
I just got a job offer for $17,000 less than I asked for, what should I do now? - imns
Here's the breakdown. I asked for 70K a year and they offered me 53K per year and only 4 days of vacation for 2011. It seems like I have a chance to do some negotiating, but I have no idea how to go about it? I've never been in this type of situation before. According to indeed the average salary for my position is 76 K per year. Can any of you guys / girls with more career experience lend some advice? Also, full disclosure, I also posted this on reddit to get as diverse of a response as I can.<p>Edit:  As it pertains to experience, I have more than enough experience.  The position requires 3 years of experience, I have 7.  I am actually exactly what they are looking for. In the interview, they joked that I changed my resume to match the job description (I didn't).
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noonespecial
This is a negotiation. That was their opener. Its not personal, its probably
automatic to lowball all new hires hoping to get lucky. This is when you
counter. Something like $65k and 2 weeks vacation. Since they seem to think
vacation is important you might then say something like "I could do 60, maybe
but I'd need at least 4 weeks..."

You can't get what you don't ask for.

By the by, if they happen to say something like "4 weeks vacation isn't
standard company policy", look them right in the eye and say "I'm not an
ordinary hire". This has never failed me.

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justina1
Four Days vacation in 2011 is actually not totally unreasonable (it would
eight days for a full year, as opposed to more standard 10, or two weeks). But
I agree with everything said above, it's a negotiation: negotiate.

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noonespecial
I usually find that when employers haggle over vacation days, its a huge
warning sign that its not going to be a place I want to work. I usually press
them for extra or make up a "previous engagement" that I'll need time off for
during the bargaining just to see how they react.

Then again, I always did find all of the ceremony around "earning" vacation
days through attendance, banking sick days, and rolling over vacation like its
cellphone minutes to be completely insane.

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andrewstuart
Just say no thanks and get something else. There is no deal to be done here
that will work for both party long term.

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jjm
Here here. This offer sucks.

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andrewstuart
It is actually an insult to you that they have taken you through an interview
process in which you said up front that you want $70K and they at the end of
it all are offering that much less. Sounds like they are pretty clueless. Not
a good sign.

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chrisbennet
Hi Jill,

I'm sorry, I misunderstood the level of the position. Totally my fault, I
should have asked more questions. Thank you for your time and please keep me
mind if you have a more senoir level position in the future. Have a good
summer!

-imns

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johngalt
Refer to the job posting "oh? I thought the job posting said you were looking
for someone at my level?"

There are secretaries/assistants that make 50k a year. They are screwing with
you.

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trevelyan
Counter with 80k and tell them you expected standard vacation time when you
offered 70k.

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brk
76K is most likely for someone with more experience (just guessing you lack
overall experience based on the question, don't take it the wrong way).

To keep this brief, I would counter with something like "I've looked at other
positions and really feel that I am worth at least 60K. If you can agree to
that, along with a performance review and potential merit increase in 6 (or 8
or 12) months based on my performance relative to other members of the team I
think we can have a mutually beneficial agreement"

You can massage the words a bit, but you get the point.

However, you need to figure out what YOU are worth, not what the job typically
pays, and also determine if the potential employer has a realistic set of
expectations or if they were just looking for a cheap hire.

If you're fresh out of school this is probably a decent (but not great) offer.
Keep in mind too that the initial experience may be more valuable than the
salary...

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imns
Thanks for the response. I've actually got more than they required experience
and my skill set is just what they are looking for. I feel I am worth at least
70K per year, but this is a tough job market and this is essentially the only
position currently available in my town.

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lsb
Do you actually _want_ to stay in your town? It sounds like that's hurting
your job prospects, with only one job offer there.

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bartmcpherson
Why did you low ball yourself from the start? If 76 is the average in your
area, you should have asked for 79. State that the average is 76 (site your
source) and ask for 70 again.

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jjm
Dude, with 7 years exp you should be able to get more than 70k... for
development. 53k is real low.

