I really need your advice on salary negotiation I am currently facing. Here’s how the thing went so far (long story, sorry about that)
I applied the job on early Sep for the position of product manager in an industry where I have never worked for. I have 6 years transferable work experiences but the job may not perfectly fit to my qualifications and experiences.
Luckily, I got a job offer after whole interview process, and I was very happy since the company is globally well-known company originated from my country and the office is located in other country where I wanted to work in some day for global experiences.
But, what they offered was lower than I expected, it was $43K. When I submitted my resume, and when I was asked to fill up another application form after 1st interview, I clearly stated the salary expectation was $70K. I know $70K was unrealistic since I am currently earning $45K, but I expected there would be negotiation part if they would make an actual job offer.
Job offer was made on 6th Oct, and I countered with $60K on the same day with the reasons based on my experiences, qualifications, and potential contributions on the company. (Average salary or other researches were not helpful since there is a huge difference between local employees and employees hired and sent from my country).
Within 3 hours, HR person (she is not hiring manager, but she has been the contact point ever since the interview process) replied that what they offered was the most they could offer based on standard of living in the county and additionally stated that similar offer was made to current employees who had similar backgrounds (I felt that they did not really make a serious discussion on the matter). And she tried to push me make a decision by next morning.
Next morning (7th, Oct), after careful consideration overnight, I sent back my reply with additional reasons why their offer was not still reasonable. I calculated the current VS future disposable income objectively (since HR person mentioned “standard of living”). I also found the job posting they made in 2009 and their salary range was $42K ~ $48K, 7 Years Ago! Again, they offered me $43K, so I thought there offer was unreasonable.
After that, I got no response until 10th Oct, so I made a call at late time to ask if they properly received my email. HR person said that they tried to make further discussion with people in charge. No response after that, so I again sent a follow-up email today (13th, Oct) how much I am interested in working for them and when could I hear back by. Within 15 min, I got reply saying that they are still in the midst of discussion with management and they shall be able to get back to me by next week only.
In my thought, there are many possibilities from the best case, they are really trying to find more money or they are waiting to get approval from someone in charge, to the worst case, they are contacting the second or third ideal candidates or interviewing other potential candidates. Anyway what I would like to know is if my approach to negotiation was logical and if there is real possibility that they are getting back to me with higher offer.
In my country, employees do not try to negotiate for higher salary in most cases, and this was my first trial to make a salary negotiation. And honestly, I am now desperate for the position since I strongly believe this is rare opportunity for me to get chances of working abroad in good company. So please give me an advice, Thanks.
