How to negotiate your salary when offered a job?

[Echio]

Never been in this position before- all previous jobs have always just been offered to me with a fixed salary which was advertised.

I've now been offered a role and they asked what my salary expectations were rather than being offered the salary.

It was advertised £32-£36k, pretty junior accounting role in London charity. I come with 2 years accounting experience (15 years other work experience) and it was pitched very entry-level on the job advert but they were clearly trying to be inclusive (charity).

How do you do it? Do you go in high and expect to be negotiated down, or do you go for 'best and final offer'? (I've got to be honest, I'd take the job at £32k- but why on earth wouldn't I say I want more if they're giving me the chance to?)

Please share your experiences - successful or otherwise!

Go for the maximum, decide what your bottom line is and allow yourself to be negotiated down if you really want the role.
I've just been offered a new job where they asked me at interview what my expectations were and I said 37k. It turned out this was above what they wanted to pay but they've offered me it anyway!
So just go for it, you are worth 36k so ask for it! Fortune favours the bold!

Go for the max, if they have that range then they should pay it.

If they try and negotiate down agree what the steps would be for your salary to be reviewed in say 6 months/a year to the higher level.

you need to make a case for why you are worth more than the minimum. so based on your years of experience etc, you are obviously worth more.

but don't be surprised if they can't go up. Or if putting you at max now leaves little room for future increments.

Thank you everyone - really appreciate some solid advice - I love the idea of building in a review etc if needed. The whole idea of saying 'what I think I'm worth this' as opposed to 'will you have me please please please' is really alien to me!

Fingers crossed - thank you again, this was just the sort of help to give me that little boost I was hoping for :)

www.roberthalf.co.uk/salary-guide/industry/financial-services

Take a look at the above link which has a salary guide for various finance roles, this is for 2023 and based on benchmarking. You are probably between 25th-50th percentile based on experience.

This link is Finance and accounting salary guide rather than financial services, not sure which would be the better fit for your role

www.roberthalf.co.uk/salary-guide/industry/finance-and-accounting

I employ and id say ask fir 37-38k

You could also do this by looking at your current (or last if not currently working) salary and asking for 20% more

Great links thank you @FatAgainItsLettuceTime !

Yes @Katrinawaves I think one of my issues is that on paper we're looking at a c. 50% uplift but in reality, a new high commute cost I don't currently have whacks it right down so there's not much gain at all. One thing is they say they want people in the office 'one to two days a week'. My commute will usually be about £75 a day so whether it's one or two makes quite a difference - I don't want to appear inflexible, but obviously I'd much rather it was just one. I may bring that into the agreement as it's a £3k+ difference to me!

Thanks again, top advice all round!

Interviewer: Well the job is advertised at £32-£36k, so how does £34k sound?

You: Not as good as £36k. Are there any skills you feel I lack? If so perhaps we could agree on the £34k but with a proviso that it is upped to £36k once those skills have been achieved?

The interviewer I used this tactic on just caved and gave me the top whack because they were stumped. At the very least it would get you a fairly swift pay rise to look forward to.

First time my dh did this they offered a range on advert so he went in middle so not to appear 'grabby' he got offered 2k below which was the bottom end of the advert.

Every job since then he's gone top end (his qualifications and experience do reflect this) and generally settled somewhere in the top 1/4 .

I always ask for top of the pay range if given and usually get offered one or two points below. If no range is given I ask for about 20% more than I’m currently on.

Fingers crossed you’ll get the higher amount you’re worth, but if they don’t have much wiggle room on salary, try to negotiate only one day per week in the office as a fair compromise.