Offer negotiation doesn

This is Day 7/7 of our 1-week coding interview email course.

You should absolutely negotiate your job offer.

Even if you're shy. Even if you only have one offer. Even if you think you were crazy lucky just to have gotten the offer in the first place. (That's the impostor syndrome talking!)

Just a little negotiation is likely to win you tens of thousands of dollars.

Lots of people know this but still don't negotiate. Because it's scary.

But it's a lot less scary if you have a process. A step-by-step recipe to follow.

My friend Josh Doody has the best salary negotiation recipe I know of. It's in his book, Fearless Salary Negotiation.

He even has literal word-by-word scripts for emails to send and what to say on phone calls.

I asked him to write a short version of the recipe for you all. Here's Josh:

Step 1: Don't disclose your current or desired salary in your interviews

Most people don't realize that salary negotiation starts waaaay at the beginning of the interview process. One of your first conversations will usually be a quick call with a recruiter or hiring manager where they may surprise you with a question like this:

“So where are you right now in terms of salary, and what are you looking for if you make this move?”

I call this The Dreaded Salary Question because it's usually a surprise and because they ask you when you're thinking "I'll just answer all these questions so I can get to the next interview!"

So what should you do when you're asked this question? Answer with something like this:

I’m not comfortable sharing my current salary. I would prefer to focus on the value I can add to this company rather than what I’m paid at my current job. I don’t have a specific number in mind for a desired salary, and you know better than I do what value my skillset and experience could bring to your company. I want this move to be a big step forward for me in terms of both responsibility and compensation.

And just like that, you're negotiating!

Step 2: Set your minimum acceptable salary

Before you get a job offer, it's important to set your "walk away" number. What is the minimum salary you require to do this job? This is your line in the sand that sets you up for a win regardless of the outcome of your negotiation.

Now on to the part of the process that people usually associate with salary negotiation. You have a job offer—maybe even a really good job offer!—so how do you negotiate?

Step 3: Counter offer

Okay, so you have an offer in hand. Time to counter offer to find out if that's the best they can do, or if they were holding back a little bit.

How much? I recommend counter offering between 10% and 20% above their offer. Closer to 10% means you need the job pretty badly or you get the sense that they're not desperate to hire someone. Closer to 20% means you don't really need the job and you get the sense that they want you—specifically—to do this job and you're a great fit for it.

Do those three things and you could turn a good job offer into a great job offer worth thousands more dollars!