Don’t Negotiate for the Sake of Negotiating!
By Kevin Roth
HR: What are your salary expectations?
– Candidate: I would need a minimum of $100K
HR: OK great! I’m putting you forward to next round.
***Round 2***
Hiring Manager: This seems like a great fit. Just to confirm, where would you need to be on salary?
– Candidate: I couldn’t jump for any less than $100K
Hiring Manager: OK got it. I’ll regroup with the team.
***Offer***
HR: The team feels great about you. They want to make you an offer at $90K base salary + all the perks and benefits!
– Candidate: Why not $100K?
HR: Umm…
If you are going to make an offer below a candidate’s expectations, be prepared with a strong, logical argument as to the reason why.
Everyone loves to negotiate and we all love the feeling of getting a good deal on something. That said, hiring a new employee isn’t like buying a lamp at a garage sale. You’re likely competing against several other companies who are all vying for this person to make a major life change in order to join their respective organizations.
Don’t just negotiate for the sake of negotiating. If someone has set clear expectations that they want $100K and you think they’re absolutely worth $100K, then offer them $100K!
Once they happily accept and sign the offer letter, stop at a garage sale on the way home and get all of the haggling out of your system 🙂