That said, 4 days vacation for the remaining 2011 sucks too. It should be
prorated and industry standard (which is low) is something like 2 weeks
vacation (so pro-rate that).

You really want this job? Counter offer with more vacation.

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RDDavies
Four days of vacation? Four? I'd walk. They don't value the morale of their
employees very well, regardless of compensation.

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ApolloRising
If you are not desperate for the Job simply say, I am sorry but that is not in
the range that works for me. If you want me my desired salary is firm at 70k.
No is a powerful word so use it if you are ok with the possibility of not
getting the job.

The reality is you should have asked for at least 80 so you had room to
negotiate.

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revorad
You asked for less than what you think is the average salary for the position.
You think they think that you exactly fit the job description, with more than
double the required experience. And then they offer you 25% less money?

This is where you say No and then go silent. Until they offer you what you
want.

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ja27
How big is the company? I've worked for a number of smaller (less than 300
person) companies and there are always wide deviations in salary. It seems
like a third of the people have "special" deals in one way or another.

It won't hurt at this point to be bold. I would be surprised if you could get
them up to $70K from $53K so there isn't much to lose.

If they're replacing someone, flat out ask them what the previous person made
and why he left. Point out that he might have stayed if they'd paid better. Or
ask what other people in similar positions within the company are making.
Insist that you should be at the top end of the range.

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kplusd
The fact that you put up this question might show that once you agree to the
offer you will always ask yourself whether you could have earned more at
another place. So only agree to the offer if this will not bother you for the
rest of your time being there. Plus -as already mentioned here by others- what
is your upside potential? Are you going to learn something new? If the chances
are low that you might learn something new and you can't get your head around
earning less than average, I believe you already know the answer.

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opendomain
I have seen this quite a lot recently. I believe the premise is that you may
be emotionally exhausted after the interviews and may be willing to take less.
Here is the real question for you: is this offer close to something that you
are earning now or some other reason their offer was so low? If not, my
suggestion would be to say no. Even IF you were to negotiate, in my experience
a company that begins a relationship with you like this will only continue to
view you as a commodity rather than a person.

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geuis
Counter with a higher amount, say +$10k, and at least a full week of vacation
time. Also to consider, what are the health benefits that are being offered?
These are typically standard across companies regardless of salary.

If they don't at least match what you asked for initially after countering,
then just move on. Unless you in an extremely desperate situation, just move
on.

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dmlevi
Do not budge. Stick with your asking price. You already made the mistake of
not aiming high and negotiating down to 70k so now that you have no room to
budge you need to enforce the asking price. Then when they come up to 60 maybe
then you can consider going down but I wouldnt until they get to 60k.

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ayers
I am very interested in the outcome of this. Could you please make sure to
post what you do and the results of those actions.

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imns
Thanks, I will definitely update the post with what happens.

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imns
I asked them to split the difference, and they came back with 55K, a 2K
increase over the original offer.

I was thankfully able to get my current employer to give me a raise that has
brought me up to what I think my skill set is worth, so I'll be sticking with
my current job for now.

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pbhjpbhj
Didn't you try to counter their offer again. Like "my current employer has
offered me more to stay, if you could make the 70k then we could still be on?"

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joezydeco
If he can only get them to come up 2K, there's no way they're going to come up
15K more. _Bail and don't look back._

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drcoopster
Fresh out of school? Are you qualified?

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jjm
He said 7 yrs. Thats bit more than qualified.

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nopassrecover
How does one go 7 years without negotiation experience? In any case, my
experience suggests that you won't be happy working there, even if they pay
you your 70k - it's clear they are after a junior (3 year exp) and value the
role commensurate with that. Unless you are getting desperate / it's urgent
(in which case you've already lost the negotiation game) I'd recommend looking
for a position more in-line with your experience if you want a salary matching
your experience - a world-class chef shouldn't expect world-class dollars if
he works at a fast-food outlet.

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NonEUCitizen
Get a competing offer?

