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Before being offered my internship at a company, I was asked what I wanted for compensation. I told them a number, and they told me that they could only offer X amount (which was about 10k less). They asked if this seemed reasonable and I told them yes. At the time I was really just concerned with receiving an internship.

I am about to meet someone from HR to discuss a full time offer. Am I in a position to be able to negotiate salary much? I had (sort of) already agreed that I was ok with X amount. This amount is under typical market value.

What might be a good strategy for this type of situation?

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I am about to meet someone from HR to discuss a full time offer. Am I in a position to be able to negotiate salary much? I had (sort of) already agreed that I was ok with X amount.

I'm not sure what "sort of" means in this context, but if you sort of already agreed to an amount, then you can still negotiate, but the likelihood of getting what you want is probably sort of lessened.

Before you meet to discuss a full-time offer, consider your alternatives, and be ready to move ahead depending on how they respond:

  • You can accept X
  • You could ask for more and settle for X or more
  • You could ask for more and leave if you don't get more

If you are confident that they like you, and don't suspect that they will react negatively, there would seem to be little downside to asking for more (perhaps asking for "typical market value"). Make sure you consider other aspects of the job beside salary - benefits, opportunity, market, corporate culture, etc.

Be enthusiast. Tell them how much you like working for them. But tell them that, while you initially believed their entry-level salary was reasonable, you have come to understand that the "typical market value" for someone in your position, and coming out of an internship, is more than they have offered.

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  • By "sort of" agreed I mean that before giving me my internship offer they told me what their entry level employees make and asked if this seemed reasonable. I told them yes – Collin Nov 12 '14 at 1:27
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    @user2079802 normally interns won't be making the same as entry level employees. – Pepone Nov 12 '14 at 1:43
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    @Pepone I'm saying that they told me what I could expect to make working there full time before hiring me as an intern. I assume because they don't want to hire interns that won't become full time employees – Collin Nov 12 '14 at 1:48
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    @Joe, why are you not a mod on here yet? (Yet another good answer) :P – James Nov 12 '14 at 11:48
  • Please remember that the salaries listed in typical places like Glassdoor are inflated. As an intern it is unlikely you will get that much if any more than they offered. You don't have any real leverage like specilized skills or high professional repuation to make negotiating worth it to the company at that level. And Interns typically make much less than permanent employees becasue you are in training, you are not a worth that much to them yet. If they offer you a full_time job, you would expect a pay boost wouldn't you? – HLGEM Nov 12 '14 at 21:52

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