Accept Initial offer or always negotiate?
I'm applying for my 2nd job. Specifically at Accenture
During the HR interview they asked for my current comp I said if it was necessary and they said to help them and stuff or something I didnt bother arguing so I said 26k monthly including allowances and bonuses. And i said my target salary was between 45k - 60k base. Crazy I know but my collegues had an offer for atleast 40k on big4 firm. They said if I might be fine if i might consider a lower offer since of my years of experience (2 years) and i said yea no worries (just so i can put my feet at the door).
And later I later learned that Accen has a 10-hour workday.
Now just finished the technical interview and I think I aced it like 100% me thinks. Especially as I got praised a lot by the hiring manager. Now I heard that theyd be drafting my offer. And the job listing disappeared on workday.
Now im curious if the first thing HR would do is if theyll do is offer me the lowest band part of the role, or the lowest band of my suggested pay or even anchor it to my previous comp and offer lower than my target comp.
Either way if they offer lowest or highest. Im wondering if I should always suggest a counter offer or am I risking the job offer If I try to counter that offer.
And if i should counter offer, whats a good or great %?
I spent hours talking with chatgpt and gemini but in the end a real person's experience will always have a higher weight.
Thank you so much for any advice 🙇♂️