r/negotiation

Hello everyone,

I recently received a job offer from a mid-size company based in South Dakota. The initial offer was 94k base, with 5k relocation reimbursement and a company car for one year (no travel required); during the interview, I told them I don't have a car and it would be nice if I could use a company car for 6 months until I save some money.

For the first round of negotiation, I asked for an increase in base pay but didn't give them any numbers. I also asked if there was any bonus and yearly salary increase. As it was not there in the initial offer.

Then, I received an updated offer where they did not increase the base. However, they offered me 5k upfront as relocation assistance, a 6k increase in base pay, and a 3k bonus after 1 year.

But I really want the base pay to be $105K (I didn't want to go to the next tax bracket). Should I do another negotiation? or just accept it?

A little about me: I am an international student. I was always in academia. I have a DVM (outside the US), an MS (outside the US), and a PhD (US) and am doing my Postdoc (US) now. This is my first industry job. I always wanted to shift to industry. Was applying for jobs for the last 6 months. I am so broke. I really need this job. and don't want to lose it. So, should I push for more or stop here and accept the offer.

Please help me.

L7 role. base ceiling is $320k according to the JD. 25% bonus, $400k RSU.

offer: $288k base. (which this plus bonus is a less than what I am getting paid now).

Should I counter at 300? should i counter at 320 and expect to land lower?

this is my first time being offered something with RSU's, which theoretically puts me at a higher TC, but id have to wait for it to vest and such.

Hi everyone. I am a freelancer and I am a couple weeks into a new job. I negotiated a $1600 weekly pay, but on my paychecks I am seeing it as $1600 gross so I’m taking home like $1100.

I’m annoyed at this seeming slight of hand from the company, and unsure of what to do. I was expecting and budgeting for $1600 takehome, and this is significantly lower. The job also includes an hour commute each way.

I’m wondering how/if I can renegotiate this and raise my gross so I am taking home $1600 for the rest of the project, and hopefully getting back-paid on it all.

For context: my boss is the project manager.

Does anyone have experience with a similar instance? Looking for practical advice here.

In a job a year next month, it's review time. I Started off as the main manager for one section, I've since taken on another dept, with my team growing from 2 to 6. In that time my dept has had YOY growth every month, with some of the key selling periods also improving YOY. Never been sick, moaned, caused them any trouble - I'm well liked, respected, and overall I've been told by numerous senior staff that I've really helped progress my dept and a lot of the business overall. In a nutshell, I'm doing well.

However - be it the world at present or maybe just our industry, business is not doing well. There's a hiring freeze, daily checks on sales, margins, and profit. We're cutting any unnecessary spending, marketing even, and trying to do all we can to, at most, have an OK year instead of a bad one.

That all said, I'm due my Year one review. My salary is 65k. Across the wider workforce, people like me are on 70k as a lower average, and I can imagine 80k would be good, 85k very good. So I feel like I'm underpaid and, at the very least worthy of a 70k salary.

But this is the worst time to ask for a pay rise. It would be foolish of me to ask, knowing what I know about how the business is doing. I really like this job and want to commit a long term future to it, with visions of at least an 80k salary in a few years which would keep me comfortable for a few more years after thst at least. I was considering telling them my feelings, and the I 'should' be asking for a rise to 70k, BUT as I know it's a bad time, postponing it for 6mts. The thing is, I don't know if the business will be doing better then. If it isn't, or I don't get it, I'm 100% going to start looking for a new job.

Any advice you could share would be greatly appreciated.

Got a job offer and the director said she was excited to have me, and I was very excited and grateful on the phone. I asked to see the benefits, and I followed up asking for a 5% bump and 15 PTO vs 10 days offered. They said no on both.

I proceeded to say that I value this conversations and ensuring expectations are met and I am looking to grow with the company so I’m excited to accept the offer.

They said okay I’m busy right now let me get back to you and hung up.

I had the call this morning May 18th, haven’t heard anything back yet. Did I fumble this thing?

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Hi everyone,

I work in face-to-face fundraising for a company that collects donations for charities. Usually I do pretty well when the person is already interested, because the conversation flows naturally and I don’t really need to “sell” anything.

