that you’ll definitely accept – you’re not excited to work together but excited about the possibility of working together.

• There is a clear storyline with multiple strands of argumentation, i.e. (a) their own salary bands, (b) your current compensation package, (c) market benchmarks (with actual links)

• It’s an email – it can help to summarise your thoughts and arguments in an email as (a) you can draft it to perfection; (b) it’s easy to include benchmarks / links; (c) they have something to refer back to which is easily shareable internally; (d) they can come prepared to your next conversation

Prepare for pushback to your arguments

When you have your storyline, think about how they may respond when you negotiate your salary. Then think about your reaction to these responses. Here’s some typical pushback that companies often come back with:

I’m afraid our salary band is capped at X and as a company, we’re very committed to fairness and equity so can’t go above that for any individual candidate

I completely see where you’re coming from but we don’t have more than X in the budget

We do feel that the offer as a whole is really competitive – for instance, our pension / 401k contributions are market-leading and we have extremely generous parental leave policies

We don’t have any scope for a salary increase but we’d be willing to increase your discretionary bonus potential from 20% to 30%

While we can’t offer you a higher salary right now, you’d be on the fast-track to promotion and will be able to progress through the ranks very quickly

Again, the exact reaction you may get will depend on your specific situation, as will the best way to respond to that reaction. What’s always the same is that you’ll want to be prepared for them – this way, you don’t risk accepting the offer as a knee-jerk reaction to a bit of pushback. Keep in mind, hearing any of the statements above doesn’t mean the negotiation is over.

Actually negotiate your salary, i.e. speak to your future employer

You’ve done all the prep. Now it’s time to actually communicate with your future employer. This is where the fear of facing an awkward situation or of alienating people often comes in. I would go so far as to say that some people feel fear or even shame about this step.

So, let’s look at some pointers that will help you ensure that (a) you get the best possible outcome and (b) you do so without awkwardness and without alienating your future boss and employer.

Your exact approach will be determined by your specific situation; by how far away the offer is from what you want to get out of it; by what kind of relationships you’ve built during the interview process; by how big the company is; by who the main stakeholders / decision makers are; etc. That said, here are some universally applicable guidelines.

If you want some 1:1 support to translate this advice into an action plan, draft your communication and / or practice the conversation, get in touch.

If there was a recruiter involved, go through them first

At the beginning of the process, your recruiter has a lot of irons in the fire. You’re one of many candidates for one of many roles and it’s simply not possible for them to spend a ton of time with each and every candidate in each and every process they’re in charge of.

Now that you have the offer, on the other hand, you deserve their full attention. After all, it’s basically in your hands whether or not they get paid (assuming they work on a success fee). So, at this point, most recruiters will be very happy to partner with you and make sure that the offer is attractive enough for you to accept.

Asking your recruiter to test the waters for you has the added benefit that you can get some information / have someone advocate on your behalf without actually starting the negotiation yourself.

Keep in mind, though – it’s still your salary negotiation and you want to remain in control of it. While your recruiter will usually be happy to help, you don’t want to let them negotiate your salary for you. In the end, it’s your future employer who pays their bills and who will (or will not) give them more work in the future.

Lay out your thinking in an email ahead of time

I always recommend sending an email with your storyline / arguments when you start to negotiate your salary. This is because…

You can’t get flustered in an email 😳

You can take your time drafting it, making sure it hits exactly the right tone and you can properly structure your thoughts. If you skip this step and try to lay out your storyline on a call, you may get nervous, panic, beat around the bush, give them an overly positive or negative impression, leave them confused, etc. In your email, you can be clear, concise, friendly, data-driven, comprehensive – all without stress. You can use the sample storyline above as a starting point or get in touch if you need a template / want me to draft your communication.

It’s easier to include data 📊

Rather than telling them about benchmarks you’ve found or ending up screen-sharing, you can simply send them a link.

