I had a phone interview where the hiring manager told me what the salary is for the position. In order to move forward in the interview process, I will have to accept the salary. Can I counter-offer in this situation?
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2Yes. You can always counter, but they always have the option to decline.– mcknzCommented Jul 18, 2017 at 17:40
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1@mcknz Or select another candidate who is asking for less.– David KCommented Jul 18, 2017 at 17:44
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@DavidK and that's why it's important to know what's the lowest salary you'll accept going into a negotiation -- to avoid a race to the bottom.– mcknzCommented Jul 18, 2017 at 17:47
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Were you given an exact amount or a ballpark figure?– Bernhard BarkerCommented Jul 18, 2017 at 18:16
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Was this the first interview or how far into the interview process is this?– Bernhard BarkerCommented Jul 18, 2017 at 18:20
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4 Answers
I would say you can always provide a counter offer for what you'd like for your salary. Whether or not they accept is up to them.
Very likely, this is just a trick on their part to get you to agree to something less than what you'd like and avoid salary negotiations.
answered Jul 18, 2017 at 17:33
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1I'm not sure why you'd say this is a "trick". It seems more likely that they just aren't willing to negotiate (much?), so they just opt for leading with the salary to avoid spending effort and money going far into the process with someone who will end up unhappy with the salary offer and either decline or quickly start their job search again. Commented Jul 18, 2017 at 18:05
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@Dukeling Sorry, I mean it's something that 3rd party recruiters do to convince people into taking the position sooner. I would trust an internal recruiter that stated the salary was non-negotiable. Some company's may well be willing to negotiate on salary, whereas a recruiter that's getting paid a flat sum to fill the position may be motivated to get someone to sign as soon as possible and move on; including getting someone to accept whatever salary is given instead of waiting a week or two for negotiations to be completed. Commented Jul 18, 2017 at 18:43
Can I counter-offer in this situation?
Sure, you can always counter-offer.
You could also try to stall them with something like "Well, that seems close, but first I have to find out more about the company and position before I can make a decision."
And you could always indicate that the salary is acceptable, then change you mind when you find out more about the position.
None of this will likely work. Most likely, the company set up this foolish "require a salary acceptance before the interview process is done" system to avoid thoughtful counter-offers.
It depends on how acceptable their offer is, and how much you value this job. For me, this is a big red flag that this is a company I'd likely avoid.
answered Jul 18, 2017 at 18:56
If you're at the beginning of the interview process and have only had a phone interview, it's a potentially dangerous place to be accepting salary. You haven't been on the premises to assess the situation for yourself. You've probably only interacted with one person besides HR, and that was by telephone. So accepting a fixed salary number at this point would be tantamount to a building contractor accepting a project - for a fixed price - without ever visiting the work site.
So in this scenario, once you consent to a salary amount, the company may start adding conditions that make that salary amount unreasonable. You might be better off responding to say that you're reserving making any decision on salary until the interview process is complete.
If this is far into the interview process (as in the last or close to the last interview), one can make a good argument for just treating it as you would an official offer and negotiating appropriately.
If this is early in the interview process:
Neither party is in a particularly good negotiating position yet: interviewing is a two-way street - yes, you haven't really had time to prove your abilities, but you may also not be completely sold on the company yet. Also, both parties presumably still have plenty of other options to consider.
If you were given an exact amount which you need to accept, your best bet is probably to treat it as an offer and make a counter-offer if you so desire (but I'd expect them to decline it). This would slightly concern me and make me think they're more interested in just filling the role for a specific amount (grunt work?) as opposed to finding (and paying a bit extra for) someone who'd be a particularly awesome employee (or they just use counter-intuitive negotiating techniques). You can also try to push the negotiations to a later stage by stating that a salary in that region seems reasonable, but you first want to find out more about the company before you commit to anything.
If you were given a ballpark figure, I'd perhaps just consider this them trying to avoid wasting effort and money interviewing someone who could've told them at the start that they're not interested in receiving a salary in that region (there's little point in interviewing someone who wants significantly more than the absolute maximum you're willing to pay). If you'd be happy with a salary roughly in that region, you can simply say as much and negotiate when you get an exact amount further into the interview process (when you get an offer, presumably). But expect an offer similar to the initial figure given, and don't expect them to negotiate too far away from that figure.
answered Jul 18, 2017 at 18:50
