Do most women negotiate their offer?
I read an article which said that 70% of women took the first offer while men negotiate like crazy. I know for me, if the offer is good, I tend to accept without further negotiation. Could this be one of the reasons of pay parity? Ps: just negotiated for the first time in 10 years and *fingers crossed* hope I get it.
It’s negotiation 101, if they give the first number you can always ask for more. Never take the first number. If you have multiple offers then you can even go multiple rounds.
I’m a woman. I usually negotiate for a little bit more than the offer. I also ask if any shares/equity/ownership can be added to my compensation.
I’m very curious about the outcome of this. I’m also an ethnic minority from a culture that is not as blunt. I negotiated once because I was told “that’s what you do” from my male friends. I got an extra 10k from it but it took “director approval” except fast forward a year and we hired a man at 30k higher.
I know it’s hard to see someone new get hired at a higher rate than you, but you shouldn’t be offended by that. It’s all about having multiple offers, having leverage and negotiate hard. You need to learn to play the game.
I think most don’t. I am interviewing now and definitely plan to negotiate once I get an offer I’m interested in. Best of luck on your offer!!
This is my impressions by talking to my female colleagues. They didn’t negotiate and took the first offer. While the male colleagues will say “ask 20k more”, F that..get competing offers.
I am a male and when I got my first job I did not negotiate. After a while I realized I was underpaid and spoke to my manager. My manager agreed I was underpaid and brought it up with HR. The HR bluntly told I should have negotiated when I joined and nothing can be done now!! I had to change 2 jobs to get to median salary as next jobs pay you a percentage increase on your current salary.. I also know 3 more friends (2 male and 1 female) in the same boat. While it was unfair on us, it did not affect our lives much because being in tech we are among top 10 percentile earners, making a 6 digit figure per annum. I think if we are serious about pay disparity due to gender, we should fight in low income places where say males are paid $20 per hr vs females being paid $18 per hr. Fighting for a salary disparity like $200,000 vs $180,000 seems like elitism to me. I am not saying such a disparity is ok, but is fighting it as a class action justified when world has so much more bigger and real problems? And offcourse people can write articles with any numbers they want. It’s like politicians throwing in numbers that are far off from actual facts. @Op: glad you learnt from your previous experiences and negotiated. Hope you get what you have asked for
The $20,000 difference compounds year after year and will affect retirement/401K savings though. A woman and a man doing the same job at the same skill and experience level should not be making salaries with a $20k disparity. Even if they are “high” salaries.
$20k disparity in a salary of $40k vs $60k makes a hell of a lot more difference than the disparity of $20k in a salary of $180k vs $200k.. When the salaries are higher than twice and thrice of the national average, the skill and experience cannot be measured easily. So someone who is earning more than twice or thrice of national average can always look for a new job, gain new skills if they feel they are discriminated on their pay. That is if someone is already making a very high salary they can themselves fight the injustices against them. A class action is needed for ppl with lower wages or with national average wages
I certainly haven’t negotiated much when I got my first offers. Like you, I just accepted if it’s good enough at the time. I’m much more successful at negotiating more once I’ve settled into the role with time (60% raise in 3yr at same co) bc then, I know who I need to appeal to to make my case and make it happen. I feel that it’s what women are good at: having the ethos and interpersonal skills to make the case. And since we haven’t made those relationships yet with new co, maybe that’s why we haven’t been too successful with negotiating first offers? Good luck with your negotiation! And keep us posted. I may need some advice as I’m now job hunting too
Very nerve wrecking..checking my phone and email like every 30 mins. I agree with your assessment and part of it, it’s me trying to overcome my imposter syndrome. I know I am good but my mind also has a way to constantly doubt myself.
I recommend reading “ten rules for negotiating a job offer” by Haseeb Qureshi
Ok this makes me feeling better. Wished I read this earlier.
I'm a man but I have imposter syndrome - not onec I'm in a company but when I'm negotiating a new position. I used to not even negotiate but even now it's the toughest thing ever and I'm sure I haven't done the best that I could for myself.
I hear you. I was a bunch of nerves yesterday. I could have gotten some more but I don’t want to put myself through that again and end up accepting the offer as is.
I’m a recruiter and can tell you that I see negotiations from both men and women. At the career level through mid level management men seem to negotiate a bit more. At the more senior level women have started to realize how valuable they are in helping companies achieve their diversity goals and they can pretty much name their price. Personally I ALWAYS negotiate and will not make a job change for any less than a 15% increase period (I realize the ability to do so is part of my privilege). I know that once I get into a company I’m likely to see 3% annual increases and that my long term earning potential will suffer if I don’t start at a solid increase from my last role. I know that while many companies can claim they pay men and women equally, they often promote women at a slower pace which means slower financial growth for women in general.
Awww look at you, calling her “sweetie” and talking down to her.