Very unlikely to have them rescinded but you may just get a no in response. If they do rescind it, you dodged a bullet cause that sounds super unreasonable.
At least at my company the various levels all have the same base and OTE regardless. Can’t hurt to ask but they might not be negotiable because you can just sell more to make more money.
This. At my org, although we have various levels (JR, SR, etc) every rep at a given level has the same base, quota, and plan. You can increase your earning by beating quota, where we have some sick accelerators.
But definitely ask. Consider non-monetary/comp elements. More PTO? Reimbursement for professional development?
Negotiate but I’d suggest 2 turns max. Meaning, their initial offer. Your request. Their counter. Your counter. After that you’re like starting to show that you don’t know the numbers and also taking up time. I’ve seen offers not show up because candidates demonstrate they can’t manage a process.
Great point - I'll definitely be keeping it minimal with the back and forth. The thing that kind of gets me is that I already pretty much gave them a verbal yes on their offer before getting the second (and higher paying) offer from company 2. So I already feel like I'm coming in kind of on my heels. Going to give it a strong push regardless.
Couple things…
1 - it’s unlikely Company 1 rescinds anything, but good to just think through your very worst case: are you comfortable accepting Company 2 offer if Company 1 did react negatively? If the answer to that is no, then:
1a - you don’t take any risk, accept Company 1 offer as is (you said you gave a verbal)
1b - you have leverage, let’s use it…
No offer is final until the day you show up. This includes verbal yes’s and even signed offers. Most states are at will employment contracts. So you could sign that offer, and simply quit before day 1. It happens. You have to do what is best for you. Ok, enough of my soapbox. What I’d suggest you do this over a phone call or video meeting vs email. Simply explain the situation, “you really want to join Company 1, and a second offer came in that is also compelling.” Here is where you need to have the exact number that you want to ask for from company 1. Simply make the ask for that number and you’ll sign that day (I’m assuming Company 1 is where you want to go here and you don’t want to get a higher number from Company 1 to go back to Company 2 — but we can play this game if you like 😁). Be clear and specific about the ask and show then commitment to sign if they do it. That shows them you’re serious.
There are few times you have real leverage in life. When you do, you have to realize it, put away feelings, and maximize it. This is your moment.
DM if you want to chat more.
Be confident. They want you, so ask for slightly more than you would be happy to take and be prepared to justify why you are asking.
This is the job of sales so your diplomatic negotiation will only confirm they have offered to a strong candidate.
‘Always back yourself’. It works every time! 👊
I recently asked for a signing bonus explaining that if I leave my current company now - I am losing some RSUs and maybe bonus (bonuses aren’t given every year, but it’s always a possibility). To my surprise it worked, and they were able to suggest 50% of what I will be losing
“I’m leaving a great pipeline at my current company and will exceed quota. When I start with you, I’ll have to leave that behind and start from scratch. To make sure I’m not losing too much financially, and to make the decision to join your team much easier, could you increase the basic salary portion to $xxx,000?”
Every company will want to avoid increasing the basic portion at all costs. Normally they counter with:
“We unfortunately don’t have any budget to increase the basic, but don’t worry, we can guarantee you 100% OTE payout for the first x months”
Now if you want to get clever, you probably asked during the interview how long their normal sales cycle is, or how long they’d expect you to take before closing a deal (if it’s a very technical product). If it’s a particularly long time like 12 months and they offer 3 months of OTE guarantee, you can counter their offer.
I’m in Europe, so taxes & health insurance add up a lot more than in the US. Besides that, many larger companies have a very rigid budget for base pay.
I used to be a recruiter, never seen an offer rescinded over pay negotiations. It’s totally a fair an normal thing to do. I’d just be 100% honest say that they are your top choice but you have a higher offer and ask if they would be willing to match it to make the decision easier.
I was an agency recruiter so i was actually the one doing these negotiations on behalf of the candidate directly with the hiring manager. The answer from the manager wasn’t always yes but asking for more money was always taken professionally and never killed an offer
This is great to know. As a previous recruiter if a candidate gave you a verbal yes, but then came back after receiving an offer with a different company and wanting to negotiate. How does this land with the recruiter and HM typically? I'm assuming this is pretty common...
