The moment I realized I could negotiate a job offer was the moment that I felt like I gained a superpower.
Up until that moment I had just accepted any job offer given to me at face value. After I graduated from college, I only went through one interview process with one company. When they made me an offer, I took it without question, relieved to be done with it. I could go to my parents and show them that I had a job and I would be secure. I was an adult now! With a real job! They didn’t need to worry about me.
My second job offer came after moving to New York City. In 2009. During the recession. I had been looking for a job for 6 months. I took the first job offer I got without question. It was barely a raise over my previous job. I didn’t care – I was relieved to be done with it. I could go to my parents again, show them that I had a job, that I would be secure, and see? Quitting my job and moving to New York with my boyfriend so he could chase his dream of becoming an architect in the middle of a recession hadn’t been a mistake.
Negotiating my salary never even crossed my mind. I felt like these companies were doing me a huge favor by hiring me. Even if it had crossed my mind to negotiate, I think the people-pleasing side of me would have taken over and stopped me from trying for fear that it would offend the person who made the offer. Maybe they would rescind my offer! Or, it might poison the start of my relationship with the company – leaving a bad taste in their mouth before I had even started the job.
When I finally realized I could (and should) negotiate my salary offer, I unlocked a superpower. One of the first times I tried it, I managed to negotiate my starting salary up 10% from the offer. I thought – that was easy! Why haven’t I ever done that before?
Naturally, I had to share this new superpower with all of my friends. They tried it too, and it worked for them. They even started calling the extra salary that they negotiated “Kelly Money.” Whenever someone in my group of friends was looking for a new job, we always reminded them to get that Kelly Money.
In case you’re not convinced, here’s why it’s important to negotiate a job offer.
Reason #1: Your future self will thank you. Imagine that you accept a salary of $50,000 a year. What if you had negotiated to $55,000? You would have made $5,000 extra a year. If you had invested this extra $5,000 in the stock market every year, it would have grown an average of 7% every year, and 20 years later you would have $200,000 from an investment of $100,000. That’s compound interest for you.
Reason #2: It’s way easier to negotiate during the offer stage than it is when you’re already working for the company. This may seem counterintuitive – during the offer stage they barely know you! You might think that once you’ve started working, you can prove yourself and your worth, and you’re more likely to get a raise at that point. The problem is that it doesn’t always work out this way. At the offer stage, you have more bargaining power – they’ve now invested time and money into recruiting you and want you enough that they made you an offer. If you walk away, they need to keep investing more time and money to recruit others. They would rather you accept the offer than have to do that.
Reason #3: Negotiating isn’t seen as bad by recruiters – in fact, it’s expected. I learned this from being on the other side as the hiring manager. The company has a budget range for the role, and they’ll try to get you to join for the least amount possible. But because of this range, they typically have some wiggle room. Also, as long as you negotiate in a polite way, it can actually help you to gain respect – it shows that you know your own value, and you’re not afraid to advocate for yourself and ask for what you want.
I know that in today’s economy it might feel difficult to negotiate at the final stage once you’ve worked your @$$ off to look for jobs, been through multiple rounds of interviews, and finally received an offer. But you owe it to yourself. Don’t throw all that hard work away by leaving money on the table. The worst that can happen is that they say no, and then you can decide what you want to do with that.
Now, go get that Kelly Money!
Are you currently in the throes of a job search? I’m building a community for job seekers to help you with everything from finding roles outside of LinkedIn, to honing interview skills, to negotiating your offers. The community will include 1-to-1 coaching, virtual community meetings with other job seekers, and additional resources. If this sounds interesting to you, join my waitlist here: https://tally.so/r/wkX50r. I’ll contact you when the community is launching!