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5 steps to successfully negotiate a job offer

Advocate for yourself & ensure you're being compensated fairly

Teresa de Figueiredo

First off, congrats on your offer! Next step, negotiation 💪 Follow these 5 steps to successfully negotiate & ensure you’re being fairly compensating for your role.

1. Receive the offer

Congrats! While you’re probably excited, do not accept the offer immediately (verbally OR in writing). You need time to reflect & gather data (step 2!) before you can confidently know the offer compensates you fairly. When you first hear the offer, let the recruiter / hiring manager know that you are super excited for this opportunity and that you need time to review the offer. Companies expect this - so don’t worry.

⭐ By taking time to review the offer, you come across organized, detail-oriented, & thoughtful - qualities your potential future employer should value.

2. Gather data

It’s important to gather information so that you can understand what the market value is for the role you’ve received an offer to. This data will be an input when you craft your negotiation (step 4).

Online data

If you don’t have another offer, here are some recommended websites to search to find comparable roles to the one you have an offer to, to see where it falls in the range.

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levels.fyi⁠

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Glassdoor.com⁠

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Payscale.com⁠

Get another offer

While this step isn’t required, having another offer in hand gives you more negotiating power. This offer doesn’t have come from a company you are excited about - its only purpose is to have another data point when you are negotiating.

3. Reflect on your own priorities

I view negotiating a job offer as many different levers you can pull to get the best compensation package for you. What matters to you may not matter to another candidate - so this step is crucial! Generally these are the following levers I think about:

Start date

Salary

Equity

Signing bonus

Relocation assistance

Vacation days

Job title

Remote work

Once you know your top priorities, you can start crafting your negotiation (step 4).

4. Craft your negotiation

Taking the data you’ve gathered and the priorities you’ve identified, you are ready to put together your counter offer. It’s important to ask for what you’re worth & what you want, using your data as evidence for why you deserve more.

🤑 Your starting compensation most likely determines your future compensation at the company, since usually salary increases are percentage based. You’re not only negotiating your salary now, but your future compensation too.

5. Negotiate

With your prepared talking points, you are ready. Let the recruiter know you’ve had time to reflect on the offer and have some questions.

Remember to be very appreciative of the offer & respectful - this could be your future coworker!

It’s a two way street, remind the company what you are bringing to the table (e.g., with my extensive product experience, I’m excited to contribute immediately) and also offer a carrot to help the recruiter (e.g., if the salary can increase, then I can sign today)

Note: If you’re nervous about negotiating, remember the recruiter / hiring manger expects you to! Another strategy I’ve used is to say “It’s important that I advocate for myself in the job process, and so I’m wondering if there is any flexibility with X.”

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I hope you find this helpful 🙂 If you want to chat 1-1 about your specific offer, please

Contact me!

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