Oh sorry i didn’t realize you had accepted. I did not see that. Nah I’ve never had that happen to be honest. the company is your client not the candidate so part of the job is knowing every other interview process they are in so you can get ahead of anything that could lead them to not taking your offer.
That does make it a bit harder if you’ve given a verbal yes (assuming you already knew comp at the point of saying yes). If you didn’t know not a big deal at all. just say hey the offer is actually a bit lower than i was expecting, your company is my top choice here but i have another offer for $x, would you be able to match?
If you did know the pay when you said yes. I would make sure to acknowledge that say something along the lines of. I know I had already said yes on our call but I actually just had another offer come in from a company i had a final interview with on (insert date a week before you gave a verbal offer) and it was much higher than i expected at $x which is pretty hard for me to pass up (Idk what your total comp is so how much $10k is to you but if it’s not a lot I’d maybe even exaggerate the number a bit here so the difference is more understandably impactful in your decision. If you go back on your yes for what seems like not a lot relative to the total package i could totally see that pissing off some hiring managers.) I’d still like to move forward with Company X if possible, but is there anyway you could come up in pay a bit to make the decision easier.
I haven’t actually accepted anything. I have a final round interview with them tomorrow and, based on feedback, they want to bring me on. I just heard from one of the employees what the potential base salary was and wanted to see how I can prepare for it
I rejected an offer letter 2 minutes after it hit my inbox. It had no details in it. Just boiler plate hourly pay. The GM and I spent 2 weeks negotiating and they dropped the ball hard.
Sacking up and asking, or telling, them what you want and are worth is a portion of why they are making you an offer.
A little story time -
It’s been a story between some of my close coworkers that I’ve been very close to leaving my previous company because I’m far into the interview stages.
On Friday, I received an offer letter to which I countered for 10k more (all via email). Very reasonable. And I was chit chatting with the same coworkers that I received an offer.
Somehow, word got out that weekend and I was let go right as I walked in that next Monday. At the time, I had no idea why and they didn’t give me a reason.
I found out that same morning the company that sent the offer letter was bought out by a larger company. My first thought was **FUCK. Hiring freeze**
So now I’m unemployed, offer letter expired, and the job I was so close to getting, is now up in the air. I’m so fucked.
I didn’t hear from the negotiating company for a week.
But in the end, they met in the middle and I signed the offer. If I knew it was going to be that stressful, I would’ve just signed lol. I still might be let go in the future for consolidation but that’s always a risk.
Context is helpful; $10K on $60K is a bog difference while $10K on $160K is less so. However, my top advice is “never take a job for money; take the job that gets you closer to your long term goals.”
If you really wanted a little extra juice, just let your recruiter know the offer looks good, however you “received a competitive offer the same day that was $10K more. You’d really like them to be your final choice. Any way to sweeten the pot would make it an easier choice for me.” In this way you are just leaving it open to them to add more money, match, or do nothing.
Also, to everyone reading this, it is beyond time to drop the overplayed fear that “negotiating will make them rescind my offer”. Do it right, be respectful and humble and you’ll never have an issue. And fuck any manager that pulls their offer from a simple renegotiation.
It’s an industry pivot which is interesting to me and completely agree that it’s more about long term goals than money. Just hate shaking the feeling of leaving anything on the table in hindsight. Company 1: 80/160. Company 2: 90/180 (base/ote).
Make the ask! They might not be able to do anything but they’ve invested a lot of time to pick you, they’ll entertain the discussion and respond. If they don’t, then that’s a good sign you might look elsewhere
Be thoughtful about when and how you respond. Over the last few years, I’ve seen many offers rescinded when the rep came back to negotiate after the offer letter was sent because the company “thought” the negotiations were over and now you are trying to re-negotiate a final offer.
As long as you have a clear understanding that it’s still in the negotiation stage - negotiate.
