The job is almost perfect: high level, relevant duties, an upgrade from your previous job, great company, great location, BUT the compensation is about 10k-15k less than what you expected. Would you turn it down? Have you turned something like this down in the past?
Yes, 120K less than I expected. I said f*kk no.
Is it more than you make currently? Also, what is the difference the 10-15k makes to you?is it the marginal 10-15k that will make your life a whole lot better? or is the marginal impact not that much? if it is more than you make currently and the pay being lower by 10k-15k wont make much difference to your lifestyle…then I’d definitely take a longer term view and consider taking the job…
The job I have currently pays equal to my internship pay… So i guess no. As a just out of college grad you gotta take what you can get.
When I graduated from college, I went to work for the company that I interned with the summer before. My base salary was actually higher as an intern, as I was paid for overtime. In our field, the bonus is really where the money is.
Slash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The job is almost perfect: high level, relevant > duties, an upgrade from your previous job, great > company, great location, BUT the compensation is > about 10k-15k less than what you expected. Would > you turn it down? Have you turned something like > this down in the past? Not that big of a $ gap. Sounds like you could get them to up the offer if they like you for it.
Depends. There is a big deifference between 30k vs 45k expected and 120k vs 135k expected.
Serviced By Others Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Slash Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The job is almost perfect: high level, relevant > > duties, an upgrade from your previous job, > great > > company, great location, BUT the compensation > is > > about 10k-15k less than what you expected. > Would > > you turn it down? Have you turned something > like > > this down in the past? > > > Not that big of a $ gap. Sounds like you could > get them to up the offer if they like you for it. Come to think of it, it’s an easy $20k less. They said their candidate pool was gigantic so I’m thinking that there’s at least a few equal choices that they have. A budget thing. Who knows- maybe the last person turned down the offer due to comp and they came to me next! My next question is- have you tried negotiating an offer only to have them decline and pull the offer?
I’ve heard of ppl negotiating an earlier review in these situations (good fit- bad times)… at least it gives a glimmer of a raise in 6 months.
Here’s another question: say you get an offer that is above what you’re making now, and theoretically you’re happy with it, but then the company “insults” you by pre-emptively saying that they will not negotiate because they believe it is an employer’s market. Do you say f you at that point or commend them for their honesty and take the job?
^Take the job … Sometimes the truth hurts. Suck it up …
daviskr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Suck it up … The truth’s never sounded so sordid before.
Had a similar situation to the OP. Thanked them for the offer but indicated that the compensation was too far below other opportunities I was considering for me to accept. They revised the offer and everyone was happy. Of course there is always the chance that they will tell you to pursue those other opportunities instead.
Slash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Serviced By Others Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Slash Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > The job is almost perfect: high level, > relevant > > > duties, an upgrade from your previous job, > > great > > > company, great location, BUT the compensation > > is > > > about 10k-15k less than what you expected. > > Would > > > you turn it down? Have you turned something > > like > > > this down in the past? > > > > > > Not that big of a $ gap. Sounds like you could > > get them to up the offer if they like you for > it. > > > Come to think of it, it’s an easy $20k less. They > said their candidate pool was gigantic so I’m > thinking that there’s at least a few equal choices > that they have. A budget thing. Who knows- maybe > the last person turned down the offer due to comp > and they came to me next! > > My next question is- have you tried negotiating an > offer only to have them decline and pull the > offer? I have never had that happen to me. I don’t think it would offend the employer to the point of them pulling the offer. They are hiring someone who would someday potentially have to negotiate on their behalf.
Slash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The job is almost perfect: high level, relevant > duties, an upgrade from your previous job, great > company, great location, BUT the compensation is > about 10k-15k less than what you expected. Would > you turn it down? Have you turned something like > this down in the past? $10-15K is basically a rounding error over the course of a year. After taxes, you’re looking at a difference of $7-12K relative to your expectations. Besides, how do you really know what to expect? Have you adjusted your expectations for the current economy?
It’s never just one thing when turning down an offer. For example, I was offered a lateral job with uncertain advancement opportunities at a 20% pay cut. In that case, the obvious choice was to not accept. Had the advancement opportunities been more clear and/or the job an opportunity to learn new skills, I might have taken it. I’ve also accepted an offer when the comp was at the very bottom of my desired range (but more than my previous job), but the learning opportunities were great.
