Job offer and negotiation

Ok. So i have a job offer that i just received(company A). It is a great opportunity however, i have a few other opportunities available as well and i am not sure how to handle the situation. I have a few questions.

1. I have a second interview scheduled for Thursday of this week with another company(company

which i am pretty sure will give me an offer as well. Should i alert them that i have received an offer? Chances are i will have to give the company that already gave me the offer an answer prior to then.

2. I have another company(Company C) which i interviewed with today that i also believe will make me an offer. They told me the next step would be a phone interview with someone who was missing from the in person interview and then a decision would be made. So same as the first question. Should i alert them that i have an offer and try to get them to make a quicker decision?

3. I am going to speak with Company A tomorrow. Any tips on negotiating?

I guess this is a good problem to have. Thanks in advance for the advice.

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Comments

ajd86

I was in almost the exact situation a few weeks ago. In my experience, it's always best to alert prospective employers that you have a standing offer. Companies B and C don't have to know what company A is offering you in salary, but definitely let them know you have an offer that will require an answer soon. If companies B and C want you, they will most likely make every effort to accelerate their process.

My best advice...
Company A: Bide as much time as possible. Let them know you really appreciate the offer and are excited about the position, but would like to consult with family before making a big decision. Do your research on competing salaries (www.glassdoor.com is a good place to start) and see if their offer is a little low. If so, you could probably gain a day or two by negotiating your salary.

Company B: Let them know about your offer from company A. Tell them you are very interested in the position, but are also worried about losing a guaranteed position without an offer in hand from them. Hopefully they can move your interview up to Wednesday or even supplement with a phone interview or Skype.

Company C: Same advice as B. In this case, hopefully they like you enough to extend an offer without the follow-up phone interview.

This is definitely a great problem to have, but I certainly know it can be ALMOST as frustrating as having no offers at all. Good luck!

RouteMyPacket

It's a catch 22 situation. You could advise Company A "I am fielding offers and plan to make a decision this week". I would look at it a little different

Which one is the "ideal" position, meaning room for growth, challenging, salary?

Have you already negotiated salary with Company A? You said you have a job offer so I assume you advised them of your reqs and they accepted and you have the paperwork to sign the offer letter?

It's a tough spot but more details about the positions please

pinkydapimp

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

It's a catch 22 situation. You could advise Company A "I am fielding offers and plan to make a decision this week". I would look at it a little different

Which one is the "ideal" position, meaning room for growth, challenging, salary?

Have you already negotiated salary with Company A? You said you have a job offer so I assume you advised them of your reqs and they accepted and you have the paperwork to sign the offer letter?

It's a tough spot but more details about the positions please

I received the offer via email today from Company A. I have setup a time to speak with them tomorrow to discuss/negotiate. I have not accepted it yet. I have sent emails to the other two companies alerting them of the situation as well. It looks like they are going to speed up the process as well.

As far as the opportunities. All of them have their pros and cons and are great positions. I don't plan to put them into a bidding war or anything. However, i do want to know the entire package from each so that i can properly base my decision.

RouteMyPacket

pinkydapimp wrote: »

I received the offer via email today from Company A. I have setup a time to speak with them tomorrow to discuss/negotiate. I have not accepted it yet. I have sent emails to the other two companies alerting them of the situation as well. It looks like they are going to speed up the process as well.

As far as the opportunities. All of them have their pros and cons and are great positions. I don't plan to put them into a bidding war or anything. However, i do want to know the entire package from each so that i can properly base my decision.

Nice, sounds ideal.

pinkydapimp

So in my negotiation with Company A this morning, since they dont do tuition reimbursement i asked if they can add onto my salary to cover two of my 3 semesters for my grad school tuition. I am waiting to hear back regarding that. However, he asked me if i would commit to the position if he could get it, to which i agreed. Not sure if that was a good negotiating tactic, however, that is the position that i have been leaning towards anyway. So i'm crossing my fingers. Company B has sent their offer which is nice as well. Company C i have the last phone interview with tomorrow however it doesn't seem they would be able to get an offer ready in time so it looks like they will be out.

Another question. Company A's employment is dependent on passing a background check. Im sure i will pas it as i have had a few done in the past few years. However, is it good practice not to give my two weeks notice until after i have successfully completed that background check?

jmritenour

Generally speaking, if there are any contingencies to an employment offer - ie, background or reference check - I'd wait until they are cleared and you are 100% locked before giving notice. Even if you are absolutely certain there's nothing that will come up, it's better to wait.

Nemowolf

jmritenour wrote: »

Generally speaking, if there are any contingencies to an employment offer - ie, background or reference check - I'd wait until they are cleared and you are 100% locked before giving notice. Even if you are absolutely certain there's nothing that will come up, it's better to wait.