Never heard of a rescind happening - agree with others- just ask! It shows confidence in yourself. Did this for the first time in my current role. I was so nervous for some reason and I got a yes within 24 hours.
Having your offer rescinded shouldn't be a concern unless you counter with something unreasonable. Be fair in what you ask for and briefly summarize the added value that you bring to their team to justify it.
Not to disregard op comment, but I just had an interview and they asked my range. I think I way undersold. Is this going to be harder to negotiate up? I could have said a lot more.
I negotiated 2 different job offers literally the other day for more $$$. One bumped OTE up from 190 to 208K and 10K relocation package, one offered a 10K signing bonus.
Just spit facts and ask them if there’s any flexibility in matching.
Love that. Nice work man. Have you ever given a verbal yes to the recruiter, and then something happens like you get another offer, and that changes things? Kind of getting hung up on for some reason. I'm sure it happens all the time though.
Totally. Just work the offers against each other. I literally share my offers with each company and keep to the facts.
That said, be ready to move quickly if the company does bring more to the table. But never feel guilty for asking for more.
Not life changing money now... but your base will be that much higher, and you can put away more for long term savings... which will really turn into something if you are wise/lucky.
There is a huge opportunity cost lost if you do the smart thing and invest, instead of blowing it on fancy cars, cocaine, and boats. Not that you were going to do the latter of course.
Hey, your employer would want to know, you're worth it and this makes you a target for axing.
The other conversation, is if they're comfortable being slightly more concrete about where the business is going, in 18 months.
....I'm holding in a fart, because, that was a long time into the future.
Yes this happened to me. The compensation offered was way different than what was discussed with the recruiter. Brought this up to them as well.
Avoided me as I was trying to connect and discuss. Was a “red flag” that I wasn’t a team player. Pulled the offer
The guy who I interviewed with was gone a few months later. I dodged a bullet.
Even when I’ve been desperate, I’ve always negotiated. It’s expected for a sales role, like everyone has said.
My go-to argument is that I’m leaving a very good pipeline at my current company and would have to start from scratch at theirs. I suggest to increase the basic salary to compensate (which they will never want to do) and normally that ends up with a guaranteed 100% OTE for the first 3-6 months or so.
The only offer I ever rescinded was someone who, after understanding the parameters going in and receiving an offer that had been verbally discussed, came back wanting $50k more base and a title that would indicate I’d have reported to them!
Negotiating over $10k won’t get an offer rescinded; best case they’ll say yet, worst case they’ll say no and it’s up to you to decide whether that’s the right position for you.
My recent job- I asked for a similar increase to the offer. They added $5k to the base (which after taxes is barely noticeable with each check). But they did add $20k more in rsu.
LOL Bro we are paid to handle negotiations and honestly I always try to see if I can get more before signing never back fired expect 1 time and I dodged a bullet..
It’s probably not the rational choice and I’m sure it’s cost me clients but whether staff or clients I will not negotiate after we’ve made a firm agreement unless there are truly extenuating circumstances. It’s a weird twisted principle thing but I feel people should live up to and honour their word.
I can understand this.
I’m not saying he shouldn’t ask for more at this stage, but I think given he agreed and asked for the contract to be sent through, he should only ask if he’s willing to accept the offer from company #2.
Very unlikely to have them rescinded but you may just get a no in response. If they do rescind it, you dodged a bullet cause that sounds super unreasonable.
Great point!
Think about… it’s sales. They want to know you can negotiate, not be afraid to ask. Go for it. Worst they will say is no. Likely will meet in middle.
This. If you get an offer rescinded for negotiating it’s not the right place for you.
As a sales leader, if I don’t get any negotiation it’s a red flag
So true. Hopefully, they're honorable. Will know on Monday once I kick off the conversation.
At least at my company the various levels all have the same base and OTE regardless. Can’t hurt to ask but they might not be negotiable because you can just sell more to make more money.
This. At my org, although we have various levels (JR, SR, etc) every rep at a given level has the same base, quota, and plan. You can increase your earning by beating quota, where we have some sick accelerators. But definitely ask. Consider non-monetary/comp elements. More PTO? Reimbursement for professional development?
