You might not even want to read this post in case you worry you might jinx it, but if you think you may be about to get a job offer, now is the time to prepare and get ready for an upcoming negotiation.

Even if you have no idea what the offer might be, this is the best time to do your research and think about your compensation package goals.

Here are the key steps to take to get ready before and while receiving an offer.

Ahead of the Offer:

Start by researching the company salary levels & market rates

There are so many good tools out there to understand the market rate for various jobs and to discover what kinds of benefits and salary levels companies offer. There’s Payscale.com, Salary.com, LinkedIn, Glassdoor and more.

Glassdoor is my favorite because you can easily do both a market rate search for salaries in a geographic area with a specific level of experience, and also find salary and benefits info for specific companies. If you’re not sure what kinds of other benefits there are (like 401k match, vacation days, etc), the ‘benefits’ tab will allow you to see what other employees have reported about benefits offered. For example, here’s what that looks like for Nike. Plus, I always urge people to read the employee reviews on Glassdoor to know what they might be signing up for when accepting a job.

Define your goals

Once you have a sense of the salary range and benefits that you might be offered, you can start to define your goals. How does the data you’ve found compare to what you feel your value is? How does it compare to your current salary or what you hope to be making in the future?

If you had to choose between getting more money vs another benefit like more vacation time, what would be more important to you? Are there other things you value more highly than salary that you want to be ready to negotiate for?

For example, I’ve worked with many people who would rather an extra week of vacation to a few thousand dollars in salary – what matters to you most? Spend some time reflecting on the parts of a benefits package that you find most important.  

 
Compile your strategy

What total compensation package would make you feel fantastic about joining the organization? What level would make you feel good? And what level would be too low that you’d walk away from the offer?

Set those three levels, taking into account the information you collected about market rates and company benefit levels. This will give you some structure with which to process the offer when you receive it and think through your strategy.

 

When you get the offer:

Say thank you!

Employers have many different ways of extending job offers. Here are some of the ways people I’ve worked with (and I, myself) have received offers:

• A call offering you the job with all the details.

• A call offering you the job with the top line summary of benefits but letting you know you will receive more specific details in writing soon.

• An initial call where they share that they’re planning on extending and offer and they’d like to check in on your salary expectations.

• An email with an offer in writing.

You might hear from the hiring manager or an internal HR staff member, or an internal or external recruiter.

Whatever the method, you should start by saying thank you! And you want to get as much info as possible to understand the full package before you negotiate.

You might say something like,

“Thank you so much. I’m so excited about this opportunity.

I’d love to make sure I understand all the parts of the offer and compensation package.”
 

Understand the whole offer

Again, you might just hear the salary level but not get much info on the health insurance benefits or how paid time off is accrued and other benefits. In order to negotiate effectively, and feel good about the full package, you want to understand all the pieces.

It is perfectly reasonable for you to ask about and see all of the benefits information so you can fully understand the offer.

Here are some things you might be on the watch for as part of a total compensation package, though not all of these will be applicable for certain organizations and in a COVID-world:

• Base Salary

• Bonus or Commission

• Equity

• Healthcare – medical/dental/vision (What kind, monthly contribution levels, vesting timeline)

• Retirement – 401k match (What %, and vesting timeline)

• Paid Time Off (PTO) – Sick/Personal/Holidays/Vacation

• Hours Worked

• Professional Development Opportunities or Funds

• Tuition Reimbursement Funds

• Start Date

• Gym

• Phone/Internet Reimbursement

• Remote vs. Onsite Options
  

Waiting to accept (or accepting after negotiating)

After you understand all the benefits in the package, you might feel ready and prepared to dive into the negotiation. Or you might want to take a day to mull over the offer and get your strategy together to go back and negotiate. Either is fine.

If you’re going to take a day to consider the offer and come back to negotiate you might say something like,

“Thanks so much for reviewing all the pieces of this offer.

I’d like to take a day or two to think through the offer. Would it be possible to get back to you/point person by [day]?

Who should I direct further questions to about my offer? 

I’m really excited about the potential of coming on board.”

Be sure to clarify who your point of contact is for answering questions about the benefits package.

A word of warning: If the employer reaches out to say that they’re planning on making you an offer, and want to gauge how likely you are to accept it, you’ll lose your leverage in a future negotiation if you tell them you’re planning on accepting before you even hear the salary level. 

I’ve seen this happen to people – they’re so excited about the opportunity, (and maybe so desperate to get out of their current job), that they tell the employer they’re excited to join the team and plan on accepting - and they kick themselves afterwards when they awkwardly try to back pedal and negotiate.

Do what you need to to understand all the parts of the offer and clarify the timeline and process of discussing the package so that you can be ready to negotiate.

Ready to start negotiating? Stay tuned. We’ll be sharing more strategies and language to help you be more confident and successful in your negotiations.