But I completely freeze when someone gives objections and I have to negotiate a little.

For example:

“I don’t have time.”

“I already donate somewhere else.”

“I only have $20” (when the minimum is $30).

“Maybe another time.”

The problem is not really introducing the charity or talking to people. It’s more the moment where I need to respond and guide the conversation instead of immediately backing off.

I think I become too defensive or too passive because I’m scared of sounding manipulative or annoying. So instead of confidently responding, I kind of panic internally and the conversation dies.

I know fundraising is not exactly traditional sales, but it still feels similar in the sense that you need to handle objections and help people make a decision.

For people who work in sales, fundraising, recruiting, etc.:

How do you answer objections naturally?

How do you stay confident without sounding aggressive?

How do you stop taking rejection personally?

And how do you actually learn the “negotiation” part of conversations?

Here’s an example of where I get stuck:

Person: “Sorry, I don’t really have time.”

Me internally: panic mode activated 😭

Or:

Person: “I only have $20.”

Me: “Oh okay no worries have a nice day.”

(even though I know I’m technically supposed to try to continue the conversation)

I’d really appreciate advice from people with experience because I feel like this is the main thing holding me back at work right now.

I haven’t purchased a used car in 20+ years but will be soon. I’ve read several posts and articles that use “use data to negotiate” while other sources say to “offer 10-15% off the asking price”.

My question is how do I find actual sale price data? Is this even available?

Lacking any data, is offering 10-15% off the rule of thumb to follow? If so, how does this factor into certain dealerships pricing more aggressively?

For example, dealers A and B might price comparable cars a few thousand dollars apart. I can see how I can use A’s list price to negotiate with B, but what if A’s price is the lowest in the area…do I just offer 10-15% less?

Finally, when sorting by price on cars.com and other sites it isn’t unusual for Carmax to have the lowest price. I can’t imagine that given the no-haggle nature of Carmax they truly offer the lowest prices people end up paying.

Thanks!

I have been a top performer and in a senior capacity for 2 years. Recently my boss promoted 2 execs to senior and I came to learn that the had received an incremental way beyond what I had for mine. I have undertaken additional

Work loads and told that it’s part of my progression plan.

(My boss had mentioned she couldn’t fight for more for me as budget was small)

My boss got laid off recently and my team now reports to a new boss who is based in another continent, hence relying on me for all comms and mgm (but without the $ and recognition).

I am wondering having a conversation w my new boss on this. Looking for advice. Thanks!

I’ve recently received a job offer for a role, but it’s slightly below what I was hoping for (around £5k less than my target).

I did ask the recruiter if there was any room for them to bring the offer up, but they came back saying there is not.

I think what I am asking is fair, but wondering how best to approach it to get myself to that number.

Any advice or experience with similar situations would be really helpful.

I just received a retention bonus which is equal to half my yearly salary, if I stay with the company for 1 year. The thing is it has a clause about revenue synergy and more importantly doesn't pay out until next year. How do I phrase a response to say I'm happy to stay with the company but I want the money now so I can make it work for me and want assurance the revenue synergy doesn't matter? I like the company but also I'm one of the very few experts in my field. Any advice is appreciated.

Aug 2025 - Recruiter reached out and completed application
Sep 2025 - GHA completed, scheduling first round of interviews
Oct 2025 - Completed first round and proceed to next round of interviews
Nov 2025 - Final Interviews completed, recruiter conveyed that results are trending towards L4
End of Nov 2025 - team matching - 2 teams. Proceeds with 1 HM and then recruiter goes ahead for HRC. Later I get rejected and reason is not specified. On 6 month cooldown.
Jan 2026 - Sourcer reaches out again for a potential opportunity.
Feb 2026 - New recruiter assigned, this time I get to speak with HM who asked to reinitiate process for me. Convo goes well
Mar 2026 - 2 additional GPU programming and technical interviews scheduled and completed.
Apr 2026 - Passed interviews, got a team match done with other HM instead of previous HM due to headcount issues. Spoke with new HM and they agree to move forward. Also a call with one senior team member was setup which went well.
May 2026 - recruiter mentions that HRC was completed with offer for L3.

