Negotiating your offer package is a daunting process. In this guide, we pool together our experience to help you in your next offer negotiation.
TL;DR:
Before you enter negotiations, do your math homework, then aim to obtain as much leverage as you can.
During negotiations, be firm, but likable and be prepared for curveballs.
Post negotiations, take your time to make a decision but have a deadline, remember to review and adjust based on market data. Finally, don’t forget to look beyond the numbers.
Before you enter your negotiations
1. Do your math homework - understand your baseline monetary expectations
Before you enter into negotiations, it is important to know what you want from a monetary perspective. There are other things like work location, culture, etc, etc. but the most important thing to get right during this stage is your monetary expectations. This is divided into two parts:
Total desired annual monetary remuneration- base salary, fixed allowances, bonuses (We recommend annual because it is easier to calculate)
Additional benefits- Health insurance, dental, optical care, etc. etc.
2. Have leverage
Now that you have your initial desired salary, you can start applying to new software engineering jobs. The sooner you do this, the better as it will allow you to gain negotiation power. Leverage allows you to walk away from unfavorable deals, knowing you are able to obtain better opportunities. Negotiations are essentially psychological battles. Ultimately, the party that is least desperate will get what they want. In negotiating job offers, your biggest leverage is your current job and other job offers.
During negotiations
3. Be firm…
Being firm means clearly communicating what your expectations are. This is important because whilst you want the best possible offer, you need to make it clear that they can get you! No one is willing to expend social or political capital to get approval for a better offer if they suspect that you are going to say “no, thanks” at the end of the day.
4. …But likable
Most HR KPIsare the number of vacancies closed. In that sense, their interest is aligned with yours. However, the tricky part here is that they need to be able to convince their stakeholders that you deserve your asking price. People are more willing to go the extra mile if you’re deemed pleasant and likable.
5. Be prepared for curveballs
During the course of the negotiating process, you will be asked many tough questions such as:
“If we offered you today, would you accept the opportunity?”
“Are we your top choice?”
“What would make you accept our opportunity?”
Our advice is to always be truthful, even if you don’t have the answer at that moment. Lying will just complicate things for you down the road.
Post negotiations
6. Take your time to make a decision, but have a deadline
At the time of writing, software engineers in Malaysia have been in high demand. A software engineer in Malaysia can receive up to 3 or4 offers during a job search. Take advantage of this market condition as much as you can. However, do not string the other party along! Taking too long to make a decision might backfire on you as being involved in a negotiation process for too long will also affect your focus. Hence, we recommend that you have your own deadline in making a decision.
7. Continuously review and adjust
Market feedback is the most important data that you have to take into account. How many interviews have you gotten? What are employers’ responses to your salary demands? How many offers have you gotten? Constantly review the market’s feedback towards your demands to help you land the best possible offer. At the end of the day, your biggest focus is to get the right job and less on getting negotiations right.
7. Beyond the numbers
Salary, though important, does not necessarily lead to a meaningful and happy career. We believe that culture, work vision, and working with the right manager leads to a more fulfilling career.
Negotiation is a long process, if a company does not meet your salary expectations, it is not a reflection of your capability. It is more important that you take those indicators as feedback to help you refine your search.
Good luck!
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TRIIIO is a Malaysian recruitment firm focused on partnering with companies to find and recruit top talent and build their Software Engineering teams. For more information on how we can help you recruit Software Engineers in this candidate tight market, visit our service page.
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