What Is Personal FinanceA job offer is the one moment in a working relationship where you hold the most leverage: the company already decided it wants you, and hasn't paid you a dollar yet. Most people let that moment pass by accepting the first number instead of countering it.
Read the whole package, not only the base number
Base salary is the easiest part of an offer to compare across companies, so it gets most of the attention, but it's rarely the whole story. Before responding to an offer, look at:
- Bonus structure: is it guaranteed in year one, tied to company performance, or tied to individual performance targets you don't control yet?
- Equity or stock, if the role offers it. A grant with a high headline value carries different real value depending on vesting schedule and grant type. Stock options vs. RSUs explains that difference before you weigh an equity-heavy offer against a cash-heavy one.
- Benefits: health coverage, retirement matching, paid time off, and remote or hybrid flexibility all carry a dollar value even though they don't show up in the salary line.
- Start date and signing bonus, both open to a request even when the base salary has limited room to move.
A lower base salary with a strong bonus, meaningful equity, and generous benefits sometimes beats a higher base salary with none of those, so compare full packages instead of a single number.
Companies expect a counter
Most employers build negotiating room into an initial offer on purpose, expecting a candidate to ask for more. A candidate who accepts the first number without a counter often leaves real money on the table for no reason, since the company was ready to move.
Rescinding an offer over a reasonable, professional counter is rare and usually a sign of a company worth avoiding anyway. A company negotiates offers regularly and treats a respectful counter as a normal part of hiring, not as a red flag about the candidate.
What to say
Keep the ask specific and grounded in something real, not a vague request for "more":
"I'm excited about this offer. Based on market research, a competing offer, or specific experience, I'd like to see the base at specific number. Is there room to work with here?"
If the base salary has little room to move, ask about the other parts of the package instead: a signing bonus, an earlier equity refresh, or extra paid time off. A specific ask tied to one or two priorities gets a clearer answer than a vague request to sweeten the offer somehow.
Negotiate before you sign, not after
Once you accept an offer and start the job, the leverage from this specific moment is gone. Future raises go through the normal review process, covered in negotiating a raise. Handle the negotiation before you sign, while the company still has the strongest reason to say yes.