Last week I negotiated with a recruiter about a contract position salary, after I received the offer and the job duties were clear, I asked if there's any flexibility with the salary. The recruiter said there is no flexibility with the offer because he has already prepared a contract with the employer and they agreed on a particular rate that can no longer be changed (which is probably false). He also said that if I don't make a decision soon that will have to move on to other candidates ( and I was given a reasonable amount of time to decide).
I proceeded to say something along the lines that I am interviewing with other companies that are very interested, it is fine if you have to move on to other candidates, I understand that you must do this to keep your client happy, I just wanted to ask the right questions that may facilitate my decision.
He said something like "I understand, there is no flexibility there, when are your other interviews scheduled for?" ... "I will do anything to make my client (the employer) happy, so I will contact the employer, to answer some of your questions (not regarding salary) and get back to you."
Judging from the conversation, is there any potential to attempt to re-negotiate when the recruiter calls back with the answers? what would be a good way to do this?
The bottom line is, the offer given is decent, other interviews would probably yield offers that compete with this one, with less responsibilities, in the near future. However, it is not wise to turn down in offer without any other offers on the table. If I was given a tiny bump in the current offer rate, I would agree and can start asap. Note, that during the conversation, the recruiter also mentioned that the employer really liked me and thought I was good fit.