By Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter
You have two offers. Better jobs pay less, and you do want to take that, but you don’t want to leave money on the table. Is there anything you can say to negotiate improvements to it?
Final interview reminder
Someone described to me a situation they were struggling with. They have an offer. The company’s offer was lower than other offers and they wanted to know how to respond. So, they have two offers. A higher one and a lower one. The lower the job, the better. They start saying something to the effect of “There’s a big gap between your offer and my other offer, but, I like this job better. If you can match the other offer. I’d love to join. I’ll commit today. Sign whatever paperwork you need…Yadda yadda yadda.”
The hiring manager’s response was, “I can fix this. Give me a good reason why I should do it.” The guy ended up having a brain spasm and doing what a lot of people do, which sounds like the interview version of begging. “I’m going to work hard! I’m going to be a good employee! I’m going to care about my job! I need money! I have a lot of expenses and I need money!” All that happens is they sound ridiculous, but no one really cares.
So, understand that the commitment to being a good employee is what people expect, and you have a lot of expenses that they don’t really care about. If you promise to work 24×7, you are a liar because you may not do it. So, what can you do, what can you say, that’s the basic theme behind this.
The distance between you is indeed your key response. “I’ve received another offer from another company.” Or my own company is talking about giving me a raise. I’m due a raise in two weeks, and I’m prepared to say, “Yes,” another offer/raise should get me there (whatever the number is; the raise will get me there, and then you let them know the numbers). I’m not asking you to give me $50,000 more (unless that’s really what the other offer is for), but what I’m asking for is a match. Unfortunately, I have to decline your offer, even though I really like the character, because I’m not independently wealthy. Money is a factor for me. I’d be kidding you if I said the opposite. All I ask is to match other offers and I will commit to joining. “
Now, this is a sincere approach as they will understand very clearly that you want to join. You said you would join. This is a tactic I use when recruiting, I let people do it on their own because they are put in the field.
I simply told him that you may not have noticed that my last name is not on the list of the richest Americans in Forbes or Fortune magazine. My income is basically my worth or what I need to support myself. It’s not a huge difference, but fundamentally what it means to me is that I’m working to make a living while also doing great work. Suffice to say I would encourage you to match other offers.
Now, if you really feel like you’re being sharply criticized, you can simply say, “The cost of going back and interviewing and re-engaging in the process or hiring the second-best person to have something in your mind that makes me different from them. There’s definitely a cost to going back and interviewing; it takes you away from your job; it takes your team away to evaluate people, and frankly, wouldn’t you rather be done with that?”
This works very well at a high level. On an average “Jane and Joe level” just stick with the first half of what I outlined. it works.
Don’t act desperate!
About Big Game Hunter Jeff Altman
People hire “Big Game Hunter” Jeff Altman to provide no-nonsense career advice around the world because he makes so many things in people’s careers easier. Those ones Matters may involve job search, recruiting more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, and advice on solving workplace problems.
He is the producer and former host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 job search podcast on iTunes with over 3,100 episodes.
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