Evaluating a Job Offer, and Negotiating It Properly

Salary is the easiest thing to compare and rarely the thing that matters

An offer arrives with one number that is simple to hold in your head, so that number dominates the decision. Meanwhile the things that determine whether you are still there in two years sit further down the document or are not in it at all.

This is not an argument for ignoring pay. It is an argument for looking at the whole package deliberately, because the components other than base salary vary far more between employers than base does.

What to add up beyond base

• Bonus, and whether it is real. Ask what percentage of target was actually paid in each of the last two years. A large bonus that has never paid out is not compensation.
• Equity, and what it is worth today. For private companies, ask about the current valuation, the vesting schedule, the cliff, and what happens if you leave. Treat it as a lottery ticket with unclear odds rather than as cash.
• Pension or retirement contribution. The difference between a minimum contribution and a generous one is substantial money that never appears in the headline.
• Leave, including whether people take it. Unlimited leave policies frequently result in less time off, not more.
• Healthcare and insurance, which in some markets is a large real cost difference.
• Commute or office requirement, which is both time and money.

Where you are comparing two offers, write these into a table rather than holding them in your head. The comparison frequently reverses once it is written down.

The parts of an offer nobody prices

Two things predict satisfaction better than the package and neither is quantifiable.

Who you report to. The single strongest predictor of whether a job goes well. A good manager at a mediocre company beats the reverse consistently, and it is worth weighting heavily.

What you will learn. The role that develops you compounds into every subsequent job. Early in a career this outweighs almost everything else in the offer.

Then the ordinary due diligence. Why is the role open, how long did the last person stay, is the company growing or contracting, and how stable is the funding if that applies.

Negotiating without risking the offer

The fear that negotiating will cause an offer to be withdrawn is widespread and mostly unfounded. Employers expect a conversation, they have usually left room, and withdrawal over a professional request is rare enough to be notable when it happens.

What makes it safe is how you do it. Be enthusiastic about the role, be specific about the number, give a reason, and ask once.

"I am really pleased with this and want to accept. Based on what I have seen for this level in this market, I was hoping for X. Is there room to get closer to that?"

Then be quiet and let them answer. Negotiating against yourself in the silence is the most common way people lose ground.

Do the research first so your number has a basis. Our salary calculator takes your role, city and experience.

One clear takeaway: ask once, specifically, with a reason, then stop talking.

Where the flexibility usually is

Base salary is often the most constrained part of an offer, because it sits inside a band and moving you above it creates problems with existing staff.

Other things are frequently easier to move, and asking about them when base is fixed is how you recover value:

A signing payment, which comes from a different budget. Start date, which is worth real money if you can take unpaid time between roles. Title, which costs nothing now and matters for your next search. Additional leave. A training or conference budget. An early review date with a defined increase attached. Remote or hybrid arrangement written into the contract rather than granted informally.

That last one is worth more than people think, given how many employers have changed remote policies after hiring.

Getting it in writing before you resign

A verbal offer is not an offer. Do not resign, tell your employer, or decline anything else until you have the written version.

Check that the document matches what you were told: salary, title, start date, bonus terms, leave, notice period, location, and any special arrangement you agreed verbally. Anything agreed in conversation and missing from the contract effectively does not exist.

Read the restrictive clauses properly, particularly non-compete and notice periods, and any clause requiring repayment of a signing payment or training costs if you leave within a period.

Asking for a few days to review is normal and expected. An employer pressing you to accept within hours is telling you something about how they operate.

Reference checks and the gap before you start

Between accepting and starting there is a period most people treat as administrative, and two things in it are worth attention.

References are usually taken after an offer rather than before, and they are not a formality at every employer. Tell your referees the role you have accepted and what the employer is likely to ask, because a referee caught unprepared gives a lukewarm answer that reads worse than it is.

Where a background check is involved, make sure your dates and titles match exactly what you put on the application. Discrepancies that were honest rounding at the time become awkward at this stage, and an offer occasionally does not survive one.

Then use the gap. Ask what you could usefully read before starting, and ask for an introduction to one or two people you will work with. Arriving with names and context shortens the first month considerably.

The offer that arrives while you are mid-process elsewhere

A common and awkward situation. One company offers while another, which you prefer, is two rounds from a decision.

Say so, to both. To the company that has offered, ask for a specific extension and give a reason. Most will grant a week, and asking is normal rather than presumptuous.

To the company still deciding, tell them plainly that you have an offer with a deadline and that they are your preference. This is one of the few genuine accelerants in hiring, and companies routinely compress their remaining stages to respond.

What does not work is inventing a deadline you do not have, or accepting an offer while intending to renege if the other lands. Both occasionally succeed and both do real damage in a small industry.

Counteroffers from your current employer

You resign, and your employer comes back with more money. This is flattering and it usually ends badly.

The reasons are consistent. The problem that made you look is rarely money, so the counteroffer does not address it and it resurfaces within months. You are now known to have been looking, which affects how you are viewed in future decisions. And a company that could pay you more all along chose not to until you threatened to leave, which tells you how pay decisions get made there.

Surveys of counteroffer acceptance repeatedly find that a large majority of people who accept one have left within a year anyway, often on worse terms than the offer they turned down.

Where you genuinely would stay for money and nothing else is wrong, a counteroffer can work. Be honest with yourself about whether that is true, and get any promise about scope, title or a review in writing rather than as reassurance in a conversation.

Declining an offer without burning it

Do it promptly, in writing, and briefly. Thank them, say you have accepted something else, and do not itemise the comparison.

Hiring managers remember candidates who declined well, and industries are small. People who turn down an offer graciously get approached again, sometimes within a year when a better-fitting role appears.

If you are declining because of a specific fixable thing and would reconsider, say so. Occasionally that reopens the conversation, and where it does not, you have lost nothing.

Making the decision when both look reasonable

Where two offers are genuinely close, the tie-breakers that hold up over time are narrow.

Which manager did you find easier to talk to. Which team could you describe accurately if asked what they do. Which role would look better on your resume in two years if it went badly. Which one were you more relieved to be offered.

That last question is worth asking honestly. People usually know which one they want before they finish building the spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet is often constructed to justify it.

Our career guides set out how each role progresses, which helps with the two-year question.

Questions people ask

Should I always negotiate a job offer?

Almost always, provided you do it once, specifically and professionally. Employers expect it and withdrawal over a reasonable request is rare.

How much more should I ask for?

A specific figure anchored to market data for that role, level and city, rather than a percentage uplift on what you were offered.

What if they say the salary is fixed?

Move to the parts that usually have more room: signing payment, start date, title, leave, training budget, an early review with a defined increase, or a written remote arrangement.

Should I accept a counteroffer from my current employer?

Usually not. The reason you looked is rarely money, and most people who accept one leave within a year anyway. Only consider it if pay was genuinely the sole issue.

Can I ask for time to consider an offer?

Yes, and a few days is standard. Pressure to decide within hours is itself information about the employer.

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