Salary negotiation

Salary Negotiation

The single most expensive sentence in a job search is naming a number first without research behind it - it caps the entire negotiation before it starts, and the gap compounds through every future raise. This skill builds the three numbers, the leverage, and the exact scripts before any compensation conversation happens.

This is general career education, not legal or financial advice. Employment law, disclosure rules, and negotiation norms vary by location and contract.

Operating procedure

Order matters: research produces the numbers, the numbers produce the scripts, and none of it should be deployed until an offer exists - negotiating before they want you is negotiating from zero leverage.

Step 1: Gather inputs

Collect before scripting anything (label unverified figures as guesses):

• Role, level, location, and company size/stage.
• Current compensation, fully loaded: base, bonus, equity, benefits.
• Stage of process: pre-screen, interviewing, offer in hand, or competing offers.
• The user's alternatives: other active processes, and whether staying put is tolerable.
• Any number already spoken aloud by either side - a named number is an anchor that cannot be unsaid; strategy must work around it.

Step 2: Research the market and set three numbers

Pull ranges from multiple sources for the role, level, and location; find the company's pay bands if discoverable. Always compare total compensation - base, bonus, equity, signing bonus, benefits - not base alone. Then fix three numbers in writing:

• Walk-away minimum: below this, decline regardless of pitch.
• Target: ambitious but justified by the research - typically the 60th-75th percentile of the researched range for someone with the user's evidence.
• Reach anchor: above target, defensible with a straight face - the number actually spoken first if speaking first becomes unavoidable.

Step 3: Audit the BATNA

The Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement is the real source of power, not clever phrasing. Strengthen it before the conversation: run multiple processes in parallel when possible, and price the value of staying (a known team and pending vesting count). A strong BATNA lets the user negotiate calmly and decline bad offers; a weak one means calibrating the ask, not bluffing - recruiters detect bluffs.

Step 4: Control who names the first number

• Default rule: never name a number first when avoidable. Deflect: "I'd like to understand the full role and scope before discussing compensation - what range has been budgeted for this position?" Asking their range back converts a trap into information.
• If pressed twice or an application form requires it: give the reach anchor or a range whose bottom IS the target ("I'm targeting total compensation in the range of X to Y"), because companies negotiate toward the bottom of any stated range.
• Never negotiate before the offer. After the offer, the company has spent weeks choosing this person; that sunk investment is the user's leverage.

Step 5: Counter with a number and a reason

A normal counter is 10-20% above the offered base or total comp; under 10% wastes the ask, over 20% needs strong evidence (a competing offer, rare skills) or it reads as unserious. Tie the justification to market data and the value delivered - never to personal need (rent, loans), which invites sympathy instead of money. Counter once, firmly, then let silence work: state the number and stop talking.

Step 6: When base is capped, negotiate the package

If told "that's our max on base," trade across, in rough order of dollar value: signing bonus, equity grant, guaranteed first-year bonus, early compensation review at 6 months with criteria in writing, title, remote flexibility, start date, professional development budget, vacation. A signing bonus is the easiest yes - it is a one-time cost from a different budget.

Step 7: Close in writing

Confirm every agreed term in email before resigning anything or declining other offers. Verbal promises are not binding, and hiring managers change roles.

Worked artifact: the counter, bad vs. good

Offer received: $145,000 base, 10% bonus, standard equity. Researched range for the level and city: $140,000-$175,000 base.

Bad: "Thank you so much! I was hoping for a bit more - is there any flexibility at all? Anything would help, my rent just went up." Why it fails: no number (invites a token $2,000 bump), apologetic framing, justification by personal need, "anything" pre-accepts the minimum.

Good: "Thank you - I'm genuinely excited about the team and ready to move forward. On compensation: based on the market for this level in [city] and the scope we discussed, I was targeting $165,000 base. If we can get there, I'm ready to sign this week." Why it works: warm but specific; a single number 13.8% above the offer, inside the researched band; justified by market and scope, not need; attaches a concrete incentive (fast close); then silence.

Handling "that's our max": "I understand base may be fixed. Could we look at a signing bonus, a larger equity grant, or a compensation review at six months with agreed criteria? Any of those would get this done."

Deliverable

Produce a negotiation prep sheet containing: the target/minimum/reach-anchor table with sources, a one-paragraph BATNA assessment, a deflection script for the screen stage, a counter script with the exact number and justification, the ranked non-base trade list, and the closing email template confirming terms in writing.

Do NOT

• Do not name a number before research sets all three reference points.
• Do not counter without a specific number - "is there flexibility?" gets the minimum flexibility.
• Do not justify the ask with personal financial need; only market data and delivered value move offers.
• Do not invent a competing offer; a caught bluff can end the process entirely.
• Do not accept or decline on the phone; take 24-48 hours, then respond deliberately.
• Do not negotiate line-by-line after a counter is met - reopening won terms burns the relationship the user is about to depend on.

Quality bar

• All three numbers (minimum, target, reach anchor) are written and source-backed before any script is used.
• Every script compares total compensation, not base alone.
• The counter lands in the 10-20% band or documents the evidence justifying more.
• The BATNA statement is honest - no leverage claimed that does not exist.
• Final terms are confirmed in writing before anything is resigned or declined.

Escalation

For executive packages, equity-heavy offers with complex vesting or 409A/tax implications, non-competes, or cross-border contracts, recommend an employment attorney or compensation specialist before signing. For crafting the application materials that create the offer, use job-application; for declining the losing offers well, use offer-rejection-writer.