APICS Atlanta - Negotiations: You Only Get What You Ask For

Article by: Jon Harvill CPC
APICS Atlanta Career Center Director

Everything is negotiable, or the opposite may be true, nothing is negotiable, depending on the situation, the position, how flexible the company is, the company’s culture and your skills as a negotiator. You have to be perceptive enough to determine your bounds, while remembering that, you can only get what you ask for.  The it being an extra $10,000 salary, a 30% bonus, a hiring bonus, an extra week’s vacation, reimbursement for your COBRA expenses, a company car, or other financial or non-financial benefits.

You can do your homework and check salary surveys, industry practices and even interview various company employees to determine what practices they are willing to share concerning their own actual hiring experience.  When you get into final negotiations, a lot may depend upon whether you are talking to the Human Resources Representative or to the Hiring Manager who has a need for which hiring you may represent the solution.  HR will have an interest in avoiding non-standard employment agreements and may not relate to the financial value you are able to bring to the company.  However, HR will likely know what is feasible and what is outside their control when it comes to the timing of items such as insurance coverage and 401k qualification.

‘Screening’ questions may be asked of you early in the process like, “The pay range for this position is $X to $Y, is this agreeable to you?”  Although no contract has been signed, this does indicate significant bounds have already been set.  Negotiations have actually begun back even earlier in the process with the job advertisement or the job description. If the job listing indicates the potential salary range, the title, the number of people supervised, the dollar responsibility---any of these may represent difficult obstacles to overcome.

Also an important factor will be what ‘Edge’ you have to position yourself favorably for the negotiations, i.e., being currently employed, possessing a skill the company badly needs, the company’s need to expand, the rapport you have established with the Hiring Manager or with  HR, your other viable job offers which would allow you to walk away from this opportunity.

What is negotiable also varies by management levels – the higher the position the more that's generally negotiable. You need to gather information during the interviewing process on the company's standard practices regarding certain items that are typically negotiable.  Get a "read" on how flexible the Hiring Manager and company culture are during the interviewing process to have a feel for what they may be willing to negotiate later.

For successful results it is best to accomplish much of the negotiations after the decision to extend the offer to you, but before the formal offer is put into writing.  That way the list of formal changes will not be as extensive.  You certainly want to avoid overwhelming them.

Generally not negotiable:

  • Medical Insurance Effective Date
  • Entry date for Retirement/401(k) and receiving company contribution
  • Vesting date on qualified plans (401(k), Profit Sharing, Pension, Stock Option Plan.)

Commonly negotiated items, varying with level of position.

  • Vacation amount higher than standard accrual rate. Specifically scheduled dates.
  • Bonus 1st year minimum guarantee.
  • Early Pay Review.
  • Severance - 6-12 months. Outplacement Services -# months not $ cost.
  • Relocation Expenses.
  • Employment contract.
  • Car or automobile allowance.
  • PDA, Cell phone.
  • Home office expenses, laptop, internet connectivity.
  • Hiring bonus.
  • Educational assistance ahead of schedule.
  • Stock options.
  • Professional association dues.
  • Certification exam expense.
  • Reimbursement for COBRA expenses.
  • Early or late start date.
  • Flexible working hours.
  • Telecommuting arrangements.

Recognize that a job offer can be withdrawn at any time and particularly at a point where it is interpreted that the offer is being turned down or when a counter offer is put on the table.  This occurs if your demands are considered beyond the company’s range of flexibility or if you just become too much of a pain to work with and they have concluded that you will be too much of a high maintenance employee.  So, keep your demands few and easy to satisfy if you want the job.

Additional inquiries should be made to:
Jon Harvill, CPC, APICS Atlanta Career Center Director, careercenter@apicsatlanta.org
c/o Professional Search of Atlanta, Phone: (770) 952-0009, Fax: (770) 952-9422,
E-mail: JHarvill@professionalsearchatlanta.com, Website: professionalsearchatlanta.com