Should You Take the First Salary Offer?

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Hello Joan,
I know you asked for suggestions back in May, but hopefully this reaches you and I can provide some valuable suggestions. I am a PR/Media guy myself with four years of experience from my time as a combat correspondent in the U.S. Marines, and I have my BA in Communication as well. I applied for a position with a wonderful organization and fortunately got the job, and although their offer was within my range, it was near the bottom of my expectations. I plan to make a counter offer by making the following points:
- The qualifications for the job stated that a high school diploma was necessary. Since I earned both my AA and BA in Communication, I plan to use this as a bargaining chip to show that I exceed their requirement.
- My experience surpasses their expectations by a year, which isn't much but is still viable.
- I receive free, comprehensive healthcare benefits through the Department of Veteran's Affairs, so I will not need any healthcare coverage whatsoever. While not the norm with most job seekers, I plan to point out that by hiring me the organization will save thousands of dollars in healthcare costs, which should result in an increase in salary. I'm not looking to be greedy, but it is a valid point.
- The job requires extensive travel using my own vehicle, so I'm going to make sure both the mileage and gas can be reimbursed to me on an as-need basis.
I'm sure not all of these apply to you, but hopefully I've provided a few suggestions that may help you in the future. Thanks for reading, and good luck if you are still looking!
Sincerely,
Alec

Alec of OH 2:40AM March 03, 2013

Dear sir,
Your service of job-seeker is very well, Please continue to serve to the job seekers. One thing my qualification is Dip in Electrical Engg and Dip in Industrial & Fire safety Management and my experience is in safety side of 6.8 yrs. So please send me jobalerts in safety side only.
Thanking you,
Regards
E Jothi Ramalingam

E Jothi Ramalingam of TN 12:06AM December 27, 2012

I've always found that knowing what you're worth relative to others in your field or line of work is key to negotiating salary. Aside from being informed of what you should be making (highly recommend completing a salary survey at www.payscale.com) you should always know how much your position impacts the bottom line and how much value your work adds to the business.

BrendaS of NV 12:40PM May 30, 2012

There have been many times when I have been asked during the first interview (or even before it) what kind of salary I'm looking for. Even though recruiters say you should never disclose such information until a job offer is made, that's usually one of the first questions a hiring manager will ask. Whenever I've tried to turn the question back to the interviewer, they ask me the same question over again. I don't want to get into an argument about it! Also, because I have been looking for over 2 years, I'm looking at a wide variety of PR jobs with all different salaries. I don't want to sell myself short, but I don't want to price myself out the running, either. Any suggestions?

Joan McNally of NJ 3:01PM May 23, 2012

You make some good points here, but hestitating can sometimes cost a candidate the job. In today's job market, they need to be careful about making demands!

Coltlee Birkeland of AZ 12:58PM May 22, 2012