How to buy a used car or Negotiating a Job Offer

Story about Mark--3 jobs in 4 years, how he negotiated each offer
exploding job offer
silent treatment
4 parts:  salary, options, relocation, and signing bonus
it's all about how has the leverage--and at this point the job applicant has all of the leverage
new college hires vs. industry hires
large companies vs. small companies
easiest way to negotiate--beat my best offer
don't look for a job without a job
they always ask your current salary--imply that you're looking to improve it by a large margin
remember--they won't take the offer back, they'll just refuse to meet your demands (but you do have to work with these people)

Since I've only held one job since graduating from college, I haven't negotiated all that many job offers.  When I wanted to find out how it's done, I went to my friend Mark.  Mark is fast-tracking it through the software industry, with the intention of starting his own company one day.  In the last 4 years, he's held 3 jobs.  

Job offers can have 4 main parts: salary, options, relocation, and signing bonus.  

Salary--Money.  Your salary should go up from job to job, and changing jobs is generally considered the fastest way to increase your salary.  Don't take less than what you're currently making, and try to keep your salary in cash (not in stock options).

Options--go read our section on valuing stock options.  High risk, high reward.  Options are a way for the company to 

At this point in the game, the market for technical talent is so tight (especially for software developers, technical writers, sales engineers, etc.) that the job applicant holds all the leverage in salary negotiation.  Smart companies have started doing things to shift this power. 

One strategies companies use is called the exploding job offer.  When Mark interviewed for his current job, for instance, they gave him a standard offer with a "gotcha" attached.  If he reported to work within 2 weeks of getting the offer, he would receive a $20K bonus.  What this meant, however, is that he had to negotiate the offer that day, go back to California and give his current employer two weeks notice, and then move himself to Austin while working his last two weeks in the Bay Area.  It also meant that he couldn't browse around for a better offer or a more attractive company.

Another company, this time in the Bay Area, is known for saying something along the lines of "We only want people who really, really want to work here, so we want you to commit to working for us before we give you your offer.  We can negotiate from there."  Yeah, right you could--they've just taken away all your leverage.