How to Negotiate a Job Offer When Firms Have Upper Hand --- Even if a salary is set there are other concessions, like a signing bonus or more-flexible schedule

 

"Job seekers are negotiating employment offers less often these days. That's a mistake, even if it's understandable given the tepid state of the labor market.

 

By the time candidates get through nine rounds of interviews, many feel lucky to get offers at all -- or are too exhausted to counter. But they could be missing out on better benefits or a more flexible schedule.

 

Just 31% of people who recently changed jobs negotiated their offers, according to ZipRecruiter's latest quarterly survey of new hires. That's down from 49% in last year's fourth quarter.

 

More companies are presenting offers as "best and final" right away. The goal is to end a negotiation before it starts.

 

"That used to be very uncommon," says Chris Stambolidis, a former Amazon recruiter who advises job applicants. "It was expected for you to at least go back and forth once or twice."

 

He says one client just got an offer from Coinbase and was told the number was firm. Coinbase confirmed it doesn't negotiate salaries, saying its rigid offers are higher than most competitors' and fairer to all applicants.

 

Businesses that have their pick of qualified candidates can set a price and stick to it. And after sometimes overpaying when talent was harder to find a few years ago, companies seem to relish their newfound, take-it-or-leave-it position.

 

Still, there can be wiggle room in supposedly nonnegotiable offers.

 

Savvy hires who can't drive up their salaries are winning other concessions, like a signing bonus, work-from-home day or bigger title.

 

Some are also accepting offers as-is with an agreement to revisit their pay later, after proving their value.

 

The boldest job seekers are calling companies' bluffs.

 

Stambolidis says another client turned down a $250,000 job offer because it would have been a lateral move. After initially saying it wouldn't budge, the company called back a week later and offered $280,000.

 

In this case the gamble paid off, but it isn't a strategy for everyone. You have to be willing to walk away -- and desirable enough to be chased.

 

Cynthia Thorpe started a job as a human-resources executive in Oregon last month. She set a salary minimum during her search and encourages other job seekers to do the same. If she couldn't talk her new employer into paying more, she wanted to be sure she wouldn't talk herself into settling for less than she's worth.

 

Thorpe, 57, found room to negotiate things that mattered to her, besides base pay. Her position was advertised as "director of HR"; she successfully proposed "director of people and culture," a title that better reflected her desire to shape workplace norms.

 

She accepted the company's in-office policy but countered with a request for occasional remote flexibility when she travels to visit her grandchildren.

 

And she asked about bonus potential. She was told the company hadn't offered bonuses in the past but wanted to develop an incentive plan for executives, and she could help create it.

 

"You have to be reasonable as an applicant, but ask for what's important to you," she says. "Ask for your must-haves and maybe an additional one or two things."

 

Tim Best, chief executive of RecruitMilitary, recommends saying something like this: "I'm very excited about coming to work for you, and I'm already thinking about how to become successful as a part of this team. As it relates to the offer, are there any aspects outside of the compensation that are negotiable?"

 

Best's company helps employers like Wells Fargo, John Deere and thousands of others find qualified veterans to fill jobs. He notes many businesses take internal pay equity more seriously than they used to, which can limit hiring managers' ability to offer more money to candidates.

 

Often, though, companies are willing to sweeten the pot. This can run from an extra week of vacation to a professional-development plan that can pave the way to an eventual promotion and higher earnings, he says.

 

With so much to be gained, why doesn't everyone try to bargain for more? The unsatisfying answer may be that people don't negotiate because . . . people don't negotiate.

 

What I mean is, humans often do what's expected even when they know doing something else could be beneficial.

 

Patricia Cortes, a professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, is working on a research paper chronicling this phenomenon. She surveyed roughly 900 recent alumni and found 20% of men and 12% of women negotiated their first job offers after completing their undergraduate business degrees. Those who negotiated increased their salaries by 10% on average.

 

Cortes shared these findings with students and, on the premise that knowledge is power, figured the gender gap would close when the informed cohort graduated. It didn't. Instead, some women reported being less likely to negotiate once they learned it was relatively uncommon to do so.

 

"They are influenced by what they believe is typical behavior," Cortes says.

 

Dorothy Mashburn, who coaches job seekers on interview and negotiation strategies, observes that women are often more hesitant to counter. But plenty of men also balk and the reason, regardless of gender, is usually fear of souring the relationship.

 

That worry is overblown, she says, as long as you are polite and signal that you are trying to bridge a divide. "No one's going to be hotheaded about it and just rescind the offer."

 

Remember, too, that the hiring manager presenting the offer is likely feeling pressure to get the company's first-choice candidate in the door. So, your nerves about closing the deal are probably shared by the person across the table.” [1]

 

1. On the Clock: How to Negotiate a Job Offer When Firms Have Upper Hand --- Even if a salary is set there are other concessions, like a signing bonus or more-flexible schedule. Borchers, Callum.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 22 May 2025: A11.