Ask HN: Negotiating on terms other than base salary?
One of the offers I'm more interested in has stated multiple times that they're unable to meet my ask in terms of base salary. They did mention that after 6 months or so they'd like to/be happy to bump me up to that level, but as that's more of a "maybe" and not something I have in ink now, I'm unable to place much value on it.
Being quite interested in this role, I don't want to give a flat out rejection, and would like to negotiate and see if there are any terms that could be changed to make up for a couple thousand dollar gap.
Currently it's something like this:
An offer of X + 17 "off days" which can be used for vacation/sick days as needed. I've already communicated that I have other offers for 3 weeks + 10 personal days, and due to family reasons this is more or less a requirement for me. Aside from that it's pretty standard, MSP coverage and full medical benefits.
As I usually focus on negotiating base salary and they're unwilling to budge in that respect, I'm wondering what other terms the HN community looks for in this kind of situation. I'm thinking maybe something like a reduced hours arrangement to make up for the few thousand dollar gap, but I've never done that and would appreciate some opinions/advice.
Thanks!
I've found that companies that have an established vacation policy (vs. "unlimited") won't change that as part of negotiation (this is in the U.S., though).
Even if they won't put in writing that they'll give you $X bump in 6 months, you could ask for a salary review in 6 months. That's no commitment on their part for an amount, but it does mean that something will happen in 6 months -- and if they don't give you a bump, well, you can evaluate whether you're happy enough that it doesn't matter, or you can look to move elsewhere.