An outside job recruiter contacted me to help fill a position at a company. He said that the position had a salary range of 70k-80k. I informed him that I would only consider the job if it came in around 80k. I agreed to meet with the employer. After many interviews, the employer has offered me a salary of 80k. However, after meeting with the company and learning about the job requirements and researching similar positions I believe the offer to be low. Also considering I have 10 years experience in this field. According to Glassdoor my worth is 95k, according to ZipRecruiter the average salary for my position in my state is 91k. My recruiter was very insistent that I shouldn't negotiate and that he has already done so on my behalf. He even went as far to get his supervisor on the phone, who proceeded to ask me if there was a problem with the job and if I was having second thoughts. The whole thing really rubbed me the wrong way. Am I wrong to want to negotiate my salary?
Responses (1)
I've worked for almost half of that with a comparable amount of experience, so make what you will of this opinion.
Don't come to a decision based on greed. No company wants to pay an above average salary; they are forced into doing so as the product becomes an essential part of revenue, and the cost of training / manufacturing a replacement increases above its maintenance.
What does matter, is how much you're currently getting paid (if employed), and how many alternative offers you have lined up (how far along, what they're offering, compatibility etc).
If you truly believe you can negotiate for more than the upper bound of a range of which you had been informed prematurely, ere having proven your worth concretely, against your recruiter's advice, then you might possess the bearing for a shot at strongarming your way through; however, should that fail, you're practically guaranteed to strike out here, losing at least some amount of time until the next opportunity.