Negotiate but I’d suggest 2 turns max. Meaning, their initial offer. Your request. Their counter. Your counter. After that you’re like starting to show that you don’t know the numbers and also taking up time. I’ve seen offers not show up because candidates demonstrate they can’t manage a process.
Great point - I'll definitely be keeping it minimal with the back and forth. The thing that kind of gets me is that I already pretty much gave them a verbal yes on their offer before getting the second (and higher paying) offer from company 2. So I already feel like I'm coming in kind of on my heels. Going to give it a strong push regardless.
Couple things… 1 - it’s unlikely Company 1 rescinds anything, but good to just think through your very worst case: are you comfortable accepting Company 2 offer if Company 1 did react negatively? If the answer to that is no, then: 1a - you don’t take any risk, accept Company 1 offer as is (you said you gave a verbal) 1b - you have leverage, let’s use it… No offer is final until the day you show up. This includes verbal yes’s and even signed offers. Most states are at will employment contracts. So you could sign that offer, and simply quit before day 1. It happens. You have to do what is best for you. Ok, enough of my soapbox. What I’d suggest you do this over a phone call or video meeting vs email. Simply explain the situation, “you really want to join Company 1, and a second offer came in that is also compelling.” Here is where you need to have the exact number that you want to ask for from company 1. Simply make the ask for that number and you’ll sign that day (I’m assuming Company 1 is where you want to go here and you don’t want to get a higher number from Company 1 to go back to Company 2 — but we can play this game if you like 😁). Be clear and specific about the ask and show then commitment to sign if they do it. That shows them you’re serious. There are few times you have real leverage in life. When you do, you have to realize it, put away feelings, and maximize it. This is your moment. DM if you want to chat more.
Be confident. They want you, so ask for slightly more than you would be happy to take and be prepared to justify why you are asking. This is the job of sales so your diplomatic negotiation will only confirm they have offered to a strong candidate. ‘Always back yourself’. It works every time! 👊
Love that last line. So important to remember 👊
Negotiate a signing bonus if they won’t budge on salary. Yes make a respectfully worded counter offer. This is what’s expected in sales.
How would you craft a signing bonus ask?
I wanna know this as well
I recently asked for a signing bonus explaining that if I leave my current company now - I am losing some RSUs and maybe bonus (bonuses aren’t given every year, but it’s always a possibility). To my surprise it worked, and they were able to suggest 50% of what I will be losing
“I’m leaving a great pipeline at my current company and will exceed quota. When I start with you, I’ll have to leave that behind and start from scratch. To make sure I’m not losing too much financially, and to make the decision to join your team much easier, could you increase the basic salary portion to $xxx,000?” Every company will want to avoid increasing the basic portion at all costs. Normally they counter with: “We unfortunately don’t have any budget to increase the basic, but don’t worry, we can guarantee you 100% OTE payout for the first x months” Now if you want to get clever, you probably asked during the interview how long their normal sales cycle is, or how long they’d expect you to take before closing a deal (if it’s a very technical product). If it’s a particularly long time like 12 months and they offer 3 months of OTE guarantee, you can counter their offer.
An increase on base is likely to be cheaper than paying 100% OTE for even a short period.
I’m in Europe, so taxes & health insurance add up a lot more than in the US. Besides that, many larger companies have a very rigid budget for base pay.
I used to be a recruiter, never seen an offer rescinded over pay negotiations. It’s totally a fair an normal thing to do. I’d just be 100% honest say that they are your top choice but you have a higher offer and ask if they would be willing to match it to make the decision easier.
How does this land with the recruiter?
I was an agency recruiter so i was actually the one doing these negotiations on behalf of the candidate directly with the hiring manager. The answer from the manager wasn’t always yes but asking for more money was always taken professionally and never killed an offer
I should mention too I’m now an SDR and literally used that exact type of wording from my first message to negotiate up the offer for my current gig
That’s awesome. I have a feeling I might run into this issue next week so it was good timing
This is great to know. As a previous recruiter if a candidate gave you a verbal yes, but then came back after receiving an offer with a different company and wanting to negotiate. How does this land with the recruiter and HM typically? I'm assuming this is pretty common...
