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I did a job interview and the hiring manager said the salary range is between $35,000 and $60,000, she asked for my salary expectations I said $38,000 (I currently earn $30,000).

After the call I realised that what I said was foolish so I sent her an e-mail that I answered prematurely and that I'm expecting from $45,000 and above.

When the offer came, they gave me $45,000, I am thinking of negotiating another $5000 on top of that amount, how do i go about that?

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    Note that this depends entirely on whether you are comfortable losing this offer. It's a bad idea in the sense that you're appearing flaky as described in the answer below. But if you wouldn't accept the job at less than 45+X then that is moot. If it's an otherwise excellent job and a decent enough pay raise then this is much riskier.
    – Lilienthal
    Jul 14, 2019 at 18:28
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    See how far you can take it! If they agree to $50,000, ask for $52,500 next time! Jul 15, 2019 at 6:43
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    You simply will not be considered a serious person
    – David
    Jul 15, 2019 at 11:29
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    I think this has been sufficiently answered, but another thing to consider is that companies like a candidate who knows their own worth. By changing your salary request three times, you're clearly telling them you don't know your worth -- which is not a good look. Stick with the offer and wait a year to ask for a raise.
    – Steve-o169
    Jul 15, 2019 at 14:00
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    please don't use comments to answer the question. Comments are temporary, use them to ask for clarification from the OP Jul 15, 2019 at 14:16

6 Answers 6

177

No.

You have already bumped them up by a significant percentage with your email; by going back on what you said a second time you will create one of two impressions - that you don't know what you actually want, or that you still won't be satisfied even if they give you more. Neither is good. Stick with the second offer, and if you really think you deserve more then ask once you've had time to prove what value you bring.

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    +1 The obvious reason for an employer to equal the candidate's salary request is to save the time and energy that could have been spent negotiating. Jul 14, 2019 at 22:12
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    The other obvious reason could be though, that even the higher request still means a below-market salary, e.g. a bargain for the employer.
    – Niko1978
    Jul 15, 2019 at 5:54
  • Plus probably they will no longer consider him for the position because of him being demanding?
    – Sandra K
    Jul 15, 2019 at 6:50
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    It's possible; the fact they agreed to $45k without pushback probably means they are still in budget, and they have already named $60k as the top of their range, but obviously there are red lines somewhere in both money and HR's patience. Jul 15, 2019 at 8:16
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    Continuing to negotiate after having agreed is a red flag to an Employer
    – Smock
    Jul 15, 2019 at 12:15
60

No way. You already asked for more. If I was the hiring manager and you asked again I would rescind your offer.

You got a nice increase in salary. Be happy. Take the job and stop negotiating.

57

It would show two things about you:

1- You are completely money driven and will jump ship at the first opportunity - hence you're a bad investment for the company

2- You don't think things through - hence you're a bad investment for the company

You will very possibly find they rescind the offer.

3

The following applies to anything that has a price:

Changing a price before the other side reacts is poor negotiation, but can be written off as a mistake.

Changing a price after the other side agrees is an insult.

-1

I'm honestly not sure how realistic the idea of them rescinding the offer is. I would think that the worst case is that they simply say they won't meet the new demand. It depends on how urgently you need this job and if other offers are on the table.

If you have some time, you could try getting an offer from another company for more and letting the first company know you'd be willing to work for them if they can match it. There may not be enough time though given the context.

Generally when negotiating salaries you never want to give the opening offer or your current salary. This way if they want to give you more than what you thought you'd get then they won't come down to it.

-5

Other answers say “no” and I initially thought the same, but I’m going to suggest a slightly different approach.

There is a way you could (note the emphasis on the conditional) get out of this with $50,000 (what you seem to be wanting now), but it will take more than just “oh sorry I changed my mind”. If you do that you’ll be crammed, and rightly so.

Basically, your only way forward at this point is to wait for a few days and let this company know that you really, crazily want to work with them (and explain why), however you just received an offer from another company for $52,000. Obviously you thinking about it because $7,000 is quite a difference. However, if they’re willing to bump you to $50,000 it would then be a case closed and you guarantee them that you will join and don’t do any further discussions, and you’ll be extremely grateful for their patience.

Also, if and when you do that, explicitly mention that you’re embarrassed and aware of the fact that you’re borderline, and also insist that you thank them for having already agreed for $45,000. Phrase it like you’re not playing a numbers game, and the only reason for this behavior is that you can’t easily let go of a 7,000 difference because you have responsibilities and all the likes. Your family wouldn’t be happy for instance, or you have student debt, etc.

I’m not saying that it will work. It very well might not work and still cram you, depending on how you did during the interviews. I’m just saying that this is the only sensible scenario in which it might have a slight chance to work.

Be aware that if they go along with that, you’d better perform exceptionally well once on the job, or else you’ll be dumped at the first review (and very likely before that).

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    I am not sure that lying is a good advice...
    – Taladris
    Jul 15, 2019 at 13:06
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    This is really bad form. For one, it's a blatant lie, and if you're caught, you're out of there. But also, there's tons of questions on this site about what happens when people get raises that result from other offers, and the overwhelming consensus is that that person's days are numbered at that company. Jul 15, 2019 at 13:54
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    This is awful advice.
    – SiHa
    Jul 15, 2019 at 13:54
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    @Jivan You explicitly state that the asker should tell the company he has another higher offer when there is no indication that is true. That is flat out lying. If such an offer doesn't exist, the asker isn't going to wait a week or more to secure such an offer and you clearly weren't advocating that.
    – Steve-o169
    Jul 15, 2019 at 14:12
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    There's nothing to interpret. The OP had an interview and an offer. There's no mention of other offers. The question has nothing to do with playing multiple offers off each other -- the asker is only trying to judge how he will appear if he attempts to get an even higher salary than he's already negotiated. Lying about another offer to increase the salary further is not good advice.
    – Steve-o169
    Jul 15, 2019 at 14:23

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