BC / AC: Should You Negotiate Salary on a Job Offer? How Covid has Changed Salary Negotiation 

Since COVID, all facets of recruiting have changed: location, duration, communication, work hours, even entire jobs. One of the most sensitive subjects of recruiting is salary negotiation. Somewhere, someone instructed newbie candidates to negotiate pay offers. This issue comes up frequently, as many entry-level candidates believe they’ll be perceived as being weak if they don’t ask for more money.   

This may have worked well with hiring managers BC (Before COVID). But that convention has gone out the window during COVID. These days, everyone is working on their last nerve after a year of being cooped up, overworked, and stressed out about business and the economy. Hiring managers have restricted budgets and very little wiggle room exists for an increase, especially for an entry-level candidate.    

We ran into this recently when we recruited, packaged, prepped, and presented a candidate who received an offer and came back asking for over 16% more in the base salary. This was after he agreed to the salary range upfront.  After talking to his friends, he came back for more. Even though he had four years of experience, the position was still considered associate level in the dynamic world of technology.   

Many millennials have internalized the notion that they should always negotiate salary. Think twice about negotiating pay until AC (After COVID). If you are working with a recruiter, he or she will tell you what will work within the budget allotted for the role.  I recommend after all the hard work of the interview and the offer comes in, take it!  You can negotiate vacation, benefits, workspace, workday hours.  What’s most important is to land a job that will give you experience in your desired field.