Whaddaya hear, whaddaya say? Welcome to episode 17 of the Career Consigliere podcast, your no frills, no BS forum for navigating the corporate job scene. Jimmy with you, as always, for what we hope to be a highly informative and engaging half an hour, or so! At this point in the series, we’ve covered how to write a resume, how to charter the waters of the interview process, and we took some detours here and there for comedic relief. Today, we get back into the nuts and bolts, the bread and butter, the peanut butter and jelly, with the much anticipated topic of accepting a job offer. Yes, this is one of a few episodes we’ll talk about when it comes to accepting a job offer, but today we’re going to focus specifically on salary negotiations. Bottom line folks, when you strip away the lights, the ornaments, and the fluff, we’re ultimately left with money, dinero, escarole as the main motivator for why we all spend our time working a job. It’s no doubt the most essential element of anyone’s job, so we’ll talk all about how to make sure the offer you receive is fair and financially sensible for you and your situation. Gonna be an important one today podcast land, so leeeettttsssss get it!
First, let’s not forget what we covered back in episode 8. That episode, if you haven’t heard it yet, focuses exclusively on the phone screen. And the main takeaway from that episode is that, in 99.9999 repeating decimal ad-nauseum percent of cases, the phone screen is the first step in the salary negotiation process. You and the talent acquisition person (who’s usually the one at the helm for the phone screen) discuss the kind of salary that you’re looking to earn at the job in question. I won’t rehash all of it here, so I highly recommend going back and checking out episode 8 if you haven’t yet. But to bring you up to speed, you should leave the phone screen with a pretty good idea of the salary range where you can expect an offer to land for this position. It won’t be exact, but just to use round numbers, you know it’s gonna get you, say, somewhere between 75 and 90 grand, so you can start planning your life around that kind of income. And that’s it: TA passes this information down the line, and you’ll usually never hear about salary again until, if, and when you receive an offer.
Here's how the process generally goes. After your final interview round, you’ll usually have a pretty good sense of how you did in the process. If you pay close attention to the facial expressions and conversational tone that the interviewers use, you’ll usually get a pretty good idea of whether or not they’re leaning in your direction: very few job offers come as a total surprise. They won’t all work out – I’ve definitely had some shockers back in the early days, and so have many people I know, but if you feel like things went extremely well, you’ll want to start planning for what to do if/when you receive that offer.
And when you do, it’s initially going to come over the phone. Yes, usually it’s the TA person (the one who’s been your ambassador this entire time), who picks up the phone with that familiar voice you’ve heard probably 7-8 times now, and they say something like “Hey, whoever: I have some great news: If you’re still interested in the (whatever) role with company x, they’d like to move forward with you.” At that point, the next thing out of their mouth is usually the cash compensation. Most corporate jobs have a base salary, so they’ll tell you all about that, in addition to any other commission or piece prices that are part of your financial package. They’ll also probably email you a benefits brochure along with a whole bunch of other peripheral stuff, but that’s for a later episode: right now we’re focused only on dem dolla bills. Corporations use the phone initially when trying to agree on a price with you. They’ll eventually switch over to writing once you’re on the same page and it’s time for an offer, but you should plan on all the money talk being done verbally.
Since you’ve already discussed salary ranges with this person, the offer they give you should be close to this range, though usually towards the lower end of it. And that’s why, folks, heed my wise words: NEVER accept the initial offer you get. Negotiation is part of the process, companies fully expect you to do it, and they’re trained on exactly how to handle it. I promise you, you’re leaving free money on the table if you don’t. There are some companies out there that try to hit you with “non-negotiable” salaries. People: if this happens, lace up the kicks and run as fast as you possibly can away from that place. I’ve seen this happen many times: it’s happened to me, and it’s happened to people I know. Knowing that negotiation is standard practice, would any company that values you as a candidate essentially tell you “take it or leave it”? Translation: you’re not all that important to us, we have no interest in doing the right thing by you, and we could find someone else in a second. Why would you want to dedicate 36% of your waking hours to a place like that? Salary negotiations during a job offer are the easiest and quickest raise you’ll ever get in the corporate world: in a matter of hours, or even minutes, you can increase your salary by double-figure percentages, so ALWAYS fight for every penny you can get. And now we’re gonna talk allllll about how to do it.
(texas girl story)
If you did your research properly during the phone screening, you should already be well aware of fair market price for this role, relative to your background and experience. Let’s continue with the example we used earlier: you’ve done the legwork, looked at all the data, and you know that a reasonable salary range for you is 75-90K, and the initial offer comes in at $73,500. Very common for a company to come in low like this: something like this isn’t low enough to be considered a TOTAL scumbag lowball move, it’s still pretty reasonable and extremely common, but you’ll definitely want to negotiate that up. And guys, any reputable company is smart: they have all the market data just like you do – they know they’re trying to pin you on the low end to save a few bucks. And it’s not all done out of malice: even though this company might gross $16 zillion a year, you’re paid from a very specific budget somewhere in a very niche place within that operation, and there are parameters you have to fit within. Receiving a slightly below market offer like this should scream out to you “they’re willing to negotiate”. You just have to be aware of this and recognize it when it happens.
