[Jim]

How do you negotiate a job offer?

[tomchi]

At the point you have a job offer, you are in the best position to negotiate. This is because they have already spent the money to get all the way through the recruiting process, and if they were to start again from scratch it might cost them an additional 20-50k to bring a different candidate into the position. Add to this the cost to the project of having an unfilled position for a longer period than expected, and you'll find there is a pretty large margin for you to negotiate where their net costs will be lower if they acquiese to your requests.The other factor is the overall job market. In today's market, where employment is picking up in many sectors you're in a good spot to negotiate.Now the right place to phrase things is to describe competitive offers (hopefully you'll have some) in terms of their relative advantage. If one of your alternative offers pays more, you can allude to this vaguely. Even if they do not, you can allude to the relative advantages (the types of challenge, the convience of the commute etc). This will create a more competitive landscape where your potential employer feels like they need to overcome other offers (and not that you are simply greedy and would like more cash).Unless the potential employer has really lowballed you (i.e. you are well below industry averages for your area), you should shoot for a modest counter-proposal of 5-15%. Put this out there with clear timelines for when they need to respond, and other forms you might accept (signing bonus, trading-up level/rank, etc).You should stay professional throughout the process, even if your offer is rejected. Employers know that this is the right time to bring these things up, so don't worry about burning bridges by putting a request out there at this stage.Ok. Hope that helps!

[CompGal]

I would suggest asking for more than you're willing to accept. That way that'll give you some leeway if they offer lower. It's good to have more than one job offer also so they can feel as though they have to offer you more in order to bring you on board.