I attempted to negotiate a higher salary after I was given an offer but was ignored, can I contact the company to accept the original offer?

Question

I was given a job offer around one and a half months ago, and asked for few days to consider about the offer. However, I felt that the salary that they provided was too low for me, so I sent back email to the HR and requested for a higher salary.

The HR representative replied saying that she would get back to me after having a discussion with the director about that. I waited for a few weeks, but it seems that they chose to ignore me and did not reply. After one month, I realized that the job market is very competitive nowadays and I would like to accept the original salary offered.

I noticed that they have recently re-posted the same job offer on the website again (which means they still cannot find a suitable candidate for that position). Can I contact them back for reconsideration? If yes, how should I approach doing so?

Answer 1

can I contact them back for reconsideration? if yes, how?

Yes, you can always give it another shot.

Call the person who gave you the original offer. Indicate that you thought you were still negotiating, but haven't heard from them for a few weeks and ask why. You might say that you wanted to be sure they had your correct contact information. If you sense that there is an opening for more discussions, take it and determine what you want to do next.

It might be that they are still considering your counter-offer. Hiring managers have a budget for filling open positions, and most often have a salary range for that slot. Bringing on a new person above that range may require several levels of management approval taking several weeks. It might be that they simply haven't finished gaining the needed approvals.

It might be that they are trying to see if they can fill the position with someone equally qualified, but cheaper. They may succeed, or they may not. If the latter, they may still come back to you with an acceptance or offer.

Or, it might be that you have priced yourself out of the running. They may reconsider you at the original offer if you request that, but they may also decide that you asked for so much that you clearly wouldn't be happy for long at their company. That's always a risk we take when we ask for more.

Either way, get in contact with them. See where they are in their process. It can't hurt.

Answer 2

Schedule an appointment with the person you were in contact with at the HR department and talk with him in person. If that's not an option then at least make a phone call to that individual.

Be honest and direct; just say that you really want the job and that you'd like to accept their original offer. Being there in person, or at least on the line, means that you really want the job, it's not just one of thirty applications you made via email that you might want.

You want this one.

If that doesn't do it, it simply means they're not interested or the requirements for the position have changed. Move on if that's the case.

I received a job offer once and I asked for a little higher salary. They couldn't accept it so I notified them that I'd accept the original offer. Unfortunately the company decided to scrape the position to focus on other matters; the salary wasn't the problem, It was simply a matter of bad luck and coincidence (no-one got hired for the position in the end).

Don't be afraid to ask for a higher salary. It depends, however, how you do it. In my experience companies usually ask me what I want during the interview, make sure to go for a higher number than what you actually want so that once you get the offer it will either be what you originally wanted, or somewhat above that. That way you can simply say yes if you get an offer, avoiding this possible conflict.