negotiation backfiring
I had 3 concurrent offers and was trying to negotiate with no luck. First company gave verbal offer and when I mentioned I have competing offers, they are dragging their feet on an actual written offer indicating something like having to finalize 2020 headcount (i.e., no real offer yet). Second company flat out said their initial offer was final and tried to sell other things like company culture, growth opps etc. Third company is talking about small increase in sign-on bonus if I am ready to accept their offer over the others. In other words, nothing like the success stories of Haseeb and others on Blind. Do those tactics only work for FANG? Any other success stories of negotiating much higher TC with competing offers? Wondering if I am doing something wrong.
You are an idiot for trying to negotiate the first offer before they even extended you the official job offer via email. It’s important to be cool during negotiations and not to appear too money hungry and selfish immediately off the bat. Yes you are definitely doing something wrong if all companies are basically refusing to budge. My guess is that it’s the way you’re communicating with the recruiters/hiring teams. seems like you’re transactional instead of approaching the negotiation conversations from a “how can we both win” perspective. Impossible to say though without knowing more details.
I didn’t negotiate numbers on the verbal offer. Just told them I had 2 other competing offers so would look forward to their formal offer as well before making a decision. That formal offer never came.
Why does it matter if you wait until official offer letter before telling them you have competing offers?
basically gotta pretend to be really interested until you get it in writing then negotiate
This one didn’t work either. The 2 written offers are not budging on the numbers and are trying to sell me on other things like company culture etc. I didn’t share the names of the competing companies or the actual numbers. The companies are all mid tier (all in around the same tier).
Hey OP - this doesn’t mean anything. They won’t budge till you decline. Since you have 3 offers, try declining the least attractive offer and watch them come back!!
Success stories all involve having leverage and walking away from bad offers.
The fact that OP has multiple offers means he has leverage, doesn’t it? So by walking away from bad offers that would mean he would lose all leverage.
Bad offers are not leverage. If they were, OP would not be worried. The ability to get a good offer can be used in leu of a actually having a good offer, but it must be backed up credibly.
@salesforce - I disagree. Just because he walks away from a bad offer doesn’t mean he has to tell the other companies he walked away. He can still pretend he has those offers. It’s all about how you communicate your situation to the recruiters and also the tone you use. Lastly - it depends how good you really are. It’s possible that OP did well but not THAT well. In which case you don’t have much leverage and need to be honest with yourself.
Don’t mention the multiple offers, companies can pull offers since they figure you’ll trade up shortly. Look at the cost of medical, dental, vision and 401k and if they have a match that’s safe harbor or vested. Any company with a 6 year vest schedule is counting on turnover to pad the 401k fees. In my current co there’s 4 million in the forfeiture account. Go with the company with the better health benefits as the compensation isn’t taxable like salary. Assume 30% for taxes and see if you can live on that.
Different variables at play 1. Budget restrictions company has to fill the position 2. How well you play negotiation game without appearing 💰 greedy 3. How badly company wants you or how well your performed in interview compared with the other candidates Determine what variables influence each company (have biggest weight for them) and try to play your game to achieve optimal result. Once I got offer from X, then I got an offer from Y which was 24% lower than offer from X. When I mentioned this to Y HR started to talk about corporate BS, how I will be a great fit and how great their culture is. Y never tried to beat offer from X. I guess they just didn't have the budget.
You didn’t mention if the offers are fair or in line with levels.fyi....
H1bdata.info shows higher base salaries(lower as well but my offers are around the median there). Levels.fyi doesn’t have a lot of data for new folks at the company (0 years with several years outside the company).
Also if blind numbers are to be believed, those are higher as well.
You don't need to give any specific numbers on other offers nor a written offer to begin negotiation. You are negotiating based on what you would be comfortable with in the end. You will have to resist the requests from recruiters to commit to a number if they give that number to you (they will resist putting anything in writing so you can't share it). Just speak in terms of "something like $xxx would probably be acceptable to me but I would not be able to commit until I get a written offer and can review all benefits, agreements I need to sign, vesting terms, etc...". Indicate you have other offers coming in and that what you would need may be subject to what those other offers come in at. I negotiated for weeks without written offers, getting best offer up over 100K from initial low balls.
From Capco?
Nope, in process now with FAANGs.
I would not say it's backfiring (except for the first offer), but just not working. It is fine to mention competing offers but you have to make it sound like you still are very interested in the position. Otherwise they might think that "this person is going to leave at the earliest opportunity of further compensation , so we are going to train him/her at a loss, so better no hire that person". I would have said (on the phone - in writing I would phrase it differently) : "Thank you very much for your verbal offer ! I really appreciate your offer and I really believe this is a great opportunity for me, with room for years of professional growth. With that being said, I recently received an offer from another company with a slightly higher compensation. I would really prefer to work with you because I really like your company culture and the projects, but I want to make sure I am being paid fairly for the role so that I am not tempted to leave, which would be too bad. Can you try improving the offer a little bit ? I'd definitely sign, just help me remove that other company from my head." YMMV. Negotiating always comes with a risk.
But what if the other higher comp offer also has a better culture and benefits?
I just wanted to give a way of phrasing a TC negotiation, if the candidate wants to do one, without sounding like money is everything, and making sure they stay motivated to extend an offer. Ultimately it is up to the candidate to weigh everything in depending on their personal preferences and fit. But when negotiating it is important to do it with tact otherwise it can severely backfire.
Smaller companies often have less wiggle room. Pick one that pays the most and start working to move to FANG