Don't Play Games: Negotiate The Right Way 👨‍💼👩‍💼

Negotiating job offers is the most stressful part of the job search.

Are you leaving money off the table? What’s the best advice? What you’re saying contradicts what this other person is saying? I saw this video online and it has a ton of views, does that mean it’s right?

I’ll tell you what: the advice you see online, trying to mimic Jordan Belfort “sell me this pen”, Boiler Room, or Grant Cardone won’t get you anywhere in salary negotiations.

There’s so much information out there, some good & some bad.

But let me tell you this: Negotiating is not a zero sum game.

Just like everything else in life, there can always be multiple ways to win, and the goal is that everyone comes out a winner.

Is my advice the absolute best in the world? No clue. But what I can tell you is that it’s propelled me to be a top 1% performer in the industry and place about 700 people in tech.

That being said, let’s dive in 👇:

1: Do Your Research

Researching your skillset, years of experience, and industry standards is a crucial step to figure out your fair market value.

Compensation for same skillset & years of experience can easily differ by 10s and even 100s of thousands.

For example, generally speaking a Software Engineer in Big Tech, Banking/Financial Services can expect a lot more than a Software Engineer in Healthcare, Retail, and smaller/mid-sized companies.

2: Set Proper Expectations

This is going to require honest & objective opinions of yourself.

Let’s pretend you’re a Sr. SWE coming out of Netflix. You’re probably making BANK. Chances are you can’t go and apply to Verizon asking for even a ballpark range of what you’re making now. If you’re applying outside of big tech, you need to set expectations accordingly.

Now, let’s say you work at Verizon as a Sr. SWE and you find yourself on the market. You see on “X” and LinkedIn that Netflix posted a salary range of $500k-$900k. You see that you have the same qualifications on paper outside of the big tech experience. No, that doesn’t mean you can go to AT&T, Comcast, or Charter Communications asking for $500-$900k.

Now as this SWE coming out of VZW, you can apply to these other telco companies for their fair market value/high end of their specific salary ranges, but you can also apply to Netflix as well at a higher total comp.

3: Negotiate Terms Up Front

The last thing you want to do is waste your own time - let alone the company’s - going through the entire process only to be let down with an offer that’s not even in your ball park range.

Figure this out, up front, on the first call.

Realize the salary range is there for a reason. While there may be a little wiggle room, more times than not the range is the range. If you’re not ok with it, don’t bother. Most companies separate from recruiting, specific HR functions that specifically figure out comp plans all day.

So if the salary you’re looking for is more than 10-20% than what you’re expecting, and they’re telling you there’s no room, don’t bother.

To make the math easy, let’s say the highest TC goes up to $100k. You may be able to get up to $110k. Moonshot chance to get that up to $120k.

4: Keep Communication Open Throughout the Process

Chances are you’re interviewing for more than one position. That’s definitely a good problem to have, especially in today’s market that favor’s the employer.

If you’re interviewing for other positions, make sure to let your recruiter know. This gives you more leverage.

If you like this position, but other positions are paying more, you can potentially use this to increase the expected salary you already discussed prior.

This will go one of 3 ways:

• You’re doing extremely well, there actually is some wiggle room, and they work on getting you more. Further, they expedite the interviewing process as they don’t want to lose you as a candidate

• The salary previously discussed was the absolute highest. They already gave you the most. But, at the same time, they like you as a candidate and still expedite your process

• They take it personal and don’t respond well. They ghost you, revoke your application, whatever. Chances are, this is a red-flag type of company or they didn’t have you high on their shortlist of candidates, and you end up saving yourself some time anyways.

5: Close Your Offer

When it comes to closing your offer, leverage is king. The more leverage you have, the better you will do.

Be open & transparent about your situation. The more offers you have in hand, and the more interview activity you have, the more you can leverage your situation.

But if you’re out of work, no interviewing activity or offers in the pipeline, unfortunately you don’t have any leverage.

At the same time, realize no one wants to be backed into a corner. This isn’t Boiler Room, this isn’t a Grant Cardone YouTube video. If you try these tactics, chances are you’ll lose.

Further, realize when the recruiter says “the final offer” or “there is no more wiggle room” at this stage, they’re not bluffing, and if you think this is a game of poker face with your buddies, you’re going to come out with a huge L.

What do I do if I have leverage?

It depends.

Let’s say you have a ton of other interviews & offers going on. You should have let them know prior to the offer, but for arguments sake, let’s say you’re just bringing it up now.

Be open and honest. Let them know you want to make this work, but you don’t want to undersell yourself as clearly the market is telling you you’re worth more.

You put the ball in their court. It’s up to them to match or move on.

But that’s the thing, you should really only push back if you truly are OK with moving on with the other opportunities, because again, that’s your leverage.

Further, if the other offers you have are well over their final offer, let’s say 10% or more, chances are they won’t be able to match it (generally speaking of course).

What if I don’t have leverage?

Let’s say you’ve been laid off. You’re out of work. Or maybe you’re currently working, but absolutely hate your company. Either way, let’s say your job search has been dragging out for some time.

I always advise to play it safe. Like we’ve emphasized earlier, if you made it this far, you should be content with your offer at the very least because you’ve negotiated terms up front, before starting the interview process.

You can potentially ask for 5-10% more money. Most of the time, they’ll either compromise or say no. There are some companies out there that will revoke an offer. If they revoke an offer, chances are you left a bad impression at some point and/or they’re a red-flag company.

Either way, when it comes to minimum leverage, I always play it safe here.