Many people are afraid to negotiate because they aren’t sure what to say or how to go about it. In this negotiation script, I provide you with tips on how to broach the subject as well as examples of how to word your responses that will effectively communicate what you’re wanting while maintaining a good rapport with the hiring manager, HR person, recruiter, or with whomever you’re negotiating.

BEFORE YOU START TO NEGOTIATE

There are a few things you need to do before you even think about trying to negotiate. If you’ve read my blog post about negotiating, you’ll already be familiar with these. But just in case – here’s a recap!

• Get into the right mindset. If the thought of negotiating makes you uncomfortable, be okay with being uncomfortable, and do it anyway.

• You need to set your expectations for yourself. Do your research about what this position pays in your area for your education, skill set, experience, and for the size of the company.

• Decide what’s most important to you and where you’re flexible. Do you only care about salary, or are you open to considering other areas that the company can enhance your offer if they can’t increase your salary, such as vacation time, education reimbursement, schedule flexibility, relocation reimbursement, etc.?

WHEN TO NEGOTIATE

If the employer doesn’t bring up salary voluntarily, you absolutely can, but when you bring it up and how you say it are important factors to consider.

Negotiation can and, oftentimes, does start when you apply for the position. Often times an application will ask for your desired pay rate, or the instructions on the job posting will tell applicants to include their desired range in their cover letter. Your answer is important because this is your first step in the negotiation process, even if an actual conversation doesn’t happen until much later.  

Negotiation is something that can take place anytime from the application to after the interview. Below, I lay out how to respond to this question at various points.

APPLICATION

If the application process asks you for a salary range, try to avoid providing a range if it will still allow you to continue on and submit your application without it.

If it doesn’t allow you to skip it, put “0”. Even better, if you’re able to, write something like “My salary expectations are negotiable based on the scope of the role”. You’re trying to dodge painting yourself in a corner right off the bat by giving a definitive range.  

If your expected salary range is required in order for you to proceed in the application process, go back to the research you did earlier on the typical pay for that position in your location.

After reviewing your research, think about what number you actually want. Then calculate 10 – 20% higher than that, and that’s the range you should give. If you’re uncomfortable asking for 20% higher, give the 10% - 15% higher range.

You likely are not going to get the 15% or 20% higher number. But, remember, you’re not trying to. You’re trying to get the original number you based your calculation on.

Example: If your goal is to get an offer for $55,000/year, do not put “$45,000 - $55,000” or “$55,000 - $65,000”. You won’t get it. You would calculate 10% and 20% higher respectively than $55,000, which is $60,500 - $66,000. This gives you room to negotiate and move down to your desired number. It also increases your chance of actually getting more than your desired amount.

PHONE INTERVIEW

Let’s say you’re past the application process and you’ve been contacted for a phone interview. Congratulations, you made it to the next step! Now you are really interested in finding out what the salary is. This is where you need to be thoughtful about how you broach the subject because it involves how you’re interacting with the employer.

Knowing pay is important and you shouldn’t waste your time going through the entire interview process just to find out when they present you with an offer that the position doesn’t pay well.

But etiquette and timing go a long way. You don’t want to take yourself out of the running because of your timing or wording.

A goal in the overall hiring process is for the decision to move forward to be your decision. Bringing up pay at the wrong time or in a rude, confrontational manner may cause the employer to make that decision for you.

If the employer contacts you for a phone screening, do not bring up pay until the end of the conversation, after they’ve asked you their preliminary questions. The exception to this is if the interviewer brings it up.

Why? If they’re calling you, it’s because on paper you look qualified for the role. Now they’re trying to gauge who you are and your personality to see if you would be worth a face-to-face interview. If you interject about pay before they have the chance to talk with you, that does not give a good first impression. It’s a good way for your resume to end up in the “no” pile before the phone screening has even started.

After the interviewer has asked their questions, you can then bring up pay. Here are some ways to do this:

• Phone Interviewer: “Okay. I’ll pass your resume on to the hiring manager for review. Do you have any questions for me at this time?”

  Your response: “Thank you so much for reaching out to me about this role. I’m very interested in the possibility of speaking with the hiring manager, but before I proceed to the next steps, can you please share with me the pay range that is budgeted for this position?”

• Phone Interviewer: “Before I pass along your resume to the hiring manager, can you tell me what pay range you’re looking for?”

