Job Offer Question: Is the salary usually negotiable?

[Izzo]

For those of you in HR, when you make an offer to a prospective employee, how much room is there for negotiations? Is it unheard of to negotiate?

I have an interview tomorrow, and the company is moving pretty fast because they have a contract coming up that they need to hire somebody. I have a pretty good job now (pay could be higher) and would probably have to relocate about 2 hours away if I take the new job. If I'm not thrilled about the initial offer, would they laugh if I made a *reasonable* counteroffer. Obviously I'm not going to ask for 10k or 20k more. But I'm just trying to get an idea if this is standard practice or not.

edit: I'm pretty sure they're going to make an offer, this will be my third interview in about a week's time. Also, should I have a counter offer ready for tomorrow, or should I take their initial offer, think about it for a day and then propose a counter offer with something like "I've evaluated the cost of moving, blah, blah, blah, and give me more money."

 

[MaxDSP]

there's always room for negotiation, in fact it's expected

 

[WhiteKnight]

Negotiation is almost always part of hiring.

 

[Jejunum]

this is a good question, but im sure the answer will be every situation is different.

maybe you can make the question a little more specific. (actually i will)
If a large company offers you a salary is there any wiggle room?

I suspect no for the large company, yes for the small ones. When I say large im talking >50k employees.

 

[Izzo]

Negotiation is almost always part of hiring.

That's pretty much what I expected. But I really didn't have much of a choice my first two jobs.

 

[vtecluder]

Originally posted by: Izzo
For those of you in HR, when you make an offer to a prospective employee, how much room is there for negotiations? Is it unheard of to negotiate?

I have an interview tomorrow, and the company is moving pretty fast because they have a contract coming up that they need to hire somebody. I have a pretty good job now (pay could be higher) and would probably have to relocate about 2 hours away if I take the new job. If I'm not thrilled about the initial offer, would they laugh if I made a *reasonable* counteroffer. Obviously I'm not going to ask for 10k or 20k more. But I'm just trying to get an idea if this is standard practice or not.

edit: I'm pretty sure they're going to make an offer, this will be my third interview in about a week's time. Also, should I have a counter offer ready for tomorrow, or should I take their initial offer, think about it for a day and then propose a counter offer with something like "I've evaluated the cost of moving, blah, blah, blah, and give me more money."

Company's HR department almost never comes up with a single figure. They usually estimate a range based on the job nature/ candidate qualification/ etc etc. When u r offered a position u r most of the time offered the lowest figure in the range and then its on you how to negotiate and get to the maximum figure.

Edit: Last year when I went for an interview, the guy told me that the range for the job was from 49k to 65k which was mostly depended on the highest degree. They opened the position for MS as well as PhD. He told me that I will be offere 49k as I was just MS but then based on my experiences I could negotiate (and how much I can prove my worth).

 

[Izzo]

Originally posted by: Jejunum
this is a good question, but im sure the answer will be every situation is different.

maybe you can make the question a little more specific. (actually i will)
If a large company offers you a salary is there any wiggle room?

I suspect no for the large company, yes for the small ones. When I say large im talking >50k employees.

Hmm, I was thinking it might be the other way around. Maybe a bigger corporation would have more money to throw around than the little guys.

In my case, it's a company with over 14,000 people in over 100 offices around the world.

 

[Yax]

actually, they offer you what they think you'll work for. You can try to negotiate, but probably will fail. Just take it or leave it.

 

[GoingUp]

I just accepted my offer.

I heard one kid who got an offer from my work tried to negotiate for higher and they told him forget it, offer is now off the table.

I really wanted to work @ my company so I just took the offer. It was also the highest offer that I got anywhere anyways and it exceeded my expectations.

 

[timswim78]

There is nothing wrong with negotiating. However, be reasonable. If you are asking for 20% more than they are offering, it is likely that they will tell you to take a hike.

 

[myusername]

Just be sure to couch the request properly - i.e. "<I really think this job is for me> but I was wondering if there was any room to move on the initial salary"
(I'm not in HR, so use that as a guideline, not a line to write on your hand )

Negotiation is just that - negotiation. Remember who is in the driver's seat and be very polite and undemanding.

Not "I will take this job if you can give me $xxx .. " <- sure fire way to lose the inital offer.

Also, it sounds like you will be relocating - feel free to ask if there is any relocation allowance.

Oh, yeah. Not to make you lose too much sleep, but also just be prepared to make the first offer, just in case they say, "Well you look like the candidate for the job ... so, how much do you think you should be making at this position". It's probably less likely at a company of that size, but boy scouts motto and all that.

 

[joecool]

there is always room, the amount of room depends on how bad they want you and how many other people they could hire for the job. 5 years ago when tech was booming i named my price; these days most folks are just glad to get an offer.

 

[fs5]

I took my current company's initial offer. However they said I would be getting reviews every 90 days for the first year. I'm going to negotiate at that time. (mostly for better options vs more pay)

 

[Izzo]

Originally posted by: fs5
I took my current company's initial offer. However they said I would be getting reviews every 90 days for the first year. I'm going to negotiate at that time. (mostly for better options vs more pay)

I tried to do the same thing. I was hoping that after one year at my current company that I would get a raise to offset my lower initial pay. Unfortunately that didn't happen so I want to make sure I don't end up in that situation again. Good luck with your reviews.