How do I ask for more money

January 18, 2012 8:19 PM

How, when, and with whom do I negotiate my salary if I get a job offer?

I had a first interview with an HR recruiter. It went very, very well. She asked for my salary expectation and I gave her a range. I have a second interview with the hiring manager (and person who I'd be reporting if I were hired) in a few days. If that goes well, there is a third and final interview with some other teams, i.e., people I'd be working with/supporting.

In prepping for this second interview, I reviewed the job posting again and realised that the posting is for a "senior" role, even though the title does not have the word "senior" in it. Now I feel I should be asking for a bit more (when I check Glass Door, the "senior" role at the same company makes about 10K more than the high end of the range I gave).

The question is, should I email the recruiter with a new range, or should I wait until after the second interview and have a clearer idea of what the job entails? Do I wait for a third interview? Do I talk to the manager, or do I deal with HR?

Thanks for any input! I feel like a bit of a doofus and have never had to change my salary expectations before.

PS. Also, is there any practical reason for leaving out the "senior" in the title, i.e., is it a tactic for paying less $ for more work? :(

posted by methroach to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Best answer: I'm not honestly sure how you should play out the whole scenario involving the 'senior' role and thus, a higher salary, game. That's pretty tricky, given that you've already given a number, and it might rub them the wrong way if you say, "yeah.. you know that number I gave you earlier? I thought about it again and I actually want $10K on top of that." Maybe someone else can comment on that. But, I can answer your other questions that involve the pure logistics.

Personally, I don't think you want to bring up any salary talk until after you've reached the final round and, hopefully receive an offer.

If you receive an offer, I'm assuming that the HR rep will call you if they want to extend an offer. He/She will give you the offer verbally and most likely tell you what they plan to offer you in terms of salary, benefits, etc. It could very well be the case that the hiring manager will call you first to extend the offer, congratulate you, and tell you that the HR rep will follow-up with specifics.

Once the call from HR nears its end, they'll say that they'll email you with the full package and whatnot and ask you to review it and to get back in touch if you have any questions. They'll either ask you how much time you'll need to make a decision or give you a deadline that you need to let them know by X date, and still ask how long it'll take you to decide.

Either way, you should be prepared for that phone call and say you'll need a day or two to fully digest the offer. Then say you'll follow up and call back by a certain date. Make sure to call back by that date.

During that follow-up phone call, that's when you bring up the negotiations and give them a counter offer. I've personally never negotiated salaries before, as I graduated from college last May and am still at my first job, that of which I did not negotiate my salary for.

The HR person should then say, 'okay, let me see what I can do for you. I'll reach back out to you by X date."

And so goes the phone tag regarding negotiations.

This has been my experience with HR regarding job offers, packages, negotiations, etc. Hope this helps!
posted by 6spd at 8:46 PM on January 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm not sure I'd change salary expectations in the middle of the process - you probably don't want to seem demanding until you are certain they really want you. Also, as you say, you might have a better idea of what the role involves after interview #2. It's possible that the same position with 'senior' in the title carries a whole different set of expectations.

In terms of job title, where I work the HR rules surrounding such matters are written in an uncrackable code and surrounded by an impenetrable labyrinth of ancient beaurocracy, all of which appears to be controlled by whimsical gnomes. At least, that's what it seems like from the outside.
posted by lulu68 at 8:56 PM on January 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

Best answer: you really shouldn't talk salary until you actually have an offer in hand. it's not terrible that you already gave a range but i wouldn't bring it up again until they offer you the job. you also need to clarify exactly what the duties of that role would be and if the company considers those duties as belonging to a senior role or someone more junior. if they state that those are the expectations of someone more junior, you can point out that in your research you've found that those duties are that of someone more senior and the salary range for that level is experience is such and such. it may not make a difference. in general, companies already have an idea of what they are going to be paying out as the salary for a specific role. a lot of large companies have very strict salary ranges for each role and level of experience. you can negotiate into the high end of that but if it's still not high enough for what you believe you should be getting paid, chances are—unless you are somehow amazing at what you do (which, if you are asking these kinds of questions, then you likely actually don't have very much work experience at all so it's probably not the case), it will be a take it or leave it situation for you. they'll surely find someone else who will find it acceptable.
posted by violetk at 9:21 PM on January 18, 2012

also, your next interview would be a good time to clarify the position and it's duties, since you'll be interviewing with the hiring manager.
posted by violetk at 9:22 PM on January 18, 2012

Best answer: Agree that you should wait until after you have an offer in hand, and then counter with a higher offer. You may not need to explain, but you could always say that having been through the interview process you now have a better idea of the scope of the position.
posted by chickenmagazine at 6:45 AM on January 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I agree with violetk. Don't bring up salary again until there is an offer. However, if you can work into the discussion with the hiring manager something to the effect of, "Ah, I realize now what a senior position this is. I feel even more excited about the opportunity now that I know I will be able to use my leadership skills as well." It lays the groundwork for the upwards negotiations if there is an offer.
posted by hworth at 6:45 AM on January 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You negotiate salary when someone offers you a salary. It doesn't matter what you told the HR person in the first place. For one, the HR person is not likely to be the same person who actually makes you an offer and does any real salary negotiations. Also, the company realizes that at this point, no numbers have been set in stone. They asked you what you wanted to make because they'd hope you aimed low, and then they could start low when they negotiate.

Say the job is "worth" $75,000/year. If you say you want to make $55-$65k/year, then they can start their offer at $57k or something, and you'll probably agree to something significantly less than $75k, even once you've bargained it up to, say $68k. If you had told the HR person that you wanted to make $75-85k/year, then they'd be hard pressed to start anywhere lower than $75k.

None of the numbers are binding until you (and the company) agree on something. All you've done so far is given them a license to lowball you, you don't have to agree to any low offers, though.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 9:00 AM on January 19, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks all!
posted by methroach at 7:20 AM on January 24, 2012