Hello everyone Julian Placido here, professional recruiter and career coach. The topic of the conversation today is to negotiate your job offer. So you have you completed your interview and now you have an offer congratulations. Now the desired outcome of this particular training as This is to ensure you have the best offer, the market will bear for your particular skill set, and also level of experience. Here's one thing that I have learned through years of hiring candidates. I know for a fact that for candidates who don't have the tools of negotiation, they are almost always losing money and leaving money on the table if they aren't aware of this kind of information.

And that's the purpose of this. I really want to arm you guys with the best information that I've seen based on experience to leverage the best possible offer the market will bear for your particular level of experience. And I phrase this very specifically because they take a very principled approach on not about putting one over the employer and trying to create sort Have an outline offer. If you can do that, that's great. But really I base mine on logic and also market valuation. So here's the agenda of things we're going to be talking about.

Number one, we're going to establish a baseline, I think it's super important to figure out your goals. Because if you it's it's not great to walk into a negotiation with a sense of ambiguity, you have to have clear specific objectives. Otherwise, how do you know what you're actually negotiating for? Number two is salary research. This is really kind of the key to negotiation and, and we live in a great time right now where there's not a whole lot of secrets in terms of market valuation. And we're going to talk about some, some great websites that you can go to to help you sort of craft that for yourself.

And then also just based on like 10 years of experience, and I have kind of an interesting perspective because number one I've negotiated offers for myself personally, many times and also I've coached hundreds of applicants to negotiate their offers many times and I've also I've negotiated against candidates from an employer perspective, many times and that's the perspective that I want to share with you guys that holistic view and based on experience and things that I see all the time, hopefully this will be the best information to help you leverage that particular offer that you have. So general negotiation guidelines, we'll talk about things like what to talk about money. Also what employers consider when creating an offer. And if you do receive an offer that you don't feel as necessary, necessarily fair, we'll walk through a few steps and how you can create a counter offer cordially to ask for more money.

And then lastly, we'll talk about just a few basic negotiation tips or more from a tactical sense of things. So let's talk about establishing a baseline. So the first thing that you need to know is get clarity on your financial goals. This is not a finance course necessarily, but it really is important to figure out what you're currently making and what you're looking for. So there's three numbers that I typically coach candidates to have. One is the minimum the minimum acceptable offer, the acceptable offering the ideal offer.

Now, the minimum acceptable offer is really determined on your basic living expense expenses, what is your rent? What's your insurance or car payment? What are the things that you actually need to have income to survive? That's like the minimum number that you can possibly accept. And then the acceptable offer and also the ideal offer that really is subjective, just depending on kind of what you're looking for. But it's important to have these three specific data points.

So you know, that if or when an offer does come in, you know, which way to handle your negotiation. So doing your research, I mean, this is key. So so the first thing that you want to kind of evaluate are sort of those macro variables, right? So in terms of geography, so I hire candidates all over the country, and we're the Dallas area and sometimes, like the east and west coast, there's almost up to a 50% cost of living in some parts of the country. So that's one of the things that you want to make sure some some states have certain taxes that other states don't have. So be aware of those things when it comes to negotiating your offer the industry at the time that this video has been recorded.

Oil is not doing too well, you know what I'm saying. So like there's certain industry factors that you want to be aware of when it comes to thinking about what you need to ask or what you actually get from a particular important, and also the profession. So there's kind of market averages for particular disciplines, whether it's an accounting or finance, or sales or medical, all this information is out there. And that's probably something you want to think about before you graduate college and start pursuing a career. But these things absolutely affect where you go about negotiating your offers. So and also specific companies.

Some companies will pay more than others, some are startups and really don't have much to offer, maybe just a big equity and a small base salary. Sometimes there's very large companies out there that offer really high base salaries that offer the top of the market. So those are things that you need to consider as well. Now individual variables now this has to do with more with the candidates inherent and intrinsic value, what are the things that make them more valuable than the next candidate. So just a few basic things that that can yield a Higher valuation our degrees and certifications, what kind of background do you actually have, what particular specialized degree or certification you have? Because these are other differentiation points from other candidates that you can use to negotiate a higher offer, years of experience, of course, and also unique value proposition.

So, the thing that I like to focus on more so is the unique value proposition. If a candidate comes to me and says that they have saved the company X number of dollars, or let's say, streamline the process, if there's any way that they can show cost savings or streamlining any kind of process, making things more efficient, that is absolutely real, tangible evidence, and reasons to ask for a higher offer if the one you get isn't the one that you want. So here's kind of the three granddaddy websites that you should go to that everyone needs to consider when it comes to looking for an offer. It's payscale.com glassdoor.com and also salary Comm. So basically, you enter in all your information. This is all completely free by the way.

