Salary Negotiation Tips and Tricks

Congratulations! you've got the job that you've been interviewing for. Now comes the tricky part of ensuring you get the best offer possible. Here are a few things to ensure you don't get low balled by the recruiter.

1. Do not disclose the salary range that you're looking for: Every recruiter would ask you what salary range are you seeking and they would ask you this question after every round. Remember, each time your answer should be- " I don't have a range in mind". The recruiter won't like this answer and would try to get a number out from you. Still, be firm and again repeat yourself (don't be harsh here) "I don't have a range yet". Instead, you counter question the recruiter and ask what's the current range offered in this role? In this manner, you can get an idea on the pay range offered in the role that you're interviewing for.

The reason why you not giving a range to the recruiter is important because if you clear all the rounds with flying colors and discover that you can actually earn more than what you initially quoted out of pressure, it would be extremely hard (nearly impossible) to backtrack and quote a revised number to the recruiter. We've seen many cases of people that got themselves in a bind after quoting a low number to the recruiter. 

Research steps that you can take prior to the interview process:

1. Know thyself:

• List down the current set of skills you possess that are relevant to the job you're being interviewed for. Evaluate the pay range for these roles.
• Using your personal budget as an anchor, identify the $$ amount you need in salary to effectively manage your finances.
• check for the current market warmth how much hike you are expecting at current position. Your expected offer should be competitive to current one.

2. Know the company:

• Few companies have good employee benefits and good stock options than just base salary and promotion ladders.
• Get acquainted with the salary structure of each org you are applying  or having an offer from . Go deeper in employee perks and bonus structure and promotion policies or stock refreshment %
• Check the prospects of the company . A stock is a gamble but it. can be calculated risk looking at company performance and future plans so dig deeper and ask hard questions to leadership. Do not take their word for it , research if something similar has succeeded in the past ? A 1$ to 100$ jump in 4 years is huge compared to 2000$ to 2050$ after 4 years for X ,000 $s. free food is also a significant contributor for a saving 300$s a month. 
• While specifying the compensation expectations at the first call, be explicit and specific for the happy amount. We all work for passion but passion should be compensated with fair value. So please do not hesitate in asking what you feel you deserve. Rather than saying "It would be great to have something in the range of $XX to $XX+Y" or "I am expecting $XX as minimum..." , try to be firm and confident as "My deal breaker would be $XX. In case of competitive options, $XX at this company would make me feel confident about the offer."

3.  Know the competition: 

• Sometimes it is easy to gauge how many interviewers are in the pipeline for the job position you are applying to. If there are less , then you can go bit higher than your estimation for the ask.

4. Ask for time to evaluate the offer:

• There are always expiration period set with offer. It helps in moving the hiring pipeline if some one does not reply in time. 
• If you need additional time to wait for counter offer, keep recruiter in loop about it , that you are expecting one. "I heard from company XX in a positive way and I am soon expecting their numbers by PQR day.". This might lead to keep offer duration short, but also can lead to have a good surprise in raise than you expected to keep your interest. 
• Once you have the offers form multiple companies, evaluate every aspect very closely. Fixed salary, RSUs vs Stock options , Health benefits, perks . There can be perks which you usually never use but might just feel fascinating. Always evaluate the effective amount you will get in hand every year vs the amount you will get after vesting of variable stock options in a long term. ( Priority might be different for different people in phase of life).

5. Pushing the offer:

• It is normal to ask for raise in offer amount once it is received but should be backed with solid wild cards.
• Wild Card 1 : Competitive offer from a company which is of same or better market value. "I am evaluating the offer from C company which puts me in the bracket of $XX+Z. After considering my good experience with the interview panel, I believe I can expect similar evaluation. I would be happy to match the numbers here(negotiating organization) and zero in my first choice."
• What if I am asked for the number proof? : This can be done in few cases. Do not feel questioned but do feel a way to put your justification with utmost transparency. It is not a good practice to forward an offer letter or email trail , but at the max you can send a screenshot highlighting the offer numbers but hiding contact emails to protect privacy and respecting NDA.
• Should I bluff ? : We strongly discourage this , in case you do not have counter offer for specific numbers, we suggest you to use Wild Card 2!  
• Wild Card 2 : The lower ball from the earlier stated deal breaker can be challenged by the justification of YOE and skillset along with the current expected hike numbers. Example "For Y years of experience in S Y Z skills , I believe the offered compensation is lower than market evaluation including my possible hike in current organization. I am in a process of other offers which can move closer to my expectations. I would be happy to reach near the target compensation if not beyond." Or "This seems like a cold start to me for future raises and bonus structure. I infer this is a bit lower than what I would expect for a position pointers I am getting from insider sources." 
• At worse you can pull numbers from levels.fyi or glassdoor to justify when lowball is way lower than average numbers. But please keep in mind that these numbers are best effort numbers and can be outliers. This is the bit less impactful than insider information. 
• Be open to compensate the added compensation in one time stock bonus or sign on bonus. Even if the total compensation does not fly the way you expected, the gap between your expectation and offered amount can be bridged to great extent by one time sign on bonus or any bonus / relocation allowance. 
• Always try to understand the refresher amount structure before tilting balance from base salary to stock portions. If refresher amount every year is based on base salary , then it is prudent to not take hit in base salary and just bloat the stock options. Even if stock options are not as per expectations, the growth factor can add value to stock price as well as strong base salary portion can promise good refresher and bonus. So let us not be rigid on specific split. Let us give hiring committee a chance to max out where they can easily.
• Finally will higher level but same salary might help ? This is very interesting point ! If no amount structure is changing but you are getting one band higher in level, that is also a beneficial in long term. The level bands decide compensation and bonus structure in most of the organizations. If you are offered at higher level than expected, it can be a win since during appraisals , there is possibility of upgrading the compensation of low compensated contributors at the specific band. This can be a hidden increment which is not that evident for first years of employment. This can be considered as win for career progression too.  

6. Declining the offer:

• It is good to be in position to be able to decline any offer. But please be respectful and communicative about the reason.  If it is financial , please state it honestly. "Although I was really hoping to be a part of XYZ, but unfortunately I have to respect my expectations in terms of  compensation. I would love to be in the loop to know more about the amazing work initiated with enthusiasts I had an opportunity to met during the interview." This can give right pointers for hiring committee. Feedback is gold!. 
• This creates good rapo with hiring committee and might be beneficial if the committee finds it hard to catch hold of better candidate than you, you might get called back with out bidding offer if you are in their hearts. This has happened even in the case of early rejection in reality. The counter offer was put up even after the first pass. So miracles do happen ! 

Bonus tip-  Apply for multiple opportunities whenever possible. Even if you are sure you want Org A , you can be benefited with a counter offer from Org B. Always gives you the upper hand while negotiating.

Lastly, if you think the lower salary being offered will make up for the experience that you will gain, then go for that job instead of worrying about the paycheck.