Was offered $92K and negotiating $102K

Dang! I'm hyper excited as I was made an offer of $92K by a small cybersecurity MSSP (about 100 employees) but countered by asking for $102K. I did that specifically as an article I read had specified to negotiate with a 10 - 20% of the original offer. However am I over stretching it? My background is 20+ years of general IT with 3 years of specific cybersecurity experience in SOC environment.

Find more posts tagged with

salary negotiation

pay

job offer

Comments

lucky0977

Well....Doesn't hurt to try.

egrizzly

lucky0977 said:

Well....Doesn't hurt to try.

My goal isn't really $102K. I'm highly elated for $92K, but they say never accept the first offer, so I didn't. Plus it would suck worse if I started there and found out everybody was making $100K, lol. So yeah, I'm hoping they inch it up a notch or two

NetworkNewb

Good luck! Interested to hear how their response is! Definitely doesn't hurt to try imo

Congrats on the new position too!

egrizzly

NetworkNewb said:

Good luck! Interested to hear how their response is! Definitely doesn't hurt to try imo

Congrats on the new position too!

Thanks. Me too. Regardless of how much they increase it'll be my highest salary ever!

cyberguypr

Win no matter what, love it.

deep_logic

congrats @egrizzly !

chrisone

hmmm 10k difference doesn't seem bizzare. Its not like you are negotiating from 92k to 140k

egrizzly

deep_logic said:

congrats @egrizzly !

Thanks Deep_Logic. It's magic push of CISSP.

EANx

Good on you for not taking the first offer and trying for something better. I will say though that I never open or counter-offer with a round number, either as the total or as the difference. 10k difference would be one of those psychological barriers, I probably would have gone with 105,500. Makes it seem like you put more thought into it.

yoba222

Never had the cajones to do this. Please let us know how it works out.

MrsWilliams

@egrizzly

Good Luck.

I have had mostly bad experiences from doing such a thing. Such as:

1. Never hearing back once I give my higher numbers.
2. Never hearing back once I give my higher numbers.
3. Never hearing back once I give my higher numbers.
4. Declining my higher number.
5. Getting a little wiggle room.

I don't think it's a bad idea, if you are currently working and have a stable job.

I am not sure I would negotiate at a smaller organizing. Usually, smaller organizations have smaller budgets. Big organizations usually have a lot more wiggle room.

I am sure you looked at the pros and the cons. If you are in a small market or even a big market we have to think about competition. If I get a number, I think about competition. If it's a job paying over 90K, that's a decent salary (without seeing the job description). But, if I am in a small city it might have been 28 resumes that were submitted. In a big city, it could have been 78 resumes submitted. Who knows. These recruiters are only looking for matches on keywords. They aren't sitting at a desk reading every resume that was submitted all day until they fall asleep. They are only going to submit the qualified applicants to the hiring manager. 99% of the time, it's more than one resume, I guarantee that. Recruiters are smart. They have a job to bring someone on. They usually aren't going to spend a week trying to negotiate a salary with someone when it's 27 other qualified applicants and the person they bring on still has to give two weeks notice AND they need them to start before 1 December. Like @yoba222 said, not everyone is willing to negotiate and will gladly take that 92K.

rj1790

Congrats!!

UnixGuy

Hope you get it mate, keep us posted!

bigdogz

@egrizzly
Good luck.

egrizzly

MrsWilliams said:

@egrizzly

Good Luck.

I have had mostly bad experiences from doing such a thing. Such as:

1. Never hearing back once I give my higher numbers.
2. Never hearing back once I give my higher numbers.
3. Never hearing back once I give my higher numbers.
4. Declining my higher number.
5. Getting a little wiggle room.

I don't think it's a bad idea, if you are currently working and have a stable job.

I am not sure I would negotiate at a smaller organizing. Usually, smaller organizations have smaller budgets. Big organizations usually have a lot more wiggle room.