I need to ask you a few questions. Some are a little bit long. than the other maybe 1520 minutes to finish the survey. But what it does, it takes all of your information, captures it and then plots it against what the market is. And it has it for pretty much every discipline out there. So what I would recommend you do is to go to all three of them type in your information and find the average of all three that way that's a good pulse of the market, what your particular discipline is paying.

And not only is it the discipline, but it also kind of averages out for like geographic region and also industry and also your particular discipline and years of experience. I mean, this this information here is like so obvious that everyone Well, not so obvious, but I mean, just an obvious thing that you should use to prepare when it comes to negotiating your offer. All this information is public and free, specialized recruiting firms. I don't know if you guys have ever dealt with recruiting firms before but I come from an agency recruiting background, I worked for very large technology, recruiting organizations. And we always knew the pulse of the market for every single discipline out there, whether it's helpdesk or desktop or Linux administration or software development and all the different niche avenues that you could go into software. And a lot of times, us as an organization, we will have like salary guides that we would send out to our clients as marketing tools.

But specialized recruiting agencies are great to call in and ask for, hey, what is my particular skill set offer, they will, for the most part, always know that. And there's almost specialized recruiting firms for pretty much every discipline out there accounting and technology, even light industrial, just google your particular discipline and job that you're going after. And then type in like recruiting from our agency, and you'll find one that you could call into, and you're feeling a little bit more risky like a, I've actually coached some candidates to do this if they have great relationships with the organization already. But there is a way that you could find out who's actually working there and asking them kind of what the expected salary is. There's a way there's a way to cordially do that, like a work track that I would say is like, if it's your friend that works there, right and say something like, Hey, Joe, I'm currently applying for this specific position, what's kind of the salary range you think I should be expecting?

Maybe or maybe not, they'll tell you the exact same, the exact range but at least it's going to be a database. To compare, if we're when that offer comes in for you, does that make sense? So when to start talking about money? Well, I think it's a general good guideline to let the employer lead this conversation. Now, as a professional recruiter, I go after candidates that aren't looking for jobs, and I'm kind of trying to sell them. So sometimes the employer will talk about money first, or actually ask pitch them in terms of like how much we're willing to offer versus us eliciting it from the candidate first, right.

But for the most part, you do want to have the employer lead the conversation if you're applying to the organization. And a lot of it really depends on who has a leverage in terms of negotiation, right? If you're kind of desperate for a job, and there's a lot of people applying for the role. That kind of puts the power in the employer side, right? But if I'm looking for a very specialized, let's say, like a, like an iPhone, developer, someone who programs in iOS and Objective C, and they're very highly sought after, and quite frankly, not looking for a job, that I would bring up the money first and say like, Hey, what are you making? This is kind of what we'd offer is this something You might be interested in so depends on who actually has the power upfront in the spirit of negotiation.

So what if they asked me about my current salary? I'd say, always be prepared to answer this question. As a professional recruiter, I have a systematic process and how I screen for candidates and look for a match for my organization. And money is always one of them. I, as an employer always want to know, what the candidates currently making. And also, what are they actually asking for, because that really does put the leverage on our side.

And here's the thing about that you cannot lie about what you're currently making, right? You can maybe offer a range, I'll show you a couple ways to kind of maybe subtly dodge the question. But ultimately, you have to be prepared to answer this question. And honestly, as a professional recruiter, I don't think it's too bad to sort of tell where your number is, and also where you're going as long as you can back up specific data points of why you're asking for more money, you very well could be undervalued. I've heard so many people that were like developers making like 50 percent less you know what I'm saying? So I wouldn't be too afraid to share that particular number.

Because really, it's it's kind of a two way street also, right? You need to figure out if they can afford you. So if you really don't want to tell your numbers, so there's a couple word tracks that you could say you could say something like, I'm willing to entertain any reasonable offer, right? cordial, ambiguous, fine. Another one you can say is I'm looking for a market rate that's suitable for someone with my background and level of experience. And usually, if you kind of dodged the question sort of twice, sadly like that, the employer will know and they'll either do two things, number one to either back off and kind of let it be, or they'll press even further but be prepared for them to press further.

And like I said, it's not the end of the world, if you tell them where you are, especially if you've done all of your research already upfront of what you know you deserve from from a market valuation. So what employers consider when creating an offer, so like I said earlier, I have a very systematic process and how I go about screening for candidates in my is one of them, right? So the things that I always try to look for is, what are you currently making? And what are you looking for? And then also I try to have the candidate explain why do you think your experience is worth that particular Delta? And then also the relevancy of your background and also personality fit.

