I just got a job offer for $17,000 less than I asked for, what should I do now?

17 points by imns 14 years ago | 32 comments

Here's the breakdown. I asked for 70K a year and they offered me 53K per year and only 4 days of vacation for 2011. It seems like I have a chance to do some negotiating, but I have no idea how to go about it? I've never been in this type of situation before. According to indeed the average salary for my position is 76 K per year. Can any of you guys / girls with more career experience lend some advice? Also, full disclosure, I also posted this on reddit to get as diverse of a response as I can.

Edit: As it pertains to experience, I have more than enough experience. The position requires 3 years of experience, I have 7. I am actually exactly what they are looking for. In the interview, they joked that I changed my resume to match the job description (I didn't).

noonespecial 14 years ago |

This is a negotiation. That was their opener. Its not personal, its probably automatic to lowball all new hires hoping to get lucky. This is when you counter. Something like $65k and 2 weeks vacation. Since they seem to think vacation is important you might then say something like "I could do 60, maybe but I'd need at least 4 weeks..."

You can't get what you don't ask for.

By the by, if they happen to say something like "4 weeks vacation isn't standard company policy", look them right in the eye and say "I'm not an ordinary hire". This has never failed me.

justina1 14 years ago | |

Four Days vacation in 2011 is actually not totally unreasonable (it would eight days for a full year, as opposed to more standard 10, or two weeks). But I agree with everything said above, it's a negotiation: negotiate.

noonespecial 14 years ago | | |

I usually find that when employers haggle over vacation days, its a huge warning sign that its not going to be a place I want to work. I usually press them for extra or make up a "previous engagement" that I'll need time off for during the bargaining just to see how they react.

Then again, I always did find all of the ceremony around "earning" vacation days through attendance, banking sick days, and rolling over vacation like its cellphone minutes to be completely insane.

andrewstuart 14 years ago |

Just say no thanks and get something else. There is no deal to be done here that will work for both party long term.

jjm 14 years ago | |

Here here. This offer sucks.

andrewstuart 14 years ago |

It is actually an insult to you that they have taken you through an interview process in which you said up front that you want $70K and they at the end of it all are offering that much less. Sounds like they are pretty clueless. Not a good sign.

chrisbennet 14 years ago |

Hi Jill,

I'm sorry, I misunderstood the level of the position. Totally my fault, I should have asked more questions. Thank you for your time and please keep me mind if you have a more senoir level position in the future. Have a good summer!

-imns

johngalt 14 years ago |

Refer to the job posting "oh? I thought the job posting said you were looking for someone at my level?"

There are secretaries/assistants that make 50k a year. They are screwing with you.

trevelyan 14 years ago |

Counter with 80k and tell them you expected standard vacation time when you offered 70k.

brk 14 years ago |

76K is most likely for someone with more experience (just guessing you lack overall experience based on the question, don't take it the wrong way).

To keep this brief, I would counter with something like "I've looked at other positions and really feel that I am worth at least 60K. If you can agree to that, along with a performance review and potential merit increase in 6 (or 8 or 12) months based on my performance relative to other members of the team I think we can have a mutually beneficial agreement"

You can massage the words a bit, but you get the point.

However, you need to figure out what YOU are worth, not what the job typically pays, and also determine if the potential employer has a realistic set of expectations or if they were just looking for a cheap hire.

If you're fresh out of school this is probably a decent (but not great) offer. Keep in mind too that the initial experience may be more valuable than the salary...

imns 14 years ago | |

Thanks for the response. I've actually got more than they required experience and my skill set is just what they are looking for. I feel I am worth at least 70K per year, but this is a tough job market and this is essentially the only position currently available in my town.

lsb 14 years ago | | |

Do you actually want to stay in your town? It sounds like that's hurting your job prospects, with only one job offer there.

jjm 14 years ago | | |

What town?

bartmcpherson 14 years ago |

Why did you low ball yourself from the start? If 76 is the average in your area, you should have asked for 79. State that the average is 76 (site your source) and ask for 70 again.

jjm 14 years ago |

Dude, with 7 years exp you should be able to get more than 70k... for development. 53k is real low.