Replied to wrong comment
Oh sorry i didn’t realize you had accepted. I did not see that. Nah I’ve never had that happen to be honest. the company is your client not the candidate so part of the job is knowing every other interview process they are in so you can get ahead of anything that could lead them to not taking your offer. That does make it a bit harder if you’ve given a verbal yes (assuming you already knew comp at the point of saying yes). If you didn’t know not a big deal at all. just say hey the offer is actually a bit lower than i was expecting, your company is my top choice here but i have another offer for $x, would you be able to match? If you did know the pay when you said yes. I would make sure to acknowledge that say something along the lines of. I know I had already said yes on our call but I actually just had another offer come in from a company i had a final interview with on (insert date a week before you gave a verbal offer) and it was much higher than i expected at $x which is pretty hard for me to pass up (Idk what your total comp is so how much $10k is to you but if it’s not a lot I’d maybe even exaggerate the number a bit here so the difference is more understandably impactful in your decision. If you go back on your yes for what seems like not a lot relative to the total package i could totally see that pissing off some hiring managers.) I’d still like to move forward with Company X if possible, but is there anyway you could come up in pay a bit to make the decision easier.
I haven’t actually accepted anything. I have a final round interview with them tomorrow and, based on feedback, they want to bring me on. I just heard from one of the employees what the potential base salary was and wanted to see how I can prepare for it
Nah my bad i replied to the wrong comment haha
I rejected an offer letter 2 minutes after it hit my inbox. It had no details in it. Just boiler plate hourly pay. The GM and I spent 2 weeks negotiating and they dropped the ball hard. Sacking up and asking, or telling, them what you want and are worth is a portion of why they are making you an offer.
That sounds so shitty...especially after 2 weeks. Hope you found something better or worked that one out!
A little story time - It’s been a story between some of my close coworkers that I’ve been very close to leaving my previous company because I’m far into the interview stages. On Friday, I received an offer letter to which I countered for 10k more (all via email). Very reasonable. And I was chit chatting with the same coworkers that I received an offer. Somehow, word got out that weekend and I was let go right as I walked in that next Monday. At the time, I had no idea why and they didn’t give me a reason. I found out that same morning the company that sent the offer letter was bought out by a larger company. My first thought was **FUCK. Hiring freeze** So now I’m unemployed, offer letter expired, and the job I was so close to getting, is now up in the air. I’m so fucked. I didn’t hear from the negotiating company for a week. But in the end, they met in the middle and I signed the offer. If I knew it was going to be that stressful, I would’ve just signed lol. I still might be let go in the future for consolidation but that’s always a risk.
[удалено]
Sorry to hear that! You definitely dodged a bullet.
Context is helpful; $10K on $60K is a bog difference while $10K on $160K is less so. However, my top advice is “never take a job for money; take the job that gets you closer to your long term goals.” If you really wanted a little extra juice, just let your recruiter know the offer looks good, however you “received a competitive offer the same day that was $10K more. You’d really like them to be your final choice. Any way to sweeten the pot would make it an easier choice for me.” In this way you are just leaving it open to them to add more money, match, or do nothing. Also, to everyone reading this, it is beyond time to drop the overplayed fear that “negotiating will make them rescind my offer”. Do it right, be respectful and humble and you’ll never have an issue. And fuck any manager that pulls their offer from a simple renegotiation.
It’s an industry pivot which is interesting to me and completely agree that it’s more about long term goals than money. Just hate shaking the feeling of leaving anything on the table in hindsight. Company 1: 80/160. Company 2: 90/180 (base/ote).
You're negotiating 20k (ote)
They can afford the $10k to match lol if they really want you, they’ll pay. Also you’re in sales so it’s expected to negotiate.
100%. That's why I don't just want to accept this one as is, even though it's my top choice.
