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 🙂