To try and negotiate this salary up?

[nervousnellyisnervous]

Just this really.

Having a debate with another female friend about negotiation of salary.

I'm interviewing for a role which pays £75k base, 45k bonus but thats not always guaranteed. I'm not at offer stage but its looking good.

If I get to offer stage I want to counter with 95k base, same bonus. And then try and meet ideally at 85 the half way point.

Worst they can say is no.

My friend thinks its silly to negotiate, and I feel way too many women don't and should. But I think any man would, even if it is good money already. I'm from the US and in an industry where negotiation is frequently done on salary... usually only by men.

AIBU? And what would you open with?

The best time to improve salary is on a move.

That said, I received a promotion 5 months ago. On a whim my boss asked for me to be promoted and £15k rise and I got it. I also sidestepped all the normal promotion boards.

I had already received £3k the month before, and £6.5k 18 months before that because I challenged them that I was not on the market rate,

I think about 15-20% is a reasonable starting point, with about 10% being agreed upon in the end.

Would you take the role at its offered salary?

Nearly 30% makes you look like you think they've got the base salary offer wrong... if they were so under par, why did you apply for the role in the first place.

@sassbott

I completely disagree with the absolutely ask for more, blithely. You’re about to counter with an ask for a 27% increase on the basic. On what grounds?

Have you benchmarked the role? If you were to do this role elsewhere is a 95k base more inline with market?
Are your skills a niche area, currently in demand?
Is the employer you’re going to buoyant financially despite Covid?

I’m all for people negotiating. I have negotiated salaries in many jobs. But I have always had a reason why. Such as benchmarking/ knowing a competitor could offer me a higher package. Or actually having another offer on the table that the company needed to match/ beat.

I’ve also had people try to negotiate with me. And if you came to me saying you wanted £20k more on the base (without any reasons that made me think, fair enough, I can see why you’re worth that), I’d stick with the offer and at the same time move into the next candidate.

Totally negotiate by all means. But be sensible IMO. I started a new job midst pandemic in May and it’s the first time ever I haven’t negotiated. Why? It wasn’t the right time and it was fair for the role I am doing...

Totally agree with this. I work in HR and unless you had made salary expectations clear at the start of the process I'd think you were a huge CF to drop a 'actually I want 27% more' on offer, and depending on which Head of Function it reported to, you could find it leaving a bad taste.

If you had completely wowed us and we REALLY wanted you I'd see what I could do with sign in bonuses etc, but if you just pipped another candidate you'd be given a time period to accept it we'd move on.

It's not just a case of pulling a figure out of thin air, you'd need to justify why you went for a job at £75k when you wanted £95k. If our budget is £75k I would need to justify why I'm going £20k over budget, and find the money from somewhere else - if there really is no wriggle room we'd feel you had wasted our time, as had you been up front at the start of the process you would have been rejected then because we couldn't bridge the gap between your expectations and our budget

Oh and while the agency will always try to get the best salary they can (after all that is what their commission is based on), don't forget the company is the client here.

It wouldn't reflect that well on them if they suddenly came back with that large an increase on an offer, because we ask for candidate salary expectations when they submit a CV

Without knowing your industry and your experience, how can anyone else possibly answer that question.