Negotiating the Job Offer- Establishing Perspective and Agreement

Your employer typically provides you with an offer letter that includes a description of the responsibilities, the job title, salary, vacation policy and description of other benefits. First you want to do a careful review of this letter to understand the offer and to identify which parts you are in agreement with and which ones you want to negotiate. It is important to establish these prior to approaching your prospective employer with a counter offer.

Before negotiating your offer, you need to clearly identify what you NEED, what you WOULD LOVE, and what YOU CAN LIVE WITH. What is most important to YOU in the grand scheme of things?
• It can be helpful to walk through the process you use when buying a house.
• You want 3 bedrooms, an office, 2 bathrooms, and a yard for your dog. You would LOVE to have a great master suite with a private luxury bathroom attached, a large fenced in landscaped back yard, and an office big enough to hold small meetings. However, you know you can live with 2 bedrooms if you need to and convert 1 to an office, 1.5 bathrooms and a small yard. This is really your bottom line need you can’t really settle for less than this.

Establishing these basic measures is a vital step. If we have no point of view, then we are unable to strategically approach the negotiation process.

Know the employer’s interests, and then establish congruency so you are both on the same side of the table.
A successful negotiation is not an adversarial process this is about coming to a common ground together.

It’s even okay to accept the offer and THEN negotiate! At that time you are all on the same team and the process can feel less stressful.
During the interview process you researched the company and gathered quite a bit of information about the company’s current situation. In today’s marketplace most companies are cutting budgets and maintaining salaries. Individuals pay more out of pocket expense for their benefits than they have in the past. Considering these factors will allow you to strategically align yourself with their concerns.
I recently worked with a client who received an offer that was less salary than she anticipated, but she needed the job and the company was very family friendly which suited her, since she is a single mother.

She started the negotiating process by stating:
“I am very excited to accept your offer, and look forward to contributing to your team at a very high level. However, I have a few questions and I’m wondering if we can come to agreement on some things that are important to me.”


She knew the company had been on a hiring freeze for quite awhile, that they had experienced large budget cuts recently and that salary and bonus were really hot buttons for them as a result. So she decided to take a strategy of negotiating her benefits and flex time with them.

She really wanted the option to work from home on Fridays and flex from 7-4 Monday through Thursday. This allowed her more time with her children. She also requested 3 weeks of vacation instead of the two that were offered. The company was able to accommodate the flex time request and could not give her the extra vacation due to company policy, but they did arrange to give her 3 additional personal days.

Had she made the mistake of trying to negotiate salary and bonus, she probably would not have been as successful given the company’s financial situation.
Establishing this perspective and agreement is essential to approaching your negotiation strategically. Laying the groundwork in this manner allows you to examine your best interests as well as your prospective employer’s best interest. Once you have shifted your thought process in this way, you are on your way to a successful negotiation