the billz to pay the billz

December 8, 2007 7:07 PM

Too late for salary negotiations?

So, I'm leaving a place I've been for 10 years for a new venture. It's in a comparable field, somewhat comparable environment.

Long story short, I made an assumption about my salary amount that fell short of its actual amount. In the negotiation process, I accepted their offer without putting up any fight b/c I thought it was a good amount over my current amount. Guess what? It isn't. The actual amount plus benefit differences = a deficit of $2,500/year and six vacation days.

Now, I've gone back and asked for benefits from my future employer to make this comparison, so I think a discussion that leads into salary would not be totally unexpected, but...

I have officially resigned from my current job, and I really do want to leave and go to this new place. In all honesty, I'm not basing my decision solely on money at this point, but if there's a way for me to get more, then I'd like to.

You might think me a greedy bastard for saying that, but trust me, we're talking a low salary by industry standards, and I'm probably at the bottom of middle class.

So, should I just suck this up as a life lesson and leave it be? Or is there wiggle-room without pissing off a future boss?

Thanks all - anyone wishing to reach me privately can do so here: [e-mail].

posted by anonymous to work & money (8 comments total)

I don't see "greedy" as an issue, you're trying to look out for yourself...a reasonable thing to do..

Here's my perspective, as an employer...

If the old employer would be willing to have you stay, you've got the wiggle room... if not, then you've got to be careful.. you don't want to end up unemployed in the process

If you could stay in your old job, there's no reason not to attempt to renegotiate..if it doesn't work and they decide not to hire you, stay where you are..

if the old job won't take you back...then it may be a good time to chalk this up to experience, take the hit in income and hope that there are some long range benefits to the change...
posted by HuronBob at 7:16 PM on December 8, 2007

You may ask instead for a salary review in 6 months and drop a subtle hint during your meeting with the new employer that you made some concessions when you took the position. This could help "prime" them for the idea of giving you a raise and let them know that you're aware of the salary discrepancy.

Something informal such as "I look forward to working for you, and I hope that it isn't unreasonable to request a salary review in 6 months. May I go ahead and schedule something within [Outlook]?" should be received well.
posted by mezzanayne at 7:35 PM on December 8, 2007

Let your new employer know that you have now discovered you will be worse off by joining them. If there are good reasons you misunderstood the offer during negotiations, then list the reasons. Tell them you are disappointed by this situation, but adopt a non-demanding position. (That is, threatening to walk away is risky if you would prefer to join them even at the lower compensation.) I think most companies/managers will immediately understand and sympathize with your position (unless they somehow value your compensation more highly than you do), and are likely to indicate their intention to deal with it. Your goal should be to avoid postponing any action. See what their reaction is to this new information, and react appropriately.
posted by blue mustard at 8:20 PM on December 8, 2007

You might think me a greedy bastard for saying that, but trust me, we're talking a low salary by industry standards, and I'm probably at the bottom of middle class.

That is irrelevant, you are leaving a stable company for a risky venture. The new company should pay you a premium for the risks you are taking.
posted by b1tr0t at 9:10 PM on December 8, 2007

You accepted the offer, which seems to close the case for the time being. I think you'd look either greedy or daft trying to reopen negotiations on accepted offer. Seems like you need to suck it up until review time comes around.
posted by xmutex at 10:02 PM on December 8, 2007

If I were the hiring manager, I'd be a bit off-put if you had accepted an offer and now wanted to negotiate it. Do you really want their initial work impression of you to be "I couldn't be bothered finding out the details, and now I don't like things and want to change them"?

You need to tread carefully here. At most, I recommend approaching them *very* apologetically, hat in hand, asking them if they can do a little better.

As a backup, I recommend doing a few more interviews. This will give you something to fall back on if all goes to hell, and you may find that, in the process, someone else wants to pay you more.
posted by zippy at 11:37 PM on December 8, 2007

Wait a year or six months or whatever your salary review period is, excel at your job, and ask for a raise based on merit, not based on the fact that you fucked up your own interview/intake process. That's not what they want to hear.
posted by bingo at 1:27 AM on December 9, 2007

I completely sympathize with your situation because I can see myself overlooking the same kind of detail, but I think the simple fact is that being bad at math is not a good position to negotiate from.
posted by rhizome at 9:47 AM on December 9, 2007