Love the Offer, Hate the Money

When you're lowballed on a job offer, healthy dialogue with the prospective employer could lead to the salary—or other bonuses—you deserve

by Liz Ryan

It's a sickening feeling: The person you desperately hope will be your next manager calls you on your cell phone. You race out into the parking lot to answer the call, and to your delight he says, "Chris, we'd like to make you an offer to join our team." Hurrah! Your heart is racing. You've been in stealth interview mode for eight weeks and you're ready to get out of it.

Your new boss runs down the title, a bit about the role, and the projects ahead. Then he says: "We're offering you X, to start." The figure is lower than you expected; it's way lower. It's a great offer, except for the salary. The job is career nirvana, but the pay is pretty close to an insult. What do you do now?

The first thing to do in the face of a salary letdown is to stay calm. Perhaps it was naive of you to think that when you and the firm's HR person talked about compensation, three interviews ago, you had put that item to bed. You said you were looking for a position in the $X to $Y range. Now you've got the offer and the salary is $X, minus $10,000. No one told you, before this moment, that they were planning to make you an offer far below the figure you'd offered as a target. Maybe they think that every job-seeker shoots high and will take a much lower salary. Maybe you should have asked them what they thought about your target range. Anyway, it's too late for all that now.

Suggested Dialogue

After you've caught your breath, don't say, "I earned more than that six years ago." You say: "Thanks so much for calling, Bob. I'm very excited to be moving forward. I'm actually on my cell phone in the parking lot, so it's not the ideal setting for me to go over terms. Can I get you to put the offer in writing and e-mail it to me at home? I'd love to have time to go through it and review all the moving parts."

Bob will probably say something like, "Will do, Chris, but I need some kind of answer. Are you going to accept the job?" Here's where you say: "I'd like to, Bob. It's a terrific assignment, I really enjoyed meeting the team, and I'm excited to have the chance to work with you. Lots of aspects of the offer sound great. We're a ways apart on the salary. It's significantly below where I need to be."

Now, here's the hard part—clam up. You don't have to justify that statement about where you need to be. It's tempting to launch into an explanation, but don't do it. It's Bob's move. He may react in a few different ways, and make no mistake, Bob's reaction is important. If he says, "Well, that's all we can do right now, although over time…" you can decide whether or not to press onward.

If you don't mind a little negotiating and you're up for a challenge, you can make a suggestion like, "Gee, Bob, I'd love to keep talking about this if you feel I'm the right person for the job. I can't accept the job at that salary, but maybe putting our heads together we can get creative about bonuses and other things." If Bob is receptive to something like that, you're not out of the running yet.

Negotiation Nuggets

There are Bobs who will shut you down cold and go on to the next candidate on the list. Those are people you don't need to work for. In that case, it's not the money, it's the take-it-or-leave-it attitude that should turn you off. My friend Mike got a job offer like that one time. He inquired about the company's ability to nudge the starting salary a bit higher and the hiring manager told him, "Look, Mike, I have three other people who want this job if you don't." Mike said, "Fantastic, you should offer it to one of those folks then," and hung up.

Of course, plenty of Bobs will play ball with you. In that case, take the time to put together some concrete ideas so that the next time you talk, you'll be prepared. It's not helpful to say, "I need more money." The more ideas you can put forward, the better your chances of a happy resolution will be. Here are some ideas to bat around:

• The company could give you a sign-on bonus, if they can't improve the salary.