Given that my previous interviews from last year and this year did signal trending L4, is there a way I can ask them to up-level position? I have 3 years of experience, currently in semiconductor based company.
Current Compensation
Base : 190k, bonus: 40k, equity: 60k/yr (currently as per value of stock)

Have a call with recruiter tomorrow for offer discussion!

Does google give such competitive offer for L3? According to what I saw on levels.fyi, I see this range is mostly for L4/L5, any tips for negotiating would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

For the last year I’ve been working at a small nonprofit (13 employees) directly under a very controlling, aggressive, and sometimes irrational Executive Director. Over the last year, I have gladly taken on additional responsibilities without asking for a raise. I highlighted this in my annual report to my boss and during our 1-year check in, she told me she was revising my job description to add even more responsibilities to my plate (amounting to approx 8-10 more hours of work per week). She also told me that I would get a 2% raise for this— not a cost of living increase— that was her idea of a raise. When I tried to push back, she claimed the decision was “out of her hands” which is obviously a lie as she tightly controls our budget and always has sole final say on every decision big or small. I said I’d have to assess my options. A couple hours later she emailed our director of finance and cc’ed me stating that I was getting a 2% raise, so either she forgot that I hadn’t agreed (she is VERY forgetful) or is trying to keep me from negotiating.

I have hardly been able to sleep. I feel that taking all this extra work on for effectively the same amount I was making a year ago would be doing myself a disservice. I want to send her a thoughtful and respectful email stating that I cannot take on these extra responsibilities for less than a 5% raise from my original salary. In terms of dollars that’s only ~$2400 more than the 2% she wants to give me. I’m terrified because I truly believe she is insane and stubborn enough to fire me before parting with $2,000 and I really want to stay at this job. But I also believe she is irrational and stubborn enough to fire me before letting me win a negotiation. Any advice on what to do would be appreciated.

Got a lowballed L4 verbal offer at Google, India as a System Engineer. The RSUs are super low (32k USD, vested over 4 years). The average in the past has been 60k-90k.
I asked the recruiter if we can bump up the RSUs to 50k and also get me joining bonus.
She did not hesitate and told me she'll have a discussion with the comp team for RSUs of 50k-60k. *(Notice how she said she'll ask for 50k-60k even though I just asked 50k)*
Truth to be told, I'd be ready to join even at the current offer. I do not have any competing offers either.
I'm just worried they'll withdraw the offer thinking 50k-60k are my expectations and they'd obviously have someone else ready to work for much less money.

And yes, it really is an L4 offer - there's no mistake. My base aligns with other L4 offers too.

🚨 NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS 🚨
For one financially stable man capable of outbidding my current gentleman.
(He’s abusive, so honestly the competition is not fierce.)

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✨ ABOUT ME ✨ 🌈🤓👹☀️

• Loyal
• Creative
• Emotionally intense
• Hardworking
• Slightly unhinged but self-aware
• Trying to build an actual peaceful life for myself

I want to learn practical life skills, work hard, create beautiful things, and eventually build a calm home instead of surviving endless criticism disguised as “communication.”

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✨ REQUIREMENTS ✨

I do not require perfection.
You do not need to worship me.
You do not need to act alpha 24/7.

You simply need to be:

• Kind
• Consistent
• Respectful
• Emotionally stable
• Capable of loving a woman without turning microscopic mistakes into a 5-hour psychological warfare event

The bar is honestly low.

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✨ IDEAL CANDIDATE ✨

I like men who:

• take care of themselves
• have ambition
• can laugh
• understand relationships are supposed to feel safe sometimes

Bonus points if you:

• know how to build things
• have practical life skills
• can fix random household problems
• possess enough emotional regulation to let a woman burn the garlic bread in peace

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✨ IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS ✨

I will stay very faithful if treated well.
(Shocking concept, I know.)

Please love yourself more than you love me.
I do not want to become someone’s therapist, mother, emotional support animal, or entire personality.

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Thank you.
Lovingly awaiting your reply. 💌