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > $10-15K is basically a rounding error > Have you adjusted your expectations for > the current economy? OP: …and make sure to adjust your expectations for what numi considers a “rounding error” and what the rest of us do! 
Following up on what higgmond said, I think that if you really are prepared to walk away from the offer if they don’t raise you, then go ahead and be candid with them. Employers can tell whether you’re for real or you’re bluffing. Let me give you some examples from my own life, and you can decide whether they’re relevant to yours. Ultimately, how much money should matter to you depends on personal preferences. In my case, money represents a very small component of what makes me happy. Life experiences and being able to serve others are very important to me. I’ve had good jobs out of college and am fortunate to have had successive pay raises, but I haven’t actually altered my lifestyle much since my first year out. So does that mean I’d be happy settling for less? Probably not, but I know I that I could still live the lifestyle that I like. Personally, I think I’m pretty transparent and I can’t really fool someone into thinking that I’ll walk away when I won’t. So as an example, one of my first jobs out of college, I was offered about $10K less than what I was hoping for. However, I was ecstatic about the opportunity and figured that having their brand on my resume would be a good thing. I wanted to ask for more money and had other offers to leverage with – and probably should have at least given it a try – but I didn’t back then because I didn’t have as much confidence in my negotiation skills. So, maybe I settled for $10K less than I could have gotten, or maybe they wouldn’t have raised me even if I did ask. There’s no point speculating about it now, but my point is that everything else about the job was what I wanted and I was very happy there. It’s been years since I even thought about the “what if’s” until I read your post, so that should give you some perspective on how much $10K really matters in the long run. Then, a couple years later, I had gotten a couple PE offers. One of them was with a firm I was really impressed with, but the offer was considerably lower than I expected. I thought about all the things I would have liked about the job – the brand of the company, the people I’d be working with, and all of that stuff. But at the end, the money was still a consideration and I had decided their offer would be a dealbreaker. I was absolutely set on my ways and I wasn’t going to budge. So, I actually told HR that I’m really interested in the opportunity, but they pay is not competitive with what I was already making and not competitive with my other offers. I expressed my willingness to work with them on salary, but that the offer as it stood right now would not be sufficient for me. A few hours later, they sent me a revised contract with a raise in the neighborhood of 15-35% more than their original, and also included a sign-on bonus and a relocation reimbursement. I guess the moral of the story is, if you want something, you have to ask for it. And if you really want to make a strong case, you could always tell them that you’re willing to walk. But just make sure you know in your heart that you’re totally prepared to walk if they tell you to take a hike. It’s a risk that you’ll have to assess, and how you balance the risk versus the rewards will have a huge influence on how you project yourself to HR during your negotiations. I hope this helps.
XSellSide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > numi Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > $10-15K is basically a rounding error > > Have you adjusted your expectations for > > the current economy? > > OP: …and make sure to adjust your expectations > for what numi considers a “rounding error” and > what the rest of us do! Haha…my bad. I now realize my point was expressed in a way that was unintended. Indeed, I recognize that $7-12K post-tax is not insignificant. That can be 1-2 months salary, maybe more, for some people especially those that are early in their career track. That was certainly the case for me too, so I’ve been in the same boat. I apologize if what I said came across the wrong way; allow me to recalibrate my comments. Perhaps I unknowingly phrased things the way that I did probably because I put a real premium on working in a good company with good culture and people. So, is $7-12K post-tax on its own a lot? Yes, there’s no question about that. But I’ve worked in a company where I was pretty miserable too, and if I could have somehow paid management $7-12K to make my life and work environment significantly better for me, I would not have hesitated to do so. At the end of the day, the original poster has to decide how much the money means to him. I just think that in my lifetime and based on the things that make me happy, the money itself isn’t that big of a deal. I’d be willing to take the hit if everything else about the company made me happy, and if the company weren’t willing to negotiate with me even after I made a valiant effort. But that’s just me, as an unmarried individual with no children with a relatively low cost of living.
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > $10-15K is basically a rounding error Enter Captain Awesome