Advice Needed on Job Offer Please!

So I just received a job offer for a network engineer position. I am super excited because this will be my break into the networking field. The pay is a 20% increase in what I make now and I would also get to work with much more advanced technologies. For example when I was given a tour of the place they had two Nexus 7010s still on pallets waiting to be opened.
My question is should I ask for an increase in pay? Or is that just being greedy? I currently work as a desktop engineer so I don't think I have much to offer them in terms of real life experience (I do get assigned small networking related projects at my current job). Sorry for keeping this brief, I will give more details if I do accept the position. Thanks everyone in advance

One more thing. If you argue for more money could they retract their original offer?

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Comments

lordy

Discussing salary once an offer is made is always difficult.

Do you think squeezing out 5% more is worth looking greedy?

networker050184

Agree with Lordy. Once an official offer is made it has already gone through all the trouble of making it through the company process. Any kind of salary negotiation should have been done before that. It's a pain and looks bad to have to go back to your bosses after they approved one thing and tell them now the guy wants more money than previously agreed to.

Congrats on the new job!

Xyro

It's a 20% increase over what you make now. This is all I would look at.

NetworkVeteran

FloOz wrote: »

One more thing. If you argue for more money could they retract their original offer?

Of course. Congratulations on the new role and raise, if you accept it.

Akaricloud

I'm going to disagree with the others; this is still a good time to negotiate. It's definitely much easier now than after you accept the position.

I'd reply back with a simple counter offer if I were you. You want to convey you're excited to accept this opportunity but were expecting the salary to come in a bit higher. Throw in a few points about how paying you more will benefit their company and hope for the best.

If correctly written you have very little risk and a lot to gain. Most companies are willing to go higher if you're willing to ask them to.

networker050184

Official offers are made after offer/counter offer phase of negotiation. At that point everyone has agreed to the details. The official offer is simply a formality. It's not an easy process to get official offers changed in most companies.

NetworkVeteran

> Throw in a few points about how paying you more will benefit their company and hope for the best.

If he ties any benefits to paying him more, he's simultaneously implying those may be absent if they pay him the offered amount. No matter how cleverly the counter-offer is worded, there's a degree of risk involved.

I'd have explained my salary requirements before the offer was made.

Akaricloud

It really depends. Was salary previously talked about and agreed upon or is this the first you're hearing of it?

It's not that uncommon for this to be the method in which companies handle negotiation. I've had multiple companies work this method where salary really wasn't open for discussion until an offer was made.

It really sucks to accept a job offer where you know in a year you could easily make a lateral move to gain a higher salary. It's best for all parties to not put someone in the position where this is likely to happen.

chmod

I always tell them upfront how much i want, i even interrupt the interviewer to ask about the salary if not possible i wait for the second interview and ask upfront, i don't like to waste my time to expend a long time negotiating.

dave330i

As others have said salary negotiation should have been done before the offer letter. It's unprofessional to ask for more money after the offer letter's been sent.

FloOz

Thanks everyone for all the replies. I am going to accept and be happy. 20% bump is a good raise in pay.

pinkydapimp

if this is the first time you spoke about money, than chances are they have built a small cushion expecting you to possibly counter. However, they can recind the offer if they wish. You are already getting a 20% increase and a role that you like. Why should they pay you more than that? If you cant answer that question with something concrete regarding your skills, experience or education, than i would suggest taking the offer. There is nothing wrong with countering an offer. However, you better have a good reason for doing so.

Xyro

FloOz wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the replies. I am going to accept and be happy. 20% bump is a good raise in pay.

Wise!

Congrats on the new job

About7Narwhal

I saw a few others who said this, but most of you made the assumption that pay was already discussed. While I agree 100% that if the topic was brought up prior to an offer, you should have negotiated at that point, I myself have been in 2 situations where the offer letter was the first talk of pay. In that situation, I politely ask if there is room for negotiation and proceed accordingly.

That aside, Lordy hit it on the head: You are already up 20%, no need to risk a position for another 5%.

Congrats on the job and on the nice 20% increase. Let us know how the job works out for you.

dave330i

About7Narwhal wrote: »

I myself have been in 2 situations where the offer letter was the first talk of pay.

That's a mistake made by yourself & perspective employer. One of the first thing you should work out during the interview process is salary expectation. If both parties are not in the same range, then it's usually a waste of time.

jabney

At my previous job i received an offer letter which had a salary that was good maybe about a 5% increase. It bumped me from $76K with an hour/65mile commute to $80k with a 3min/mile. So good is relative but it was less than i was expecting as i was moving from Lead Desktop Support to Information Assurance Analyst. However salary was never discussed prior to the offer once i received it I asked the HR person if the salary could be negotiated because of my experience and the fact that i was already performing IA functions in my previous role. I gave her a number and Within hours i had a new offer letter for $87k which was what i asked for. I don't think i looked greedy at all nor did the HR person.

After being at the job for a while it was review time. Because i worked for a government contractor and the the government had started being stingy with there money my raise was only 1.5% which i gladly accepted. Heck i was happy just to have a job

I was also very glad i got my money upfront as once you start your base pay may be locked in for years to come.

Just my 2 cents... Which may not be worth much as i left that job after a year and took a paycut of 20K$

However I now have job security and less stressful environment and had time to study and pass my CISSP on the first try.