  **Your response: “Thank you so much for passing along my resume. I still have some questions about the responsibilities of this position that I would like to talk about in more depth with the hiring manager before I can determine what pay range I would expect. Can you please share with me the pay range that is budgeted for this role?”

**This response should still be your answer even if you are in a face-to-face interview with the hiring manager and they haven’t provided you additional information about the regular expectations of the job.

IN-PERSON INTERVIEW | POST INTERVIEW

Scenario:

Now you’re past the phone screening and you’re sitting across from the hiring manager discussing the position in more depth.

Let’s assume that both you and the interviewer have asked your questions and that you’ve gotten all the information you need about what a typical day looks like for this position.

• Interviewer: “What are your salary expectations for this role?”

  Your Response: “Yes, I’ve been thinking about that. Before I can gauge that properly, can you please share with me what your budget is for this role?”

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that many of the responses are you asking for the budgeted pay range.

This is because most companies have an actual pay range system already mapped out. Each position is assigned a pay grade and each pay grade is assigned a minimum and maximum payment amount. Meaning they already know what they can pay you. So, they should be the ones to provide this information. By asking you this question without first telling you their budget, they’re trying to see if they can potentially lowball you, thereby getting you for a discount.

The only time I have seen a company not have a set budget for pay is if the company is brand new, they don’t have an HR or finance department, and management doesn’t know what they’re doing. In which case, that might be a red flag for you about working there. But, then again, you might be able to work that to your advantage as well and get them to agree to even more money than you were initially thinking.

Scenario:

Now, let’s say you had provided a salary range on your application and the topic of pay comes up during the interview. When talking with the interviewer you realized that this job has a bigger scope than the job positing indicated and will be a bigger undertaking.

• Interviewer: “I see that you’re looking for a salary of $55,000 - $65,000. I think we can do something in that range.”

  Your Response: “Yes, that was my expected range based on the information provided in the job posting during the application process. After talking with you about this role, I’ve realized that the scope and responsibilities are more than I initially thought. Now that I have a better understanding of what this position entails, my salary expectations are in the $70,000 - $78,000 range.”

Scenario:

Okay, so you’ve given them your pay range of $70,000 - $78,000, and they either say that they can’t offer you that, or they make you a lower offer such as $69,000. Here are a couple of options on how you can respond.

• Your Response Option 1: “Thank you for the offer. I’ve enjoyed my time speaking with you and really want to make this work. I’m flexible on the offer, but my experience and track record are valued more than that. (Reiterate the experience you bring and the scope of the work, as well as your research on the compensation for similar jobs). While I can’t accept $69,000, I would be happy with $73,000.

• Your Response Option 2: “Thank you for the offer. I’ve enjoyed my time speaking with you and really want to make this work. I understand if you’re not able to offer a higher salary because of budget, but my experience and track record are valued more than that. (Reiterate the experience you bring and the scope of the work, as well as your research on the compensation for similar jobs). While I can’t outright accept an offer of $69,000, I can consider it if the offer includes (insert something else you want, e.g., an additional week of paid vacation; a sign-on bonus; a 6-month performance bonus; education/student loan reimbursement; or another reimbursement such as personal equipment use reimbursement).

These types of responses show that you’re still interested in the role and are flexible in their offer, while also communicating that their initial offer is too low.

Scenario:

Take the previous scenario where you’re offered $69,000. You try to negotiate but the hiring manager or HR lets you know that the offer they gave is the absolute highest they can go and they’re not able to add other perks (sign-on bonus, more vacation time, etc.) to make up for the salary. You’re still interested in the company, though, and while you cannot accept that offer, you want to end the conversation on a positive note in order to keep the door open for future opportunities with this company.

•  Your Response: “Thank you for the offer. I’ve enjoyed my time speaking with you and am still very much interested in this role and this company. I understand if you’re not able to make a higher offer at this time because of budget constraints. Unfortunately, I can’t accept the offer of $69,000. I’m hopeful that sometime in the future another opportunity for me to join this team will come along. If you don’t mind, I would love to stay in touch with you.”

Your negotiation talks for one position might look different for another, and you’ll have to make the best judgment for yourself on how to navigate that. But now you have the wording and the perspective to start the negotiation conversation and engage in the process. Good luck! My fingers are crossed that you get a great offer!