How to Negotiate Salary

Be honest about this before you decide how hard to push. Overplaying a weak hand is expensive.

Leverage is not confidence. It is the answer to one question: how bad is their alternative to hiring you? Work through it honestly, because the strength of your position determines the shape of everything else.

The popular advice is "never go first." The popular advice is often wrong.

The classic argument for letting them go first is that they might name something higher than you would have. That happens. But it rests on an assumption that is frequently false: that they know more than you do about what the role pays.

The honest rule is about who has better information.

• You have solid market data and know the band → anchor first. A well-researched number sets the frame, and everything after it is measured against your figure rather than theirs.
• You genuinely do not know what this pays → let them go first. Anchoring blind is how people leave a lot on the table.
• The range is posted → the anchoring question is mostly settled. Negotiate position within the band and the rest of the package.

Deflecting the early "what are you looking for?"

This often arrives from a recruiter in the first call, before you know enough about the role to answer well. You can deflect once without friction. Deflecting twice starts to read as evasive.

I'd rather understand the scope properly before putting
a number on it — I don't want to guess high or low.

What range has been approved for this role?

Based on what I'm seeing for this scope in this market,
I'm targeting [single number].

If the level or the scope is different from what I'm
picturing, tell me and I'll recalibrate.

One counter, one number, one reason. Then be quiet.

When the offer arrives, the first thing to do is nothing. Thank them warmly, express real enthusiasm, and ask for time. Enthusiasm is not a concession — it is what makes them want to solve your problem.

Thank you — I'm genuinely pleased. This is the team I
want to join.

Can I take until [day] to go through the whole package
properly? I want to come back to you with anything I
have in one go rather than in pieces.

Then counter once, in a single message covering everything. Serial asks are the fastest way to exhaust goodwill — each one feels like moving the goalposts, even when it is not.

Thanks again — I've been through everything and I want
to accept.

There's one thing I'd like to close before I do. Based
on [the market reference / the scope we discussed /
the competing offer], I was targeting [number] on base.

If you can get to [number], I'm ready to sign today.

If base is genuinely capped, I'm open — a signing bonus
or an earlier review at six months would get us to the
same place.

Why this works

1. It commits. "I'm ready to sign today" tells them the negotiation ends here. Hiring managers pay for certainty.
2. It gives a reason. A number with a rationale is a position. A number without one is a wish.
3. It offers a path out. If base is capped by a band they cannot break, you have already told them how to say yes another way.

Each of these has a predictable price. Most candidates make at least two.

One — negotiating only base salary

Base is the most constrained number in the package, because it is the one bound to a published band and to internal equity with people already in the role. It is often the hardest thing to move and the first thing everyone fixates on.

Signing bonuses come from a different pot. So, frequently, do equity refreshers, start dates, remote arrangements, title, and a written six-month review. When base will not move, these will.

Two — accepting on the phone

Verbal offers are made to be accepted in the moment, while enthusiasm is high and scrutiny is low. Nothing good happens to you by saying yes before you have read the written terms. Ask for the document, always.

Three — bluffing a competing offer

It can work, right up until they ask a follow-up question or call it. Some companies simply wish you well. Worse, if you join anyway, you start the job having been caught in something. A real alternative is powerful; a fictional one is a liability.

Four — apologising your way through it

Hedging language — "I hate to ask," "I know this is awkward," "if it's at all possible" — invites the other side to treat the request as optional, because you have told them it is. Ask plainly and warmly. Negotiating is an expected part of the process, not an imposition on it.

The strongest card in the deck, and the easiest one to play badly.

A real competing offer changes the conversation because it converts an opinion about your worth into a fact. Play it as information you are sharing, not as a threat you are making. The difference is entirely in the framing.

I want to be straightforward with you, because you've
been straightforward with me.

I have another offer at [number]. Your role is the one
I want — the work is closer to what I'm trying to do
and I'd rather be on your team.

If you can get closer to that number, I'll close this
out today and stop the other process.

• Never name the other company unless they ask and you are comfortable saying. You are not obliged to.
• Do not inflate the number. Some employers ask to see it. More importantly, an inflated number sets an expectation you then have to live under.
• Say which one you prefer. Preference is what makes them fight for you instead of letting you go.

Counter-offers from your current employer

If you resign and your employer counters, be careful. It may be genuine — but it also means the money existed before you threatened to leave, which is worth sitting with. Ask yourself whether the reason you started looking was the money. If it was not, more money does not fix it.

Get it in writing, then be gracious. You are about to work with these people.

Anything agreed verbally that is not in the written offer does not exist. Not because people lie, but because recruiters leave, hiring managers move, and nobody remembers a Tuesday phone call eleven months later.

• Confirm base, bonus structure, equity details and vesting, start date, title, and any flexibility arrangement in the document itself.
• A six-month review commitment goes in the offer letter or in an email from the hiring manager. Both is better.
• Read the restrictive covenants, notice period, and any clawback on a signing bonus before you sign.

That works — I'm in, and I'm glad we got there.

Send the updated letter through and I'll sign today.

Thanks for working it through with me. Looking forward
to starting on [date].