In the hiring world? There's kind of this this kung fu is the hiring right? The con? Is that the technical side of things, can the person actually do the job? If it's an accounting position? Do they have Quicken software?

Do they have SAP Great Plains, whatever it is, can they technically do the job. And the second piece is, there's probably a lot of people who can do this job, but like, Who's the best cultural fit, who's the person I can take out for a beer after work or hang out within the weekend, those are things that play into the mind of an employer when it comes to making a market valuation. And also earlier, we talked about sort of the inherent value of the individual and things that can that can drive a higher yield for your particular offer. So the things that we talked about rare degrees, certifications, years of experience, and also unique propositions and here's the thing that I can tell you for sure. Have all this stuff here, degrees and certifications and years of experience, all that stuff is great, right? That's really honestly to me is like really basic.

But I've hired so many people with really high market valuations without degrees, especially if your role is very technical, like software engineers, some of the best engineers I've ever hired didn't have an educational background, especially in this market. It's all about what you have done, and what you can do for your employer. So figure out what are those things? What are your your best accomplishments, and why would they be relevant to your particular employer, because like I said, if you can improve if you can prove that you've saved a company money or streamline your process, an employer is going to think, Wow, maybe this person can do it here for me as well, which can drive up your market valuation. So here's a few things that most candidates don't actually think about. But coming from the employers perspective, again, I have this point of view, but there are things internally that would prevent me from being able to make a higher offer to a particular candidate.

Number one is budget and also headcount. Most organizations have some kind of financial plan when it comes to how And usually that stuff is planned out far in advance. So if there is a particular salary range that a company has, a lot of times, like in my criteria, I would have to screen out candidates on the initial call if they didn't fit within that budget range. So now that some employers do have kind of internal constraints, and again, do your research, I showed you some tools, what particular companies can pay what particular salary, and also existing employee salaries. I mean, this is kind of a touchy subject. So I have worked for like startup companies before that didn't really able to pay a whole lot of money, right, but we needed a specific talent.

So for example, if if the vast majority of my software engineers are making let's say, 50 to $60,000, a year, right? And I'm interviewing a candidate who's asking for 80, but my best guy is making 60 that doesn't really mesh well and creates kind of a compression issue internally. Do you see how that would be kind of an issue. These are definitely things that some employers definitely have to take into evaluation. And then lastly, other candidates. So as a professional recruiter, I try to do is always have three finalists, three people that we could potentially make an offer to.

And it just makes sense. And this is something that all companies should do from a higher perspective is to be able to have the best candidates out there and then choose from choices. And I'll be very honest with you, this is kind of a harsh reality of things. But whoever the best candidate is that I can get at a better price. That's just a better decision for the employer. So think about that when it comes to negotiating.

That the company is looking for other candidates and really vetting the same way you are vetting other candidates as well. So they make you an offer great when it comes down to it offers are a byproduct of the quality and quantity of interviews that you create for yourself. So that's really great, and you've done most of the hard work. Here's one thing also like early on my career I didn't feel super comfortable with like, anytime somebody would make me an offer like right at a college like I felt obligated to get it I thought it was just going to drop off the face of the earth but then if I didn't accept it now, but it really is okay not to accept the offer right as they make it take some time to evaluate it against Your goals. That's the whole reason why we establish the baseline if you, you don't want to just jump at the first offer that you get because it might not serve you, you know what I mean?

And it's totally appropriate to take 24 hours to digest it, look at everything, go through the benefits look through the entire offer to make sure it's the right thing for you. Anytime a candidate has ever said, this is a great offer. I'd like to discuss it with my spouse you can't hate on that and you know what I'm saying? So it's like it's totally okay not to accept the offer. First time I mean, so how to create a counter offer so so once the offer comes in, the first thing you do is evaluate it and like I said, it's totally cool not to accept right then take about 24 hours to digest it, make sure it's okay. So the first step we already talked about, which is to compare it against your goals.

Where did it fall in the line of the of the the points that you came across the the minimum acceptable offer, the acceptable offer and also your your ideal, where did it fall in because depending on where it fell in, will depend on where you decide to go. You might accept it, you might have to counter it's okay to present it. counteroffer but be prepared to explain why with sound logic and also specific points of data. Now I'm going from the employer perspective, not the candidate perspective, right? Anytime that a candidate has actually, I don't want to say win negotiation against me, which is kind of like actually what happens though, but anytime a candidate has been able to successfully countered offer, which we had offered a candidate is when they can provide sound logic and bullet points. There should not be an emotional conversation like I'm worth more this and this right.