So, with these kinds of numbers, you should try to get as close to that 90K as possible. They probably won’t give it to you, at least not right away, but make it known that that’s where you want to be. You can never go wrong using the following verbiage: “Thanks so much for this, I really appreciate it. However, I’m familiar with market rates for this kind of job for someone with my background and experience, so I was looking to be as close to $90K as possible”. At this point, they’ll usually say “Okay, let me discuss it with the department and I’ll get back to you shortly”. Usually within a few hours, or at least by sometime the next day, the TA person will call you back with an updated offer. It probably won’t be the 90 that you asked for, but it might be somewhere in the low-to-mid 80s. And if that STILL doesn’t do it for you, this is where you can start getting creative.
Beware: where our conversation can go all kinds of sideways. To stay true to the focus of this episode, we’re going to talk strictly about cash compensation here. There is a whole SLEW of other bargaining chips you can use in a salary negotiation, but none is more important than your cash compensation. Folks, heed this wisdom: if the price isn’t right, the job isn’t right. The cash comp is the closest thing you have to a guarantee from an employer. Nothing’s ever guaranteed, and most jobs in the corporate world can vanish into thin air at a moment’s notice. All the other non-salary perks you get with a job (benefits, vacation time, incentives, car packages, what have you) all of that can be taken away at any time: I’ve seen it happen. It’s your PAYCHECK that you can build your life around, and even further, if you’re smart with the money you make, the other benefits and perks become less and less meaningful. We’ll cover that at some point later, but for right now, just remember that that your cash compensation is the most important compensation aspect you have in any job. The sad part is recruiters and hiring managers will try to talk you out of this: if you hit a wall in your salary negotiation, they’ll try selling you on the intangibles (the things that are conditional and can disappear at any time). If they suspect you’re a family person, they might try selling you on flexible work schedules and PTO days. If you live far from the place, they might try selling you on a hybrid work environment. You get the picture. Don’t let them do it! Remain steadfast and get as close as you comfortably can to the salary that you’re worth. Here’s how.
Not all, but a good amount of jobs in corporatopia follow a very simple compensation structure: a base salary, and an annual bonus. This will vary depending on the kind of job you do: the classic example here is commission-based sales, where your base salary is usually much lower in favor of the income potential from commissions. But for now, we’ll keep it simple and stick with the straightforward “base and bonus” example, since that’s probably what’s up for a good portion of those listening. Going back to our example, the first offer was 73.5, and after you countered with 90, they met you right in the middle and came back with 82-5. Not bad, honestly. You’re really not going to do much better in this situation. But let’s say you’re also offered a 10% bonus. You can ask for a lower bonus in favor of a higher base. And there’s a very good chance they’ll be willing to do it, since it’s always easier for companies to cash-flow your pay rather than paying out lump sums come bonus time. It’s also in YOUR best interest: whenever possible, base beats bonus: take that to your grave people: BASE BEATS BONUS!.
Why? Think about it. You get paid every two weeks, in most cases, and your paycheck is figured from your base salary. If the base is higher, your paycheck every two weeks will be higher! And even if times get tough and the company has to make cuts, bonuses are almost ALWAYS the first to go. If it’s me, I’d rather have the money coming to me in smaller increments every two weeks, then wait around until March-April for a big fat check that I may or may not actually get. I was never big on having the carrot dangled in front of me, and you shouldn’t be either. Make the company commit to paying you as much as possible, quickly as possible, and the base salary is the best way to accomplish that. Run the numbers: as long as the math works out in your favor, ALWAYS take a higher base in favor of a bonus.
Now that you know that bonuses are ABSOLUTELY open for negotiation, you can be a bit of an artist. If you really want the job and the salary is a TAD low for your liking, then you can ask the company for a one-time sign-on bonus to make up for the difference. Assuming you get a raise the following year (good companies give you a raise every year by the way: we’ll come back to that), something like that can help you bridge the gap. Just remember that bonuses get the living CRAP taxed out of them: I always paid close to 40%. How much you pay will vary based on where you live, so be sure to run the numbers and prepare yourself accordingly.
According to a 2023 article from Robert Half, the typical sign-on bonus is between 5 and 20%. From what I’ve seen and heard, to play it safe, expect yours (if you manage to snag one) to be on the lower end of that range. And in that spirit, don’t use a sign-on bonus as an extortion tactic: that’s not ethical and will raise red flags on you. Unless it’s presented to you as a significant incentive, at least in an example like the one we’re talking about here, you’d use it just to bridge the gap for a base salary that’s slightly lower than what you were looking for. And look, it never hurts to ask: If there’s money to be had, you should pursue it. But if the job is otherwise good, and the salary is fair, and everything else checks out, don’t let a signing bonus be the dealbreaker. Not all companies give these out, so it’s not an entitlement by any means. And if they absolutely won’t do a sign-on bonus, ask if they can guarantee your bonus for the first year, even if you normally wouldn’t have received one, or if they pro-rate it.
