Counter offerA few months ago I was offered a Controller's position at a small local bank. I have significant experience at this exact job with a previous local bank and so I am the perfect fit for the position and I know they agree. They were having a hard time finding someone that has bank accounting experience since there are not a lot of bank with operations in our area and obviously that is something they really want. I also have experience with a software program they are trying to get up and running. At the time I was making $79k and they offered me $75k. I realize that they are a small bank and bank's are not known for paying well. On the other hand I didn't want to take a pay cut and the commute would have been much longer for me. I received another offer from a mortgage company and took that job instead and rejected the bank offer. They called back and tried to counter but the mortgage offer was just so much more money. They even e-mailed me a month later to see if my new job was going ok as they had still not filled it. Well now my situation is that my new job is not going so well and I believe the bank has still not filled the position. How should I go about negotiating a counter offer with them from the $75k, if they are interested? I am not sure what would be reasonable to ask for. At the job I have now I am making close to $90k. I think this is fairly easy for you to do at this point. Call up the person with whom you had the most discussion with at this bank, explain--as succinctly and as noncommital as possible that the mortgage-banking job is not really what you want to be doing, and if they have not filled the position, you are still interested in it. Period. Do not go on about how the new job is not working out, don't bring up the salary issue right away, etc. First, see what they say. If they are still interested in you, but they do not bring up the money, then I think that would be the time to say something like, "What were you thinking of in terms of salary?" If they already know that you won't take $75k and they had once already tried to up their offer, I'd be surprised if they come back with that same number. If they do, you can simply say that you are not in a position to take that kind of cut in salary and you were expecting a salary in the range of $X to $Y. You have to decide what $X & $Y are, but I would think $X would be at least $80k--based on your previous position, and $Y would have to be at least $90k. Unfortunately, because you are not going directly from your previous postion to this one, I don't know if you can negotiate based on your current salary, being for a mortgage co. and not a bank. I'm sure our negotiation expert will have better feedback for you on that front. But, if it were me, and I didn't like what I was doing, I personally would take a slight pay cut to return to the field that I enjoyed better. Life is not all about money, as it seems you have discovered. We work to live, not live to work. If you've only been with the mortgage company a few months, I think it's reasonable to adjust your anticipated salary along the lines of what you were originally anticipating. I'd call the bank and ask if they're still looking for someone to fill the Controller's position and, if they are, I'd say I was interested in talking to them again. I would not mention anything about the mortgage company unilaterally. If you're asked why you're interested, you can say something like your present job isn't as professional satisfying as you'd hoped it would be, or you can say that the position you accepted just isn't a good fit, or something like that. Then I'd see what the bank had to say. They know you won't accept $75K and you don't want to take a cut from the $79K you were earning before so I'd expect an offer from them of more than $75K. From your standpoint, I'd be anticipating an offer in the $85K to $90K range, but if you really want out of your present position, I'd probably accept an offer in the $80K to $85K range were I in your position - maybe the mid-$80Ks. I don't think you can expect to negotiate on the basis of the $90K you're earning now - I just can't imagine the bank going that high. But if they want you, I don't think it's unreasonable for you to expect an offer in the mid $80K range. You're going to have to decide what your range is - maybe you'll want to say your anticipated salary range is negotiable within the $80K to $90K range, but you'll have to decide exactly what you're willing to accept under the circumstances. Hope this helps a little. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert | |
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