Negotiating salary for a new job is stressful. The chance to do so>Discussing salary throughout the hiring process
First of all, when and how you should bring up pay during job interviews will depend>If the offer is way below your minimum
If HR makes you an offer that's significantly lower than what you want, like in the tens of thousands of dollars, Lares says it's worth pointing out.
Leading with gratitude can make a difficult conversation more palatable: "Thanks for thinking of me for this role and sharing the pay. Unfortunately, that's significantly lower than what I would have expected for this."
Next, gauge whether they can be flexible>If the offer is>If the pay matches or exceeds what you want
Good news: HR makes you an offer, and it's in line with what you want. Congrats! But don't accept it right away. Thank them for the offer and say you need time to think it over, Lares says.
Consider if everything in the compensation package aligns with what you want. Is there room to negotiate beyond salary like a signing bonus, vacation time, work-from-home flexibility, health coverage, child-care support or something else?
This tends to be a major part of the negotiations process where women lose out, says Abraham, who studies gender inequities in the workplace. As much as a racial and gender wage gap exists for base pay, it widens even more when accounting for non-salary benefits, she says. For example,>What to do if you think you low-balled yourself early on
Maybe you've gotten to the offer stage and realize the range you gave earlier was actually too low. But now the company is offering you that number. Is it too late to revise your salary expectations?
Lares says you can bring it up, but frame it less about the money and more about not fully understanding the job itself.
You can say something like: "At the beginning of the hiring process, this was my understanding of the job. Now at this point in the interview process, this is my understanding of the job. In light of that, I think this second role is worth Y. I want to be collaborative — am I understanding this correctly?"
Leave the conversation open to a possible misunderstanding, Lares says. "If you approach the conversation as, 'let's make sure we're talking about the same role,' it allows you to be more sensitive in the way of asking for more money when you do come to an understanding."
