1. Do the research before you have an opinion
Confidence in a negotiation comes almost entirely from preparation. If you know the going rate for the role, in your country, at your level, you are stating a fact. If you do not, you are guessing, and it shows.
Triangulate from several sources rather than trusting one: published salary data for your role and country, job adverts for comparable positions, and — if you can — people doing the job. Pay attention to how the range shifts by city, sector and company size, because a national average can be badly misleading in an expensive capital.
Write down three numbers before any conversation: the figure you would be pleased with, the figure you would accept, and the figure below which you would genuinely walk away. Knowing the third one is what stops you agreeing to something in the moment that you resent six months later.
2. Let them name a number first
Whoever anchors first shapes the range. If the employer opens, you learn their budget without revealing your ceiling. So when asked early what you are looking for, it is entirely reasonable to redirect once: "I would rather understand the role properly first — what range have you set aside for it?"
Many employers will simply tell you, and in a growing number of jurisdictions they must publish it anyway. If they press you a second time, answer with a researched range rather than continuing to dodge, because persistent evasion starts to look like game-playing.
One thing to avoid entirely: giving your current salary as the basis. It anchors the new offer to your old employer's decisions rather than to the value of the job in front of you, and in several countries it is now illegal for employers to ask.
3. Wait for the written offer
Your leverage is not constant. It is at its lowest during screening and at its highest in the window between the employer deciding they want you and you accepting. At that point they have spent weeks on the process, briefed stakeholders, and mentally closed the vacancy. Restarting is expensive for them.
So do not negotiate hard in a first-round call. Get through the process, be genuinely enthusiastic, and let them choose you. Then negotiate — once, clearly, on the written offer.
Ask for the offer in writing before you respond, and take a day if you need one. "Thank you, I am delighted. Could you send the full details in writing? I would like to review it properly and come back to you tomorrow" is a completely standard reply, not a red flag.
4. Ask for a specific number, and justify it
Vague requests get vague results. "Is there any flexibility?" invites a token increase. A specific, evidenced number invites a real conversation.
The structure that works: appreciation, evidence, specific ask, openness. "I am really pleased with the offer and I want to accept. Based on the market range for this role and the fact I would be bringing the regulatory reporting experience you mentioned was hard to hire for, I was hoping we could get to 68,000. Is that something you can work with?"
Notice what the justification is not: your rent, your commute, your loan, or the fact you have not had a raise in three years. Those are true but irrelevant to the employer. The only arguments that move a salary are about the market rate and the value you bring.
5. Negotiate the whole package
Base salary is often the least flexible number in the offer, because it sits inside a band that may be tightly governed by HR. The rest of the package is frequently more negotiable and can be worth a great deal.
If the base will not move, that is the moment to ask what else can. Sometimes the answer is worth more than the raise you were asking for.
- A signing bonus, which sits outside the salary band.
- An earlier salary review — six months rather than twelve, with agreed criteria.
- Additional annual leave, which is genuine untaxed value.
- Remote or hybrid days, worth real money in commuting cost and time.
- Training budget, certification fees or conference attendance.
- A better job title, which compounds into every future application.
- Pension or retirement contribution above the default.
6. Say the number, then stop talking
This is the hardest mechanical skill in negotiation and the one that most improves outcomes. After you make your ask, be quiet.
Silence is uncomfortable, and the instinct is to fill it — usually by softening the request, offering a justification nobody asked for, or negotiating against yourself before the other person has said a word. "...but obviously if that is not possible I completely understand" has cost people a lot of money.
Ask. Then wait. The pause belongs to them.
7. Keep it collaborative
Tone determines whether this is a negotiation or a confrontation. You are not opponents; you are two parties trying to find a number that works. The language should reflect that.
"Can we find a way to get closer to X?" lands very differently from "I need X." Ultimatums work only when you are genuinely willing to walk, and they poison the relationship even when they succeed — you will be managed by this person.
Remember also that the hiring manager is frequently not the obstacle. They may want to pay you more and be constrained by a band or a budget cycle. Treating them as an ally trying to solve a shared problem gets far better results than treating them as an adversary.
8. Be ready for no
Sometimes the answer is genuinely no, and it is not a tactic. Public sector pay scales, unionised structures and rigid banding are real constraints.
A no is still useful information if you ask the right follow-up. "I understand. Can we agree what would need to be true for me to reach that number, and review it in six months?" turns a closed door into a documented plan — and if they will not engage even with that, you have learned something important about how the organisation handles progression.
Whatever happens, do not let a failed negotiation sour your acceptance. If you take the job, take it properly.
9. Get it in writing before you resign
Verbal agreements evaporate. The person who promised you a six-month review may move on; the recruiter who mentioned a signing bonus may not have written it down anywhere.
Before you hand in notice anywhere, make sure the final agreed terms exist in a document: base salary, bonus structure and how it is calculated, start date, holiday, notice period, remote working arrangement, and anything specific you negotiated. A short email confirming your understanding is enough if a formal contract is slow.
This is not distrust; it is ordinary professional hygiene, and no reasonable employer will be offended by it.
10. Remember it compounds
The reason this conversation deserves preparation is arithmetic. An extra 3,000 a year is not 3,000. Percentage raises, bonuses and pension contributions are all calculated from the base, and your next employer will likely benchmark against it too.
Over a decade, a single successful negotiation early in a career routinely compounds into a five-figure difference — and the effect is larger for people who negotiate consistently rather than once.
It is twenty minutes of discomfort. Very little else you do this year will pay as well per minute.