By this point, especially for a 75-90K job like this, you’ve probably hit the ceiling on your bargaining power. Again, we’ll talk about non-financials in a later episode. But in this example, next comes the offer letter. Once you’ve gone back and forth verbally on the phone to get all the financials squared away, the TA person, or possibly somebody from HR, will send you a bunch of emails with lots of attachments, one of them being your offer letter. And it is CRITICAL that you read this thoroughly. You’ll want to make sure everything you talked about is referenced in the offer letter. The job title, the start date, your base salary, your bonus, and your annual raise potential. Things like bonuses and raises are dependent on company performance, and of course YOUR performance as an employee, but the potential should be clearly laid out in the offer letter. The offer letter holds weight legally if there were ever a dispute, so it’s VERY important that the offer letter contains spells everything out clear as day.
And here’s a great example of why the offer letter needs to be buttoned up. A long time ago I was offered a job: They offered me $78K initially, and then realizing how asinine that was, quickly bumped it up to a nice round 80 once I started asking questions. I was pushing for 85, and was well within my market bargaining power to do so, but they held firm at 80, but told me there would be a bonus involved. So figuring it would be the standard 10% that most places give you, I felt pretty good about it: I’d wind up getting MORE than my 85 once all was said and done, right? NOT right. They sent me the offer letter, and everything looked fine, except there was no mention of the bonus. So I got my HR contact back on the phone and asked point blank why the bonus wasn’t referenced in the offer letter. And that’s when she started getting real evasive and not really answering my question. BIG red flag: just from that, I can tell this is a company that tries to hustle people, and they can’t be trusted. She gave me some convoluted explanation about how the bonuses are paid quarterly but have to get approved by this guy, and then it depends on this thing, and some other thing, and blah blah blah and I stopped paying attention halfway through because I knew it was a load of crap. So what happened? I never signed the offer letter, and wished them the best of luck filling the role. She then proceeded to call me 4 more times over the next week, and I let it go straight to voicemail every time. See? Isn’t it great when you flip the script on these companies? This is where you want to be, people: you want to be seen as so valuable and indispensable that the company becomes your crazy ex-girlfriend when you turn them down!
So what do we take away from today’s less on salary negotiation, and how can you apply this? Let’s sum it all up with today’s......consigliere call to action. First, the most critical piece is knowing your market worth. You should have already done this research way back before the initial phone screening. Even if you have, if you’re closing in on an offer, it’s not a bad idea to really fine-tune your research and get into the details to make sure you’re armed and dangerous with accurate information. If you need a refresher on this, go back and check out Episode 8: it's all broken down there for you.
When they call you with the offer (and yes, it’s almost always done on the phone), NEVER accept the initial offer: ALWAYS try to negotiate it up. You’re dealing with experienced people on the other end of this: they do this all day, and they are fully expecting you to challenge them on the financials. As long as you’re reasonable about it they’re not going to get mad, they’re not going to recant the offer, don’t worry about that. You’d be AMAZED how many people become overwhelmed with irrational fears like this when they receive a job offer, and leave a bunch of money on the table. Don’t be the bonehead!
When you’re negotiating, make cash compensation your number one priority. Remember also: get the base salary up as high as you possibly can, even if it means taking a lower bonus, or no bonus at all. Your base salary, your regular, steady paychecks, are your best friend in any corporate job, and it’s the least likely component of your compensation package to be affected when companies start making cuts, so do everything you can to load it up as high as possible: always remember the battle cry, BASE BEATS BONUS! Definitely ASK about a signing bonus, but don’t expect one with every offer. Your best use case for a signing bonus is when the base salary falls a little short of what was on your wish list, and that’s honestly your best chance at getting one. If a signing bonus is a no-go, and your new position is bonus eligible, ask if they’d be willing to guarantee your bonus for the first year, or at least a percentage of it. It’s very common for companies to not give you a bonus in the first year, or to pro-rate it based on when during the year you joined. So if your offer falls a bit short financially, ask if they’d be willing to guarantee you some kind of year one bonus to make up for it. And when it comes to bonuses, be prepared to pay a CRAPLOAD of taxes, as much as half in some cases. Build that into your budget, for sure.
Once you’re happy with the financials, make sure your offer letter echoes the conversation you had with whoever made you the offer: it should clearly spell out the entire compensation structure: base, bonus potential, raise potential, any bonus conditions, all that stuff. Make sure it also contains your job title and start date: this is the closest thing you’ll have to an employment contract in most corporate jobs, making it one of the most important one-page documents you’ll ever see.
Sadly folks, that’s all the time we have for today. But have no fears, and shed no tears, because I’ll be back with a new episode every week. As they say in the industry: no listeners, no show, so do me a favor, and stay loyal! If you find value in my content, please leave me a nice review, tell all your friends, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow on whatever platform you use to get your podcasts. Beyond the confines of your headphones, speakers, TV screen, or any other crazy contraption with the ability to stream audio, I also provide one-on-one career assistance, so visit my website at career-consigliere.net to learn more about me, book me for one-on-one coaching, join my email list, or explore some of the other career services I offer. And to all of you out there in podcast land, remember this: Who’s the boss in your career? You, nobody else.