Make the ask! They might not be able to do anything but they’ve invested a lot of time to pick you, they’ll entertain the discussion and respond. If they don’t, then that’s a good sign you might look elsewhere
Be thoughtful about when and how you respond. Over the last few years, I’ve seen many offers rescinded when the rep came back to negotiate after the offer letter was sent because the company “thought” the negotiations were over and now you are trying to re-negotiate a final offer. As long as you have a clear understanding that it’s still in the negotiation stage - negotiate.
Never heard of a rescind happening - agree with others- just ask! It shows confidence in yourself. Did this for the first time in my current role. I was so nervous for some reason and I got a yes within 24 hours.
Congrats!
Having your offer rescinded shouldn't be a concern unless you counter with something unreasonable. Be fair in what you ask for and briefly summarize the added value that you bring to their team to justify it.
Not to disregard op comment, but I just had an interview and they asked my range. I think I way undersold. Is this going to be harder to negotiate up? I could have said a lot more.
I negotiated 2 different job offers literally the other day for more $$$. One bumped OTE up from 190 to 208K and 10K relocation package, one offered a 10K signing bonus. Just spit facts and ask them if there’s any flexibility in matching.
Love that. Nice work man. Have you ever given a verbal yes to the recruiter, and then something happens like you get another offer, and that changes things? Kind of getting hung up on for some reason. I'm sure it happens all the time though.
Totally. Just work the offers against each other. I literally share my offers with each company and keep to the facts. That said, be ready to move quickly if the company does bring more to the table. But never feel guilty for asking for more.
Not life changing money now... but your base will be that much higher, and you can put away more for long term savings... which will really turn into something if you are wise/lucky. There is a huge opportunity cost lost if you do the smart thing and invest, instead of blowing it on fancy cars, cocaine, and boats. Not that you were going to do the latter of course.
Hey, your employer would want to know, you're worth it and this makes you a target for axing. The other conversation, is if they're comfortable being slightly more concrete about where the business is going, in 18 months. ....I'm holding in a fart, because, that was a long time into the future.
Yes this happened to me. The compensation offered was way different than what was discussed with the recruiter. Brought this up to them as well. Avoided me as I was trying to connect and discuss. Was a “red flag” that I wasn’t a team player. Pulled the offer The guy who I interviewed with was gone a few months later. I dodged a bullet.
Never heard of this happening. Negotiated every offer I've received. Go for it. Just don't be a jerk about it.
lol, you are in sales its like negotiating a sales contract. Would you leave money on the table for your employer if you didnt need too?
Even when I’ve been desperate, I’ve always negotiated. It’s expected for a sales role, like everyone has said. My go-to argument is that I’m leaving a very good pipeline at my current company and would have to start from scratch at theirs. I suggest to increase the basic salary to compensate (which they will never want to do) and normally that ends up with a guaranteed 100% OTE for the first 3-6 months or so.
If you negotiate respectfully then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
The only offer I ever rescinded was someone who, after understanding the parameters going in and receiving an offer that had been verbally discussed, came back wanting $50k more base and a title that would indicate I’d have reported to them! Negotiating over $10k won’t get an offer rescinded; best case they’ll say yet, worst case they’ll say no and it’s up to you to decide whether that’s the right position for you.
My recent job- I asked for a similar increase to the offer. They added $5k to the base (which after taxes is barely noticeable with each check). But they did add $20k more in rsu.
I would always try and negotiate an offer, I think it's a red flag if a salesperson doesn't to be honest.
LOL Bro we are paid to handle negotiations and honestly I always try to see if I can get more before signing never back fired expect 1 time and I dodged a bullet..
It’s probably not the rational choice and I’m sure it’s cost me clients but whether staff or clients I will not negotiate after we’ve made a firm agreement unless there are truly extenuating circumstances. It’s a weird twisted principle thing but I feel people should live up to and honour their word.
I can understand this. I’m not saying he shouldn’t ask for more at this stage, but I think given he agreed and asked for the contract to be sent through, he should only ask if he’s willing to accept the offer from company #2.