Posts Tagged ‘bonus’

Rarely.

While everyone loves a great story about the person who successfully negotiated for a higher starting salary/bigger bonus/more vacation, the truth is that you likely don’t have many bargaining chips at this stage in your career.

Given the number of new graduates who are looking for work, the competition between equally qualified candidates is extremely high. Why, if you don’t have anything that sets you apart from other candidates, would a company pay more for you than the next person?

The reality is, they won’t. This means that you are more likely to lose the offer altogether than you are to gain anything from trying to negotiate. Are you willing to take that risk? In most situations, you won’t have any leverage in negotiations until after you have been in the work force for a few years.

The only time that I might recommend negotiating is if you are at the top of your class and you are being sought after by multiple companies. If this is you, you may have some success in your negotiations. However, if you are anything like me (and most of the other new graduates out there), you likely don’t fall into this category.

That being said, I am not advocating taking a job if they are paying you less than you require to live on. All I am saying is don’t try to make a good offer great and end up losing it altogether.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to make your case on the comment boards!