Before you hunt for a job, you learn to write a stand-out resume and impress the interviewer with your polished interview skills. However, you should also be working on offer negotiation skills once you’ve landed the job.

Offer negotiation can be difficult and most certainly needs practice in order to learn what terms you can negotiate and how to best approach a negotiation. Let’s start with the “what” and then we will tackle the “how” of offer negotiations.

Negotiating an offer is more than just asking for more money. You can try to bargain for other terms within an offer, including your start date, vacation entitlement, and benefits eligibility, to name a few. If you’re trying to negotiate money in your offer, ensure that you are considering the entire compensation package.

Things to negotiate

• Bonus or commission target: the amount that you receive will depend upon performance (yours and/or the company’s)
• Health Benefits: are the premiums paid by the employee or the company? It can make a big difference. If the company is footing the bill, it’s part of the total compensation.
• Pension or RRSP matching program: determine if the company has a retirement plan and how much the company contributes to these plans on your behalf.
• Other perks or subsidies: these may include car allowance, gym membership subsidy, parking pass, etc.

Don’t skip over the perks in an offer and take them for granted. Each individual added bonus that a company provides may not seem like a lot to you, however it’s one less expense that you have to worry about and, together, all of the perks can add up to be a significant amount.

If you decide to negotiate your offer, you should determine your bottom line. You first need to determine which terms of the offer you would like to negotiate, then respond to the company. How you approach the negotiation is important; if you don’t use the right tactic, then the company might not be willing to negotiate with you or, worse, you could tarnish the employment relationship before you step through the door on your first day. 

In my experience, the best negotiations are those where candidates are realistic and reasonable about their requests. Ask the company how they prefer to receive your response to the offer, (over the phone or by email), and respond with a clear outline of your requests that includes a brief explanation of your point of view. Your attitude could also affect the negotiation process, so professionalism is essential. Exuding confidence is great, but be cautious that you aren’t over-confident. Giving off an air of arrogance will risk derailing negotiations.

Thoroughly review any offer that you are presented with and ensure that you understand the entire package that is being offered. If you would like to negotiate, clearly outline what terms you would like to change and approach the employer in a professional and confident manner. The more you negotiate, the better you will become.

Happy negotiating!