Editor’s Note: Previously in the Career Talk series, our experts on doctoral-career counseling have offered advice on managing a faculty job search, looking for industry positions, and other career-planning topics.
After an arduous job hunt, it’s both a validation and a relief to hear, “We want you to come and work with us.” But whether you are a new Ph.D. or more advanced in your career, don’t let your excitement get the better of you. It’s too soon to say yes. Unless you’ve been told that the offer is “firm” and “the best we can do,” your next step is to negotiate.
We have some dos and don’ts to share for this sensitive but essential stage of the hiring process. These common principles hold true whether you are negotiating in academe or in industry, whether this is your first or fourth job, and whether the offer is from a new or current employer. What does vary, depending on the circumstances, is what you can ask for. Your wish list will be different for a faculty job versus an industry position. Here are some of the things you can haggle over:
- For an academic offer. The obvious terms to negotiate include salary, start date, research/travel funds, relocation assistance, service load, and release time from teaching or a sabbatical. To do your work, you can negotiate equipment purchases and office or lab space. You may also be able to negotiate things that affect your personal life, such as housing assistance, child-care subsidies, or job aid for your partner.
- For an industry offer. Here, too, the obvious issues to negotiate include salary, start date, relocation assistance, and remote-work options. But you can also try negotiating your job title, stock options, bonuses, benefits (including paid time off), office space, equipment purchases, and training funds.
Do pause to consider the offer, even if you are sure you’ll accept. It is common for job offers to be made by phone or Zoom these days. By all means, express enthusiasm, but don’t say yes until you understand exactly what you are being offered. This conversation may be the first time you’re hearing the details of the organization’s health-care benefits, the terms of its tuition reimbursement, or the amount of paid time off to which you’ll be entitled.
Take very good notes during this initial conversation and ask to receive the offer in writing. Once you have it in hand, go over it carefully.
Prospective employers won’t be surprised if you ask for time to read and consider the terms. However, that doesn’t mean you can mull the offer indefinitely. Typically, the department chair or hiring manager will give you a deadline for making your decision. If they don’t, be sure to clarify the timeline and set up a follow-up call to clarify any questions you may have.
Don’t try to negotiate everything. It would very likely come across as aggressive for you to ask for 25 percent more base salary, 50 percent more research funds, a reduced teaching load, and a sabbatical in the first two years. You will need to prioritize.
Before entering into a negotiation, you should have a sense of what’s at stake for you: What do you need to say yes to this offer? What do you need to succeed in the role? What (if anything) would make you walk away? Figure out which three or four contract terms matter the most to you, and focus your negotiation on those.
Perhaps additional start-up funds for your lab are more important to you than a higher salary. Perhaps reducing your teaching load in the first year is worth putting off a sabbatical. What tradeoffs are you willing to make, and what do you consider nonnegotiable?
Do be realistic. You don’t want to seem out of touch with the realities of the organization or institution. Some employers won’t negotiate certain employment terms for reasons of fairness. Retirement benefits, for example, tend to be standardized, so a request for more than the going rate will be spurned. Likewise, an increasing number of employers set fairly narrow pay bands for particular job titles to avoid salary disparities among their employees. Unionized workplaces are also limited in what they can negotiate, since compensation is set collectively, rather than individually. Be aware of those limitations and why they exist.
Other organizations simply do not have the resources to match what a competitor might pay. Job offers from a state flagship research university, a private liberal-arts college, and a community college are going to be very different — sometimes in unexpected ways, especially if they’re in different geographic locations. For example, you may have better odds of negotiating a higher salary at a large community college in a major city (with a high cost of living) than you would at a small rural college.
Your goal is to find a path to success for yourself within the institution’s priorities and parameters. Negotiate with the institution in front of you, not the one you imagined would hire you.
Don’t take an adversarial tone. We realize that advising you to “be polite” or “be collegial” may sound like an invitation to settle for less than you are worth, or to compromise on values that are important to you. Of course you don’t have to settle or compromise. All we’re suggesting is that you begin with the assumption that your would-be employer is negotiating in good faith and wants you to succeed. Taking an overly aggressive tone in these conversations will not win you concessions.
Here’s how to sound confident but not presumptuous in negotiating your terms:
- To request a base salary adjustment: “Given my background and qualifications, would a salary of $X be possible?”
- If you need more equipment for your office or lab: “Given my research agenda, I would like to request ABC equipment for my lab/office so that I can hit the ground running.”
- If you’re moving to the region and your spouse/partner is job hunting: “I’d like to explore a position for my partner, who has experience in X and is excited about the prospect of working at the university. Would that be possible?”
Do be specific. Don’t let them control the terms of the negotiation. Keep your hand on the wheel by detailing what you want.
If the offer is for an $80,000 base salary and you would like $90,000, then you should name that figure, or perhaps a bit more. Being vague about what you’re looking for — “Could you come up a bit on the salary?” — might result in a low counteroffer ($82,000, when you could have negotiated more). A fuzzy initial request in the negotiations puts you in a weaker position to go back and ask for what you actually want.
Do stop talking once you’ve made your request. Some justification for your request may be warranted. For example, it’s good to be aware of the market rate for similar positions so you understand where the institution’s salary offer falls within that range. And if your qualifications exceed the job requirements or you bring something to the table that the recruiters weren’t looking for but are excited about, you should remind them of that (especially if you’re asking for a higher job title). But in general, the best approach at this stage: Make the ask and resist the urge to ramble, which will only make you seem nervous.
You should also avoid using personal reasons to justify your request for a higher salary than you were initially offered. You may have student loans to pay off, for example, but your employer is very unlikely to see that as a compelling reason to pay you more than a colleague who doesn’t.
Don’t be afraid. Negotiating makes most people very nervous. And you may feel that it’s especially risky if your job hunt has been long and difficult. Will the offer be rescinded if you ask for too much?
That is very unlikely. The employer may well say no to some or all of your asks during the negotiations. But job offers are not usually withdrawn when candidates make reasonable, thoughtful requests. In the unlikely event that does happen, it is a clear sign of a dysfunctional organization that is looking for employees who won’t look out for themselves.
Clearly, you aren’t required to negotiate a job offer. If you are satisfied with the terms you’ve been offered, accept them as is. Just take some time to really think about it. You will never be in a better position to ask for what you want and need from an employer than at the moment of the job offer.
