Negotiating Salary

[dontfollowme]

I have been offered a postion but want to try and increase the basic salary. Salary was not discussed at interview but I was aware of the salary when I applied for the job.

I have got this job via an agency if that makes as any difference.

I need to let the recruitment consultant know my decision tomorrow. Do I have any options here? I was thinking ask for 10% extra and settling for less?

[LC23]

If you don't ask you don't get. However, you knew the salary level beforehand, went to the interviews and want the job. If the salary they have offered is in line with what you expected then this may annoy them that you are then asking for more!

[SteveS Cup]

If you've applied for a £25k job, said to the agent you're happy with £25k and the agency has sent you to the client saying you're looking for £25k and you've now been offered £25k then you're going to look a bit silly asking for £27.5k.

However, it's easier imo to negotiate salary when there's an agent in the middle as you're hopefully not going to directly annoy your potential new employer!

It's in the Agency's interest to get you as much money as possible (their fee will 99% of the time being a % of your basic).

I'd have a chat with the agent, say you've seen similar jobs advertised at a higher rate and whether they think there's an extra 10% in the salary that the employer would give.

You're in a strong position with the agent... they're going to be bending over backwards to get you to accept the offer!

[rog007]

I wouldn't. I'd get on board then begin early negotiations, assuming I was up to the job and likely to outperform expectations. I guess you had the chance throughout the process to negotiate your remuneration package and probably had a final opportunity at interview to raise the issue. If you're confident however and not worried if you lose this opportunity through raising this at this late stage then yes, you could renegotiate. Good luck!

[GeraldSmith]

Speaking as an employer it annoys the hell out of me if someone does this.

If I am offering, say, £30k I want to interview candidates who are happy to do it for £30k. I know that if I offered £35k I would get better candidates, but I want to pay £30k so I evaluate the candidates who are willing to do it for £30k. Discovering that I have someone at the end of the process who isn't willing to do it for £30k will just piss me off, if there is a second choice not far behind I'll withdraw the offer and offer it to them.

Of course if the person is significantly ahead of the rest I might negotiate, but the rest of the candidates would have to be no hopers for that to happen.

[randomwalk]

After you have been in the role for a while and understand the scope of the role and how you might value add then ask for an increase, tailor any suggested salary increase in what extra you can bring to the role, then it is a win win for both sides.

[VeeFour]

I've learned the hard way that if you don't get what you want at the point you're offered the job, you'll not be able to negotiate at a later date.

[SteveS Cup]

GeraldSmith said:

Speaking as an employer it annoys the hell out of me if someone does this.

If I am offering, say, £30k I want to interview candidates who are happy to do it for £30k. I know that if I offered £35k I would get better candidates, but I want to pay £30k so I evaluate the candidates who are willing to do it for £30k. Discovering that I have someone at the end of the process who isn't willing to do it for £30k will just piss me off, if there is a second choice not far behind I'll withdraw the offer and offer it to them.

Of course if the person is significantly ahead of the rest I might negotiate, but the rest of the candidates would have to be no hopers for that to happen.

This is where his Agent needs to be advising him... I'd say 50% of my clients are happy at offer stage to negotiate a few K's... some just can't as salary's fit in certain levels.

There is no harm at all in asking the AGENT if he could get 10% more... if the agent thinks for a second that asking the client will mess the deal up the agent should say "unfortunately there isn't room for negotiation"... in which case, accept the initial offer.

[GeraldSmith]

SteveS Cup said:

This is where his Agent needs to be advising him... I'd say 50% of my clients are happy at offer stage to negotiate a few K's... some just can't as salary's fit in certain levels.

There is no harm at all in asking the AGENT if he could get 10% more... if the agent thinks for a second that asking the client will mess the deal up the agent should say "unfortunately there isn't room for negotiation"... in which case, accept the initial offer.

If the agent is a good one then you are right, the agents we use know me pretty well. But so many agents don't take the time to get to know the clients and that means they won't have a clue and it's hard for the candidate to know which sort they are dealing with.

[SteveS Cup]

GeraldSmith said:

If the agent is a good one then you are right, the agents we use know me pretty well. But so many agents don't take the time to get to know the clients and that means they won't have a clue and it's hard for the candidate to know which sort they are dealing with.

Absolutely... I was going to write about "how good the agent is" but decided not to... however, the agent's reaction to you asking for another 10% will say a lot! If he confidently says he'll ask the client then great. If he confidently says "you've got no chance" then great... if he starts stuttering and doesn't know what to say then I wouldn't want him ruining the offer so I'd say don't worry!

[NotKenBlock]

SteveS Cup said:

Absolutely... I was going to write about "how good the agent is" but decided not to... however, the agent's reaction to you asking for another 10% will say a lot! If he confidently says he'll ask the client then great. If he confidently says "you've got no chance" then great... if he starts stuttering and doesn't know what to say then I wouldn't want him ruining the offer so I'd say don't worry!

Agreed, if your going to do this, you need to before you take the position and use the agent as your sounding board.

