How to Negotiate Your Job Offer

• 15 pieces of advice
  • the equation:
    • they need to like you
    • they have to believe that you deserve it
      • don’t ever request something without explaining why you deserve it / why it’s legitimate
    • they need to be able to justify, and act on it internally
    • figure out the points of flexibility your negotiator has: you need to be flexible on which currency they budge on
    • they need to believe they actually can get you (or else they won’t put in the effort to make a special arrangement for you)
  • don’t negotiate just to negotiate
  • learn as much as you can (about what they want and what they can give)
  • negotiate on multiple fronts simultaneously (not serially, it’s annoying and unproductive), telling them what’s most important
  • remember that what’s not negotiable today might be negotiable tomorrow
    • if they’re hiring $n into a role today, they might not yet be able to see what differentiates you
    • Their constraints may change, so set yourself up to renegotiate soon and explore the conditions under which the renegotiation is suitable
  • Stay at the table – keep at it
  • Be prepared for really hard questions
    • e.g., they ask if you have other offers on the table and you are forced to say ‘no’
    • Mike Tyson story, reporter asks Tyson “What do you do, knowing that opponents have been studying you extremely well so they can defeat you?”, he responds “everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face, and then the plan unravels”
    • If possible, you can target the ‘why’ of their question rather than the direct question
  • Avoid ultimatums.
    • Just ignore them. If you confront about one, then the negotiator will hold to it to avoid losing face, which reduces options that might actually be there but in hiding.
  • A single negotiator is not the company. If you have a bad negotiation, consider how to leverage the value that other people in the company see in you.
  • Don’t rush the process of getting job offers
  • Tell the truth
  • Shoot for an 11 out of 10
    • Imagine after every step of your negotiation that your point of contact has to write down how much they want to work with you, on a scale of 1-10. You want them to like you as well or better after each interaction.
  • A few bucks is trivial, but your career tends to be path-like, so make sure the earliest steps most match your desired path
  • A successful negotiation ends with either “yes, we can give you that” or “we can’t give you that, and here’s why” on every point. “No” means that someone made a mistake.
  • Some unusual currencies you can consider bargaining for
    • anything but salary: location you work from, choosing your project, 401k matching, vacation time
    • a promise to reopen negotiations on some point in a fixed period of time