100% aggree. My current employer seemed stuck on getting a signed offer letter that had a start date on it. I kept argueing that until my background cleared i would not be giving notice at my current employer because as i work in california, they could easily tell my services are no longer needed and send me out the door before the 2 weeks were over. Once i explained to the recruiter that the sooner they got me the all clear from the background, i would give them an updated start date and they agreed.

Zartanasaurus

Whatever you do, don't make Company A wait too long, especially if that's your 1st choice anyway. Last thing you want to happen is you THINK B & C will make an offer but they don't and A goes with someone else.

pinkydapimp

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Whatever you do, don't make Company A wait too long, especially if that's your 1st choice anyway. Last thing you want to happen is you THINK B & C will make an offer but they don't and A goes with someone else.

Absolutely. Actually i am still waiting to hear back from them regarding the initial negotiation. it has been about 24 hours. Should i follow up? He told me he would get back to me.

Mrock4

Personally, I'd give it another day. It can take a few days to get the offer worked out between HR and the management chain- especially with larger companies. Often it has to go through several folks before they give you a thumbs up.

jibbajabba

Mrock4 wrote: »

Personally, I'd give it another day. It can take a few days to get the offer worked out between HR and the management chain- especially with larger companies. Often it has to go through several folks before they give you a thumbs up.

Agree - I usually get nervous pretty quickly - last time my contract was written up within a day but took 5 to get the final signature.

pinkydapimp

jibbajabba wrote: »

Agree - I usually get nervous pretty quickly - last time my contract was written up within a day but took 5 to get the final signature.

Im definitely sweating over here. If i haven't heard back by this evening i will follow up as i need to give Company B a response by Thursday.

RouteMyPacket

Oh the tangled web we weave. ha

I would follow up with Company A, you are going to be lucky if they agree to your tuition request. That's an odd request and might sink your appeal to them?

You want them to add 2 semesters cost to your annual salary?

pinkydapimp

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

Oh the tangled web we weave. ha

I would follow up with Company A, you are going to be lucky if they agree to your tuition request. That's an odd request and might sink your appeal to them?

You want them to add 2 semesters cost to your annual salary?

Well this is a sales engineering role so I had to at least attempt to negotiate. The salary was a bit low so I asked if they could do tuition reimbursement. They said they couldn't. So I asked if it was possible to get maybe a portion of that added to my base as that would be a significant amount of money I would now be coming out of pocket for. I don't believe something like this is out of the ordinary. Don't most places assume you will negotiate?

pinkydapimp

Just an update. I ended up following up with company A asking where we stood(in a polite way) and just heard back that they would agree to my counter. Very excited. Thanks for the advice everyone!

networker050184

Congrats and good luck with the new job!

JasonX

Congrats pinky, we're both in the same boat it appears, but you got what you wanted.

kgb

Congrats.

I wonder how they are going to handle that temporary bump in your pay for the tuition. I could be wrong, but if they treat it as a bonus, that money gets treated at a higher tax bracket than your normal wages.

RouteMyPacket

pinkydapimp wrote: »

Just an update. I ended up following up with company A asking where we stood(in a polite way) and just heard back that they would agree to my counter. Very excited. Thanks for the advice everyone!

Congrats!

cyberguypr

Congrats!!!

Mrock4

kgb wrote: »

I wonder how they are going to handle that temporary bump in your pay for the tuition. I could be wrong, but if they treat it as a bonus, that money gets treated at a higher tax bracket than your normal wages.

The IRS does consider bonuses as supplemental income, so I've read it's taxed at 25%. It really depends on your tax bracket, though..I'm in the 25% tax bracket, so it's no change. If the OP is in a lower one, he may be losing a bit to taxes as you suggested.

BTW..congrats to the OP!

pinkydapimp

Mrock4 wrote: »

The IRS does consider bonuses as supplemental income, so I've read it's taxed at 25%. It really depends on your tax bracket, though..I'm in the 25% tax bracket, so it's no change. If the OP is in a lower one, he may be losing a bit to taxes as you suggested.

BTW..congrats to the OP!

actually its not temporary. I got it added to the base permanently. To be honest i asked and was convinced they would meet me half way. Glad i asked! I regret not negotiating past positions.

RouteMyPacket

pinkydapimp wrote: »

actually its not temporary. I got it added to the base permanently. To be honest i asked and was convinced they would meet me half way. Glad i asked! I regret not negotiating past positions.

You live and learn, I use to hate the negotiating process but now as I am older and more experienced. I know what my value is and I also know what the going rate is for the services I am being asked to perform. Makes it pretty easy.

Congrats again!

lantech

Congrats on the job and a successful negotiation.