How to ask for more money
I got a call from a friend today who has been involved in a protracted job search. He received an offer from his first-choice company today, but the salary was a little bit on the low side and he wanted to see if he could get them to raise it. He was concerned about how to ask for more money without losing the deal- even if they don’t come through with the increase, he’ll probably take the job and doesn’t want to turn this into a dealbreaker and have the offer rescinded.
My advice was to tell him that ultimately, a hiring manager wants to know that the new hire is happy to work there. So a good way to ask for an increase in the offer is to first express how excited you are about the opportunity. Then say that you were really looking to make closer to X and would like to know if that can be done, and then reiterate how pleased you are to have this opportunity to work with them.
Don’t be afraid to ask for a slight increase in the initial offer if you need it. As long as it’s not a huge percentage increase, and as long as you aren’t a jerk about it, it’s highly unlikely that the offer will be rescinded. (If it is, as I always say, ask yourself if it’s really worth working for a company which doesn’t respect your need to be compensated appropriately.) The company may or may not be able to offer you more money, but you’ll still have the opportunity to accept the original offer without damaging your relationship with your new employer before you even walk through the door.
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July 21st, 2006 at 9:38 am
What do you think about asking for vacation instead of salary if they can’t make the salary that you expected/wanted?
July 21st, 2006 at 7:30 pm
It’s a fine strategy, and some people have been able to get pretty satisfactory packages out of it that way. However, a couple of caveats to keep in mind:
- If the vacation is accrued, rather than granted, the company has to carry it as a liability on their books, so their accounting department may put the kaibosh on it
- In a very large company, the benefits package, including PTO, is a standard policy and no exceptions can be permitted, in order to avoid accusations of unfairness. So unless you’re at an exec level, the hiring manager probably can’t get it for you.
But it’s worth a shot, definitely.
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:56 am
I recently tried this tactic but because the department was upscaling from a one person show to a group of professionals the budgetary constraints put the kabosh on the salary increase. What I was able to negotiate was additional vacation time (up front - including two extra days coming this Labor Day), phone expenses, and rights to bonuses at year end, despite starting past mid-year. There are other fringe benefits including company toys that I get to play with at my disposal (for research purposes of course)
Tom may have to teach me about using the new Blackberry soon!
Thanks for the advice.