
Ask HN: What's your #1 single biggest career challenge right now? - JoshDoody
How can I help you? I&#x27;m researching writing topics to augment my work on how to excel in job interviews and salary negotiations. With your input, I can write more about topics that are helpful to you and the community.<p>Please be as detailed and specific as possible. Please go beyond saying, &quot;salary&quot; or &quot;need a promotion&quot;. The more specific and detailed you are, the more likely I&#x27;ll be able to write about your topic :) e.g. &quot;I&#x27;ve been interviewing for a new job but haven&#x27;t been getting to the second interview, and I would like to know how to...&quot;<p>There&#x27;s also a short survey up on Google Forms if you would like to share more - link in my comment below.
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JoshDoody
Here's a link to the still-short, but slightly-more-detailed survey on Google
Forms if you can spare 2 minutes: [http://bit.ly/Survey-FSN-
ASKHN](http://bit.ly/Survey-FSN-ASKHN)

And I'll be around here in the comments for the next few hours as well.

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tnorthcutt
How do you know how hard is "too hard" to negotiate? Should you be concerned
about killing the deal or souring the relationship (even if you get the job)
by pushing too hard?

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JoshDoody
There are two layers to this answer:

1) Before you even get a job offer, it's important to decide what your "walk
away" number is (I called this Minimum Acceptable Salary). Having this number
decided—and I recommend literally writing it down—before you get the offer
helps you answer this question directly: You should negotiate hard enough to
at least see if they will meet your walk away number. If they can't, you can
walk away knowing it wasn't a good fit for you.

2) Once you're beyond your "walk away" number—meaning you'll definitely take
the job and you're just trying to get the best compensation package possible
before you start—things are pretty straightforward. You basically start by
counter offering on base salary to see what they can do. Then look for
opportunities to negotiate other things that are important to you (paid
vacation time, signing bonus, RSUs, etc.).

When you negotiate salary, it should look more like a conversation about the
small details than a pound-your-fist-on-the-table-and-shout-at-each-other-
until-someone-relents type of negotiation.

"I'd be more comfortable at $X." "We can't do $X, but can we do $Y." "Ok,
thanks for working with me. I was hoping to get $X, and I understand you can't
meet me all the way. Can you do $Y plus an extra week of paid vacation?" ...

It's a collaborative back-and-forth and both of you should feel like you're
just discussing details, not fighting over salaries.

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tnorthcutt
_feel like you 're just discussing details, not fighting over salaries_

Ahhh, perfect, that clicks for me. Thanks!

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haungo
What's a good response to the question "what was your previous salary"? I
always feel like I'm leaving money on the table.