Very difficult to accept a role on a salary (that will probably be a rise from your current position anyway) then very soon ask for a rise.

[monkey gland]

GeraldSmith said:

Speaking as an employer it annoys the hell out of me if someone does this.

If I am offering, say, £30k I want to interview candidates who are happy to do it for £30k. I know that if I offered £35k I would get better candidates, but I want to pay £30k so I evaluate the candidates who are willing to do it for £30k. Discovering that I have someone at the end of the process who isn't willing to do it for £30k will just piss me off, if there is a second choice not far behind I'll withdraw the offer and offer it to them.

Of course if the person is significantly ahead of the rest I might negotiate, but the rest of the candidates would have to be no hopers for that to happen.

Do you offer a single figure though? Or do you (more likely I suspect) chance your arm with a salary range like the vast majority of jobs do (for those that even include any salary details at all)

[NotKenBlock]

monkey gland said:

Do you offer a single figure though? Or do you (more likely I suspect) chance your arm with a salary range like the vast majority of jobs do (for those that even include any salary details at all)

I once went for a job that was advertised at £55k-£60k and was offered £45k, employer was using the higher salary to attract the right people then right at the last minute (after job offer, in negotiation stage, after 3+ interviews) would offer low hoping to force people into the lower salary.

Playing silly buggers can work both ways in my experience

[GeraldSmith]

monkey gland said:

Do you offer a single figure though? Or do you (more likely I suspect) chance your arm with a salary range like the vast majority of jobs do (for those that even include any salary details at all)

Well we realised some time ago that you need to be structured about salary otherwise you can hit problems because if you end up with, for example, a man and a woman doing broadly the same job but on different salaries you can end up with a discrimination case.

So we have, for example, a rate that we pay experienced programmers, a rate that we pay experienced project managers etc. And they all get paid the same. The only variation on that is if the the person is lacking experience, then we will pay them less and have a progression plan that tells them what they need to do to get up to the full rate.

So we might advertise a range, but we would only pay less than the full amount if there was a good reason and the person would know what they needed to do to get to the full rate. If we ever found that we couldn't recruit at the salary we were offering we would then increase the amount everyone on that level was being paid. Of course once in a while we might create a new level, for example we have a couple of people in our R&D department who have a value to us above the normal for an experienced programmer so they are on a different grade. That is justified by the fact that whilst they are still coding they are doing it in a different job role so they can be paid a different rate.

[Simon Brooks]

If I had interviewed you at a declared salary, I would have the bang hump if the agency (not that I would use one anyway!) came back and asked for more money after an offer of employment had been made, I might even consider dropping the offer if this was my first dealings with new employee. Tough call, it could backfire

[Fat Audi 80]

VeeFour said:

I've learned the hard way that if you don't get what you want at the point you're offered the job, you'll not be able to negotiate at a later date.

This. Start out as you mean to go on. Get the salary you can at the start or you may never see another rise. Sad but realistic.

[Simon Brooks]

You may also be unknowingly governed by the income target the consultant is working to, whether he/she has enough in the bag this month already and can afford to lose a placement, things are not always as clear as one would like

[72EuropaTC]

GeraldSmith said:

Speaking as an employer it annoys the hell out of me if someone does this.

If I am offering, say, £30k I want to interview candidates who are happy to do it for £30k. I know that if I offered £35k I would get better candidates, but I want to pay £30k so I evaluate the candidates who are willing to do it for £30k. Discovering that I have someone at the end of the process who isn't willing to do it for £30k will just piss me off, if there is a second choice not far behind I'll withdraw the offer and offer it to them.

Of course if the person is significantly ahead of the rest I might negotiate, but the rest of the candidates would have to be no hopers for that to happen.

Ditto.

If we wanted to offer more than an advertised rate to a candidate then we would - but it's rare and non-negotiable and they'd need to be above our expectations.

Many positions have a probationary period, after successful completion there may be a pay increment/adjustment. Maybe you could ask the agency to qualify the terms of any probation and whether or not there is a review. We decided to do that as a way of rewarding people who turned out to be better than expected, and were worth making sure we kept.

If hard cash is your goal, then the other thing to ask the agency about is trading benefits for cash - but having set a precedent don't expect it to be easy to be able to swap back into a benefit scheme (i.e. you may have to forego some or all of next year's salary review or end of year bonus to get onto the pension or the health scheme).

Buit basically if a job is advertised at 30K then that's what you should expect as a maximum - especially in current climes.

[dontfollowme]

I asked the question and the answer was no due to the firm's bandings. I didn't know there was a monthly bonus scheme which helps things slightly.

I'm now just waiting for something in writing before I approach my current boss.

[SteveS Cup]

dontfollowme said:

I asked the question and the answer was no due to the firm's bandings. I didn't know there was a monthly bonus scheme which helps things slightly.

I'm now just waiting for something in writing before I approach my current boss.

Common issue.

Was it the Agent who told you that? If so, probably a good consultant who knows his client... nice to see!