is this professional
I am starting to receive offers from employers...I am wondering if it is professional to point blank say "I have an offer for (blank) amount from another company. If your company can top that salary I will accept?" or is it more advantageous to say "I will think it over" and see if the potential employer contacts me later with a higher offer? Is there any tricks to salary negotiation that have worked particularly well for any of you?
I am a paralegal. I have fairly good credentials and one year experience in my field. I am not sure how much leverage I have at this point in my career. Most of my friends and family are either self-employed or working class. This is quite foreign to me. Any advice would be great!
It isn' t a question of professional, it is a question of not a good tactic. Generally speaking, you need them more than they need you, so saying "I' ll deign to work for you if you' ll pay me more than Company A..." is nearly a guarantee that you' ll be off at Company A hoping they make good on their offer.
If you want more than they offer, you need to make a case for why your skills, abilities, education and experience are worth more to them. Not to someone else. And keep in mind, they can stand firm on their offer, meet your new request or move on and forget it. That' s always a risk.
I wouldn't quite phrase it that way.
If you have an acceptable offer from company A that you have decided to accept and company B makes an offer, there's nothing wrong with saying to company B "I appreciate your offer however I have received another employment offer which is very attractive and have decided to accept that offer."
If company B wants to change their offer, that's fine. The point is that THEY are making the move to change their offer... you are not pressing them. B just may say "good luck" and walk away but if A's offer is acceptable you have lost nothing.
I am totally agree. What you want is a practical in every sense. It is good for you to express that you are in demand and it is good for the employer to know what they are working with.
However just saying here' s the offer you have to beat is not the best way to phrase it. Nor is saying I' ll think about it. I would think less of an employee or an employer who phrases things in this manner. It shows lack of flexibility in negotiations and sensitivity and human relations. You need to make it clear what options are available and what the person needs to do to move on.
If you really do expect to get an offer from company a, you can tell the other prospective companies that. Like Chet said, the professional way is to inform them, not so much an ultimatum nor a polite reply with no clear information on how company b can still win you. Say look this is what I am working with and I just want to give you the heads up, but there is no need to change the way you do things for me. If company b is a better choice, be sure to tell them that. Be careful though, there is a risk of ending up with nothing by holding out for something better.
In addition to what' s already been written, I would merely add that telling B you already have an attractive offer from "another company," (A), will only work as a negotiating technique if you' re totally prepared to happily accept A' s offer in the event that B isn' t prepared to attempt to sweeten the pot to lure you away from A. In simply terms, suggesting, however tactfully, that you have another offer from A cannot be a bluff in an attempt to entice B into "outbidding" A for your services. If B declines to offer more, you have to able to smile, thank them for their interest in you, and tell A you' re on your way! What you do not want to do is give B the, "If you can top A' s offer, I' ll work for you," tactic - it usually backfires. Make sense?