Ask HN: Best Guide to Salary Negotiation? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best Guide to Salary Negotiation?

16 pointsmcrittenden9 comments

Any suggestions? What resources helped you when negotiating a salary?

https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

All the salary negotiation tips can be reduced to this: You have to have a better alternative. That means doing getting multiple offers within the same time period before you accept one.

All the other stuff goes out the window if you can do this. You can be a terrible negotiator. You can mention a number up front. It won't matter if you have other alternatives because it's easy for you to say "I'm sorry. I have an offer for $X more."

The BATNA (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/best-alternative-to-a-n...) is definitely important, but it is all about being willing to walk away. The multiple offers obviously helps with this, but that doesn't mean that you can still leave a lot of money on the table if you negotiate badly. If you have an offer from FAANG and one from another company the one from the other might still be lower than a low-ball offer from FAANG.

Agreed. I have ended job interviews that begin with salary expectations. I bought Josh Doody's book [1] a number of years ago and it had an immediate effect on my compensation level.

There is a newsletter I think you can sign up for as well now.

[1]: https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/

Know what you are worth. Never mention a number first. Be prepared to walk out.

Also consider other compensation - at this point in my career I'd really rather have an extra week or two of paid vacation vs a higher salary.

I echo the know your worth and be ready to walk away if you aren't getting your worth.

I personally don't shy from mentioning rough base salary range first though it is against popular wisdom. I let the companies know this is my range for base and its flexible based on the offered equity. Because of the base + equity splits I can bend whichever lever companies are comfortable with.

Negotiating extra leave as unpaid is probably easier once you’ve worked somewhere for a year, whereas the salary is more of a when you join thing to negotiate.

Have you managed to negotiate an extra week vacation? I have tried in many attempts but they end up paying me more instead as changing HR policies is a lot of work.

As with every negotiation it's not about what the seller (you) want, but what the buyer is possibly willing and able to pay. Look at their ROI. If it is positive, they will buy. Your goal is to take as much as possible of that ROI for yourself. So it's really about being well-informed about those numbers and then just explaining them, sticking to it and walking out, if necessary.

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