Offer / Counter offer advice
Hello - I'm seeking a bit of advice about offers and counter-offers. I interviewed with three people, seemed to have established a rapportwith each person I met with, and finally I was offered the job with afair salary (well within the range for the location and the job),relocation benefit, annual merit bonuses and the standardhealth-dental-vision-401K package. Once presented with the offerI didn't immediately accept, but instead requested a bit of time toconsider it. The next day I contacted the company to ask morespecific questions about the package such as health insurance provider,total coverage for dental insurance, and matching information regardingthe 401K. All the while our conversation was very positive andpleasant. I went on to ask if there was a signing bonus; thisdidn't get a bad reaction it seemed to make the person want to find outif that was something included. At that point I said something tothe effect of: I really like the company and am looking forwardto working with Person A and Person B and would like to accept theiroffer but I think given my years of experience, the size of the staff Iwould manage, and my proven track record I wonder if we could modifythe salary to X amount? Again, this didn't generate a badreaction; the person indicated they would go back to the hiringmanager(s) to discuss whether there was a signing bonus for theposition and then would also discuss the salary with them. Thecounter-offer didn't seem to generate a bad response, but it has beenover a week since I countered their offer. Should I take theirdelay as displeasure with me as a candidate? Are they possiblytesting me, to see if I blink and contact them again to revise my counter-offer? Could it bethat I've insulted them/their offer? The salary range for my position is $55-109K. They offered me lowmiddle range, I request 10K more which is still right in themiddle. Should I sweat the amount of time they are taking toconsider my counter-offer? I'm concerned I may have blown myopportunity despite the fact they seem to really like me, they want tohelp me relocate, and I've heard it doesn't hurt to counter an offer. I'm sure I'm making more of this than I need to. The wait is making me doubt myself. Thanks for the advice! Given the holiday, you may need to wait a bit longer. I wouldn't blink yet. While the reaction of the person with whom you spoke was OK, the hiring manager may have blown a gasket... or may have liked your style and is working on a way to get you more money. Either way, hold tight and gauge the conversation when they get back to you. I don't think this is a matter of who blinks first at all, just an ordinary delay caused by the holiday, but let me offer a couple of observations for future reference. First, signing bonuses are offered, but they're never requested. A signing bonus is an added inducement employers offer to attract people they really want to hire, but it's not something job seekers should ever request. Second, I would have started by asking if their initial salary offer was negotiable and, if it was, I would have countered with a range, not a specific dollar amount. I would have said that with my proven track record, I was anticipating an offer in the $X to $Y range - in order to leave some additional room within that range for further negotiations. Third, it's never a good idea to try and negotiate more money just for the sake of negotiating. If I had been pleased with their first offer, I would have accepted it after getting my questions about insurance and so forth clarified. Nevertheless, I suspect that the holiday has simply slowed things down a little. If you haven't heard from them by the first of next week, I'd call the person with whom you've had the most contact and just politely ask about the status of your candidacy. My own experience has been that one day off puts me two days behind... Hope this helps. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert There's absolutely no way to know until you see how it plays out. They may be considering it, it may be all good or it may have crashed and burned. That is always the risk when you do this which is why it isn't a good idea to counter for the sake of countering. In this case, they were giving you a pretty good deal, it might not have been worth that much risk. So, given that it has been a week, I'd call your contact and ask what the status is.
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