How a Company Can Interpret Your Ambitious Salary Negotiation Efforts

When I work with candidates, I say a number of things to them in terms of the service I plan to provide for them. I will submit their resume, I'll help schedule interviews, I'll give as much color as I can when we get to the on-site interview stage. And yes, I make it very clear that I will help with salary negotiation. My famous phrase is the following,?

Sarah, you have my word that not one penny will be left on the table. I'll keep everything in good form but I will get the company to tell me directly that, no, the offer can't be moved any further. We'll get their max offer.?

And that puts a lot of candidates at ease because there is this assurance that the best offer will be settled upon. But that said, when you engage in salary negotiation, it is important to be mindful of what the other party is thinking when you put your numbers on the table and start making your demands. I recently had an incredible conversation with a Vice-President of Engineering who, amid some pretty intense salary negotiation, reached out to me to share his concern on where he potentially saw the offer process going.??

He was confident a deal could be made but he was concerned about Sarah's reaction to their offer. I'll start telling the story now.? This company is a well funded, established startup here in Austin and they make competitive offers to great candidates. They also believe in doing some front end discovery work on compensation so that when they get to the offer stage, they can immediately present a salary that is a step up from the candidate's current package. They believe in "first, best and last" offers.?

My client discussed salary with Sarah at the beginning and she was within range of what they were looking to pay. On my end, I promised Sarah that her transparency would be rewarded. and things moved quickly. Within seven business days, we were at the offer stage.? My client stepped up with a strong offer that represented a nice bump from what she was currently making. However, Sarah's job search was an active one and she was final stages with another company as well as FAANG. She did make it clear that my client was her favorite opportunity but even with that known, she wasn't in a situation to turn everything down and accept my client's offer without a little negotiation.?

After my client presented their first, last and final offer, Sarah digested it and called me on the phone. Her response was that she wanted another 5k on either the base salary or sign-on bonus. I gulped a little bit but told her I would go back and ask. My client's offer was turning out to be approximately a 10% bump over her current employer's compensation but her two other startup offers were in the neighborhood of 15% and the FAANG offer was 25% higher but she had zero interest in that opportunity. But she wanted to explore some wiggle room on the salary or sign-on bonus and I told her I was happy to oblige. I went back to my client and presented Sarah's situation and her request for the 5k bump. I said that if they could make this happen, I felt very good about our chances of getting her.? So, the reality here is that after my client made it known that this was their best and final offer, Sarah came back and asked for more money. How was this request received?? What was their reaction to it???

This is when their VP of Engineering reached out to me. He was not upset but he had some very direct words for me. This moment was critical and he had to tell me what was on his mind. And when he did tell me, I agreed 100% with him. It was clear that I was trying to play on both sides of the fence and that is never easy.?

After he and I exchanged pleasantries, he dove right in and started with these points,?

Mark, I understand that at the offer stage, the non-financial aspects of an opportunity are pushed to the back but can you please remind Sarah of the following:? She'll be building out a world class Data Engineering/Data Science organization here and it's an Org that she will own. She has a true VP partner that she'll be collaborating with on this effort. The result of this partnership will be a level of Executive support that can't be found at any other startup our size here in Austin. The CEO and CTO have given me the full green light on every initiative for this data group and it's Sarah's to own from here on out.?

Please remember that at the offer stage, the candidate is often focused on money while the company might be interested in highlighting the non-financial variables of the opportunity. But is that not expected?? The entire reason we negotiate with each other is because we have different priorities occupying our minds. I don't think Sarah wasn't taking these variables into account but in defense of the company, they were doing their best to make sure that the offer was being evaluated the proper light.?

The next item that the VP discussed was a little deeper. It felt like he was having to get something off his chest. This VP has some great class and he delivered this concern in about as professionally as anyone could. Here is what he said,?

And Mark, one more thing that we need right now is for Sarah to look at the long-term here. This opportunity is an absolute home run for her. We made our best offer and it has resulted in a nice increase from her current role. If she won't sign this then we've become too focused on money.? We've also become too focused on the near-term rather than the 4-5 year window of what we have here. In situations like this, if we get stuck here, the offer can be rescinded. Can Sarah please think about her future with us?? Can she realize the very strong equity offering in this package as well? Yes, I will go and ask for this 5k increase on salary or sign-on but Mark, I'm starting to need to be convinced that Sarah is still looking at the big picture here.?

Trust me when I say that this wasn't a warning but make no mistake, this VP was concerned. This startup had made their best offer yet Sarah replied by asking for a little more money without the commitment to accept. And this is why I wanted to write this post. We all need to do it. We need to go back and push for a little more until the company makes it clear that their final offer is their best offer. But when we do that, the company will start to formulate some opinions about you. Are you money driven?? Are you looking beyond the core value of this opportunity?? Are you not taking into consideration the quality of the people working at this firm?? If those questions get louder and louder in their mind, your salary negotiation effort can start to work against you.?

Everything is an art form and when it comes to salary negotiation, you can take something as far as possible before a new opinion is made about you. In Sarah's case, she played it perfectly. We got the 5k bump on the sign-on bonus and she accepted. My client was thrilled and it was a huge win for everyone involved. It might have been a case of accidental brilliance on Sarah's part. She believed that my client's original offer was their best but given so much attention from all the other companies, she had to have the pot sweetened a little before accepting. And that opinion of her being short-sighted and not looking at the big picture? That concern her about her being money driven? It all washed away with her acceptance. She took it to the absolute furthest a candidate could do and then she made her decision.?

Again, I can't say enough how important it is to get the absolute best offer from a company and there are many different ways to get to that moment. And yes, I call it a "moment". I actually liked the transparency that Sarah had at the beginning when she disclosed her compensation early in the process. She set the benchmark early with my client and the reciprocated with a very strong offer right out of the gates. Whatever strategy you employ, please try to accomplish two very critical items when you arrive at the offer stage,?

1. Try to confirm you are getting the company's best offer. This much is obvious.?
2. More importantly, take a moment to get a sense of how the company is reacting to your negotiation practices. Are they starting to see you as money driven??Are you seen as too focused on the near-term? Are you not looking at the big picture???

When we make statements to another party, there will always be a reaction. That is obvious. And never is that more sensitive than in salary negotiation. Whether it's Glassdoor, an agency recruiter or what your colleagues are making, use whatever data you can to get your best offer. Your goal is to get to the point where there isn't another penny on the table. But please be mindful of your efforts and the reaction the company is having towards you. Are the hiring managers talking privately about you??Are they having concerns about you being too focused on money and ignoring the bigger picture? Please don't let those concerns get to the point to where they believe those are facts. Because if that happens, the offer will be pulled.?

Like everything these days, go in ambitious but be mindful and careful of your words and actions at this very delicate stage.?

Thanks,?

Mark Cunningham

Technical Recruiter

512-699-5719

[email protected]

https://thebiddingnetwork.com

https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/markhc