They have something to refer back to 📜

If you have a lot of thoughts, suggestions and data points, it can become difficult for them to relay them internally if you just throw it all out there on a call. You don’t want them to go to HR and say “Well in short, they want 10k more”. You want to make sure they can fully understand your situation and help other stakeholders understand it as well. Crucially, if you send a well-written and thought-through email, they can forward it on to HR or their superiors, which will help to get them, too, around to your way of thinking.

They can come prepared 🧐

If you tell them your thoughts ahead of time, they can already think them over and discuss them internally. You give them a chance to prepare, which, in the context of this type of negotiation, is a good thing. Plus, it saves time in case you have another offer.

Focus your communication on 1 person (most likely your hiring manager)

When you negotiate your salary, focus your comms on the person you’ve been in touch with most during the whole process. Most likely, this will be your hiring manager. You explain yourself to them and make them your champion who navigates the necessary stakeholders and tries to get the best deal for you. They have an extremely vested interest because getting the best candidate for the role will make their life that much easier.

How to negotiate your salary some more

Right, you’ve spoken to your future employer, laid out your (data-based) thinking and explained why your salary should be higher than their initial offer. Let’s say they then improved the offer a bit but not as much as you had advocated for. And they’ve made it very clear that this is it. They can’t go any higher.

It would be a mistake to see this as the end of your negotiation – instead, see this as the 2nd round. Sure, the door may be closed on a higher starting salary, and it may not make sense to negotiate any further there. But there are other things you should absolutely still negotiate for…

Future salary

There are 2 main ways I would recommend to play this…

• Automatic increase: I personally love this – you accept the final starting salary they have offered but suggest that it automatically (and contractually!) increases by X as soon as you’ve passed your probation period. You can frame it as “by then you’ll know a lot more about how much I can deliver and you can convince yourself that I’m worth it”. If you perform reasonably well, there’s no way you won’t pass your probation just because they don’t want to have to pay you 5k more. So you may get your desired salary after all, you just need to wait for a few months and prove yourself.

• Next pay review: you can also set an expectation about how your salary will develop over the next year. You accept the salary they offer but create a common expectation with them by how much your salary will go up during the next pay review cycle, if you perform as expected. As opposed to the former option, this wouldn’t be binding (i.e. they won’t put it in your contract) but it’d still be awkward for your manager to not give you the raise you discussed if you perform well. So, it’s a bit more risky but on the other hand, easier to agree to for them.

If you do negotiate a higher “future salary” that doesn’t go into your contract, make sure you have an email trail – not just because your future boss may decide to have a selective memory but also because they might leave the company, they might get a new boss themselves who doesn’t want to honour the commitment, etc.

Bonuses or equity

If you’re joining a start-up that offers stock options or a company that offers RSU awards, try to eek some more out here. Alternatively, it could also be the right time to negotiate a signing bonus or to back yourself and ask for your commission / performance pay percentage to be increased. You convey a message of “I know I ask for competitive compensation but I do want to deliver results for it” – pretty hard to argue with that…

Benefits & non-cash stuff

Finally, think back to all the other things you could negotiate that aren’t salary / money but that could still be incredibly valuable to you (see here). From working a 9-day fortnight to upgrading your job title to working from home more to getting a relocation or home office equipment allowance, the possibilities are endless.

They key point is – if you got some but not all of what you wanted, switch gears. Don’t get stuck on something that’s not going to happen but show them other ways to make you happy.

Accept (or decline) your offer

When all of the above is said and done, it’s time to make a decision.

In the end, it’s important to stand up for yourself but it’s also important to recognise when you’ve reached the end of the road. While the road is usually (much) longer than you think, it does have to end somewhere and it’s up to your judgement to determine when you’ve reached that point.

Once you’re there, all there is to do is to put pen to paper, celebrate your new job and enjoy a nice dinner, paid for by your successful salary negotiation.

Need more help to negotiate your salary?