I am sure you looked at the pros and the cons. If you are in a small market or even a big market we have to think about competition. If I get a number, I think about competition. If it's a job paying over 90K, that's a decent salary (without seeing the job description). But, if I am in a small city it might have been 28 resumes that were submitted. In a big city, it could have been 78 resumes submitted. Who knows. These recruiters are only looking for matches on keywords. They aren't sitting at a desk reading every resume that was submitted all day until they fall asleep. They are only going to submit the qualified applicants to the hiring manager. 99% of the time, it's more than one resume, I guarantee that. Recruiters are smart. They have a job to bring someone on. They usually aren't going to spend a week trying to negotiate a salary with someone when it's 27 other qualified applicants and the person they bring on still has to give two weeks notice AND they need them to start before 1 December. Like @yoba222 said, not everyone is willing to negotiate and will gladly take that 92K.

That number made me want to sh*#t my pants since it's a Tier 2 Security analyst position and I do not have all the core skills for Tier 2. I'm still learning Malware Analysis till this day. Not only that, my previous position only paid $65K. I think it's more of the newly passed CISSP on my resume flexing it's muscles. I also performed with flying stars during the interview which were 90% Security+ and CISSP type questions.

Anyways, I had done the negotiation with a template I pulled off the web (below) which made it clear that, even though I was asking for a higher salary, that I was still highly interested about the position.

--------------------------------
Negotiation Template
--------------------------------

Dear Mr. Jones,

I was thrilled to receive your email! Thank you so much for the [Position Title] opportunity.

Before I can formally accept the proposal, I need to discuss base salary. With my [2–3 industry-specific sources of value] and history of [summary of achievements], I know I will bring great value to [Company Name]. Because of my [experience/history] of [qualifications], I was really looking for an offer closer to [proposed salary].

I am still very excited about the offer, and would love to talk about the possibility of moving my starting wage closer to this number. I am open to bridging the pay gap through alternative means, such as [benefit #1] or [benefit #2] if necessary.

Regards,

[Your Name]
--------------------------------

bigdogz

@egrizzly
Have you heard anything?

chrisone

egrizzly said:

--------------------------------
Negotiation Template
--------------------------------
Dear Mr. Jones,

I was thrilled to receive your email! Thank you so much for the [Position Title] opportunity.

Before I can formally accept the proposal, I need to discuss base salary. With my [2–3 industry-specific sources of value] and history of [summary of achievements], I know I will bring great value to [Company Name]. Because of my [experience/history] of [qualifications], I was really looking for an offer closer to [proposed salary].

I am still very excited about the offer, and would love to talk about the possibility of moving my starting wage closer to this number. I am open to bridging the pay gap through alternative means, such as [benefit #1] or [benefit #2] if necessary.

Regards,

[Your Name]
--------------------------------

well done! I like this template.

yoba222

No news is good news?

TechGromit

egrizzly said:

That number made me want to sh*#t my pants since it's a Tier 2 Security analyst position and I do not have all the core skills for Tier 2. I'm still learning Malware Analysis till this day. Not only that, my previous position only paid $65K. I think it's more of the newly passed CISSP on my resume flexing it's muscles. I also performed with flying stars during the interview which were 90% Security+ and CISSP type questions.

If you have everything they are looking for and have the experience, sure I'd say sure negotiate a little, but don't price yourself out of a job. Your getting a 30% pay bump, I wouldn't get too greedy, just because some random internet advise not to take the first offer.

volfkhat

ZOMBIE ALERT!

I guess he didnt get the gig...

JDMurray

If you negotiate a higher base pay, benefits, perks, etc. the hiring manager will pass your request to HR and they'll decide. It (usually) doesn't hurt to ask.

What really hurts get taking the job without negotiating, and then meeting another employee who got more of everything when they started because they dared ask for more. The best negotiators are typically people mustering out of the military who where given training on how to find a job in the private sector. "Negotiating for what your are worth" is part of that training and it gives you the confidence to do so.

cmitchell_00

Congrats on the new role and nice template.

fouzimedfouni

egrizzly said:

lucky0977 said:

Well....Doesn't hurt to try.

My goal isn't really $102K. I'm highly elated for $92K, but they say never accept the first offer, so I didn't. Plus it would suck worse if I started there and found out everybody was making $100K, lol. So yeah, I'm hoping they inch it up a notch or two

did they ask you how much you were making in your current/previous job? usually that's how they get you, all they have to do is to beat the current/previous pay/salary. I am interested in knowing what they will say. keep as posted and good luck