That said, 4 days vacation for the remaining 2011 sucks too. It should be prorated and industry standard (which is low) is something like 2 weeks vacation (so pro-rate that).

You really want this job? Counter offer with more vacation.

RDDavies 14 years ago |

Four days of vacation? Four? I'd walk. They don't value the morale of their employees very well, regardless of compensation.

ApolloRising 14 years ago |

If you are not desperate for the Job simply say, I am sorry but that is not in the range that works for me. If you want me my desired salary is firm at 70k. No is a powerful word so use it if you are ok with the possibility of not getting the job.

The reality is you should have asked for at least 80 so you had room to negotiate.

revorad 14 years ago |

You asked for less than what you think is the average salary for the position. You think they think that you exactly fit the job description, with more than double the required experience. And then they offer you 25% less money?

This is where you say No and then go silent. Until they offer you what you want.

ja27 14 years ago |

How big is the company? I've worked for a number of smaller (less than 300 person) companies and there are always wide deviations in salary. It seems like a third of the people have "special" deals in one way or another.

It won't hurt at this point to be bold. I would be surprised if you could get them up to $70K from $53K so there isn't much to lose.

If they're replacing someone, flat out ask them what the previous person made and why he left. Point out that he might have stayed if they'd paid better. Or ask what other people in similar positions within the company are making. Insist that you should be at the top end of the range.

kplusd 14 years ago |

The fact that you put up this question might show that once you agree to the offer you will always ask yourself whether you could have earned more at another place. So only agree to the offer if this will not bother you for the rest of your time being there. Plus -as already mentioned here by others- what is your upside potential? Are you going to learn something new? If the chances are low that you might learn something new and you can't get your head around earning less than average, I believe you already know the answer.

opendomain 14 years ago |

I have seen this quite a lot recently. I believe the premise is that you may be emotionally exhausted after the interviews and may be willing to take less. Here is the real question for you: is this offer close to something that you are earning now or some other reason their offer was so low? If not, my suggestion would be to say no. Even IF you were to negotiate, in my experience a company that begins a relationship with you like this will only continue to view you as a commodity rather than a person.

geuis 14 years ago |

Counter with a higher amount, say +$10k, and at least a full week of vacation time. Also to consider, what are the health benefits that are being offered? These are typically standard across companies regardless of salary.

If they don't at least match what you asked for initially after countering, then just move on. Unless you in an extremely desperate situation, just move on.

dmlevi 14 years ago |

Do not budge. Stick with your asking price. You already made the mistake of not aiming high and negotiating down to 70k so now that you have no room to budge you need to enforce the asking price. Then when they come up to 60 maybe then you can consider going down but I wouldnt until they get to 60k.

ayers 14 years ago |

I am very interested in the outcome of this. Could you please make sure to post what you do and the results of those actions.

imns 14 years ago | |

Thanks, I will definitely update the post with what happens.

imns 14 years ago | | |

I asked them to split the difference, and they came back with 55K, a 2K increase over the original offer.

I was thankfully able to get my current employer to give me a raise that has brought me up to what I think my skill set is worth, so I'll be sticking with my current job for now.

drcoopster 14 years ago |

Fresh out of school? Are you qualified?

jjm 14 years ago | |

He said 7 yrs. Thats bit more than qualified.

nopassrecover 14 years ago | | |

How does one go 7 years without negotiation experience? In any case, my experience suggests that you won't be happy working there, even if they pay you your 70k - it's clear they are after a junior (3 year exp) and value the role commensurate with that. Unless you are getting desperate / it's urgent (in which case you've already lost the negotiation game) I'd recommend looking for a position more in-line with your experience if you want a salary matching your experience - a world-class chef shouldn't expect world-class dollars if he works at a fast-food outlet.

NonEUCitizen 14 years ago |

Get a competing offer?