Timing and Communications in Job Negotiations

Written by Danielle Birchard

I was recently helping a friend with some job offer negotiations and responses to HR. It's not the first time it's happened, I've had several friends reach out to me for help while they were job hunting. As an HR professional, I have learned a few things about the job negotiation process and have seen have seen many different strategies and communication methods.

In this particular scenario, my friend had applied to two different jobs, one of which was almost guaranteed to him while the second job the other job was more desirable. The recruiter at the first company interviewed him and made a verbal offer that same day. He was told that they required a response by the next day, or so they said. This didn't give my friend any time to weigh his options or to wait to hear back from the job that he actually wanted. In my opinion, this first employer seemed to come across as very desperate or as if they had an unexperienced HR department if they were requiring applicants to make decisions that quickly. I helped my friend craft a response that was respectful and requested more time for him to weigh all of his options while also stating that he was still interested in the position. The trick for communication like this is to not make the offer seem invalid or unappreciated, but to make sure you answer professionally while also protecting your wants and desires for your career. It was not unreasonable to request more than 24 hours to think about a position, especially when an employer knows that you are working with several different opportunities.

In the end, my advice when trying to figure out what to say in any job negotiation would be to always portray yourself as being interested and excited about the opportunity while also protecting your timeline, wage desire, flexibility requirements, benefits needs and any other requirements that you are looking for. And ask for help when crafting your responses. There is no shame in having a second set of eyes look over your communications. It might not always be in your best interest to jump at the first offer that you get, your perfect job might could be just a little down the road.