But the more objective and specific and fact driven that you can create your counter offer, the better that you're going to be. If you can point to another organization and say, Hey, they offer this much or Hey, this is how much I was making before I was on track to make a salary. Because of a potential raise. All these things are factors that you need to take into account. If you're planning on making your counteroffer and then present the counteroffer based on the baseline of goals that you establish and also the research into specific data points. You can do this via email over The over the phone I've had a lot of people do it via email because sometimes it's kind of like a nervous thing to do like over the phone, you might forget what you want to say.

That's why I think email is okay. Because you can you can thoroughly like sort of curate your thoughts and make sure what you put on paper is what you actually intend to say. And the word track would be something like this. Thank you for the software. I'm super excited about the possibility of joining your company, but based on my research dot dot dot fill in the blank, cool. So if the just won't budge on your salary, like I said, Some companies do bump up against internal constraints, whether it's budget or also headcount, or there's sometimes they just can't budget the salary but they really do want to hire you.

So a few things to take into account. Number one, do they offer any kind of bonus, any kind of sign on bonus? Here's something that I know having managed recruiting organizations for long time, many times salary is looked at as overhead and companies don't want to have overhead, but they typically have another budget pool for bonuses and spot bonuses. So that might be something to ask for as well. Can you negotiate for additional paid vacation? Do they have cell phones?

Reimbursement work from home expedited salary review. What I'm saying about this is that an offer sometimes it's not just about the salary that you get, but it's also the benefits. It's the perks. It's the flexibility, it's a training opportunities into the growth opportunities. So look at an offer completely, like holistically. So a good thing to say also is if I exceed your expectations in the next three to six months, are you willing to renegotiate my salary at the point that's golden?

You know, I wish I wish I coach every candidate to actually say this, no matter if they have an offer in hand, that's acceptable or not. But this is just a way of kind of being strategic and saying, hey, if I really proved my value, for the most part, the marketplace is a meritocracy. Can we renegotiate? often if they say yes, either in a written or verbal format. You basically have a data point in the future when you can renegotiate your offer. So think about that as well.

Negotiation tips. Always approach the negotiation with a spirit of amicability and also humility. I can think of Zero times that I had been bullied into a counteroffer. And if any, if anything, that's spirit and also that attitude is revealing of how this individual would deal with my internal employees or their peers. And honestly, they were really revealing about their culture fit, there's no reason to get angry about an offer. If anything, I'd say 100% of the counter offers that have worked against me, it's always been because the candidate has approached it with a spirit of, of just being a nice person and explaining why they think they deserve more money than what I've given them.

So always think about that. So and here's something to think about too. If an employee makes you an offer, it means they really do want you don't be afraid for ask, asking for money As long as you requested humility and also sound logic. Here's the thing about making offers. Companies also have deadlines to hire as well because they have a problem and that's why you're actually there. And sometimes they're kind of under pressure as well.

So know that they do want you usually there's layers of approvals that have to go into making an offer in the first place. So they don't want you to go away, right. So there is an element of them wanting you. So don't be afraid to ask for money, as long as you back it with a spirit of humility and also sound logic. And remember, an offer accepted today's only a starting point with that employer. Keep in mind reviews and future bonuses, prove your value and keep keep note of your accomplishments to negotiate more in the future.

And again, salaries accepted today is just a starting point. And some employers have 30 6090 day reviews. And that's typically a great time negotiating as well. And the last here's the best kind of leverage any candidate can have, which is multiple offers, like to me as an employer, that makes me feel kind of a sense of scarcity that hey, this candidate is about to leave me you know, I want this person but so does a whole market and that plays psychologically into the mind of the employer. So the notes so this is so the lesson here for the candidate is this. Keep on interviewing, even though you have multiple offers in hand.

I'm not much for creating a bidding war, but there's nothing wrong about using market intelligence to yield your offer up. Does that make sense? So in negotiation, so these are basically kind of the three pieces that we discussed about. Number one, start with a baseline, be very crystal clear with your goals. It's hard to negotiate from a standpoint of ambiguity. But if you're crystal clear about what you want, you'll be able to have very specific data points and creating a counteroffer if you need to.

Then we talked about market research. And this is really key to the negotiation. I mean, and like I said earlier, there's no secret to what somebody should actually be paid. And you will know pretty quickly offhand if you do your research, what valuation you should be able to drive. And then lastly, we talked about your counteroffer. So and again, you can ask for pretty much whatever you want, as long as you approach it with a with a spirit of amicability and also have sound logic and data points to back that up.

So good luck on negotiating your offers. I'm Julian Pacino, professional career coach and recruiter, and I look forward to connecting with you soon. Thanks.