HIGH-LEVEL THREAD ON SALARY NEGOTIATION

I’m going to start off by saying ALWAYS negotiate your salary. No, they’re not going to rescind your offer for trying to get the best compensation package for yourself. In fact, recruiters actually expect you to negotiate.

I will try to make this thread relatable for everyone, but there will parts where it’ll be geared towards ppl in tech. I’m going to start this off with never throwing out the first number, that’s pretty much the golden rule in any negotiations.

Recruiters will sometimes start the conversation off asking what salary you’re looking for, you can easily maneuver around this question by saying you would like to learn more about the position before talking about salary.

The reason I say don’t throw out the first number is b/c a lot of the times you’ll screw yourself over, trust me I’ve done it. You could be asking for 50k and the average salary for that company for that position is 75k. So, never throw out the first number.

This is where the research comes in. For people in tech and consulting DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT rely on salary information from Glassdoor, it’s usually off. People in other career fields Glassdoor should be fine.

So if people in tech and consulting shouldn’t use Glassdoor, what should we use? Blind, this app is full of people in tech and consulting that gives you real-time data on salary information. Fishbowl, this app is geared towards consultants.

It’s basically like Blind, but for consultants. http://levels.fyi  - this website gives you the salary averages for most tech companies, it literally will give you a breakdown of people’s compensation packages

So, now that you have an idea of what salaries are like.

On to the next part, your interview. Your technical interview is pretty important, especially if you’re doing coding interviews.

Remember, the person interviewing you has never worked with you and have no clue what you’re capable of outside of what your resume says, so the technical interview is where you show them what you made of.

So, let’s say you did good and they extend an offer.

Thank them for their time and ask for time to review the offer. Here’s another tip as well, if you’re actively interviewing and have interviews coming up, be upfront w/ the recruiter and tell them. This not only sometimes allow you to get through the interview process faster.

It also puts pressure on the company to give you a nice offer the first time around seeing that they are now competing with other companies to hire you. So, now you have the offer, go to fishbowl or blind. Post the details of your offer and your years of experience.

You’re either going to get hey that’s a good offer or you should negotiate your offer. Remember, these are actual people that are giving out these same offers and understand the numbers for this role. You’re also anonymous on these apps, so you can't be identified.

So, now that you’re getting your feedback. Craft a case on why you should get the salary you want and the recruiter will either say ok cool or hit you with a counteroffer. That’s one way. Here’s my favorite tactic, having another offer from a company who’s offer is better.

This is the best type of leverage to have. I would also like to say never bluff about having a competing offer, b/c this can definitely backfire.

Also, if you have multiple offers only negotiate with the company that you really want to be at, no need to negotiate with all of them.

But once you receive the better offer, explain to the company that you want to be at that company, but you received a better offer, but if they’re willing to match the offer you’re willing to sign the offer now. I usually add an extra 5-10k to the offer just b/c.

If they want you they will make it happen, I have 100% success rate with this. Also, be mindful that sometimes they will try to give you a larger sign-on bonus instead of a larger salary b/c it’s a one-time payment(it's cheaper for them) or they will try to get you with bonuses.

ALWAYS take the guaranteed money(you're salary), bonuses aren’t guaranteed. I’m pretty sure I've missed some things b/c this was getting too long, so if you have any questions, ask. This thread is to give you an overview of negotiating salaries.