How to Negotiate Pay

Step 1: find your number before the conversation

You cannot negotiate without a number you believe in. "I want more" is a wish. "This role pays 55,000 to 65,000 in this city and I bring three years of it" is a position.

1. Collect five to ten job ads for the same role in your city or country. Many ads state a range. In some places, such as several US states, some Canadian provinces and the EU from 2026, employers must show or disclose it. Write the ranges down.
2. Check two salary sources. A national salary survey, a recruitment agency guide for your country, or a salary site with enough entries for your role. Ignore any source with fewer than a handful of reports.
3. Ask two people who do the job. Not "what do you earn", which many people will not answer, but "what would you expect someone with my experience to be offered here". People answer that.
4. Set three numbers. Your walk-away (below this you say no), your target (what you will ask for), and your stretch (what the best-paid person at your level gets). Your range for the conversation runs from target to stretch.

Do the research in the currency and the country of the job. A salary that is high in Nairobi, Manila or Lagos is low in Sydney or London, and the employer compares you with the local market, not a global one.

Step 2: what to say when an interviewer asks about salary

The salary question usually comes in the first screening call, before anyone has decided they want you. That is the worst moment to commit to a number, because you have the least leverage. Your aim is to delay politely, and if you cannot delay, to give a range.

Notice the shape: you never lie, you never give one low number, and you always hand the next move back to them.

Step 3: how to negotiate after a job offer

An offer is the moment you have the most leverage. They have chosen you, told other candidates no, and want this done. One polite counter is normal and expected in most industries; almost nobody loses an offer for asking once with a reason.

1. Thank them and ask for time. "Thank you, I am really pleased. Could I have until tomorrow to look at the details?" Never accept or counter on the call.
2. Compare the offer with your three numbers. Below your walk-away: say no or ask for a big change. Between walk-away and target: counter. At or above target: consider accepting, or ask for one non-pay item.
3. Counter with one figure and one reason, by email or on a call: "I would be glad to accept at 62,000. That reflects the three years of experience in exactly this work that I would bring from day one."
4. If they cannot move on base pay, move elsewhere: a signing bonus, an earlier review, extra leave days, remote days, a training budget, a better title, a later or earlier start.
5. Get the final agreement in writing before you resign from anything.

Ask for a figure, not a percentage. "Could you do a bit more?" gets you a bit. "Could you do 62,000?" gets you 62,000 or a specific reason why not.

Step 4: how to ask for a raise where you already work

A raise is a different conversation. Nobody has chosen you this week, so you have to show the change since your pay was last set.

1. Pick the moment. Before the budget is set for the year, after a result you delivered, or at a review. Not the week a project failed, and not by ambush in a corridor.
2. Write the one-page case. Three to five things you now do that you did not do when your pay was set, each with a result. Then the market range for your role now.
3. Ask for a meeting with a clear purpose. "I would like twenty minutes to talk about my role and my pay." Managers prefer to know what is coming.
4. Say the number. "Given this, I am asking for my pay to move to 62,000." Then stop talking. Silence is their turn, not yours.
5. If the answer is no, ask what yes would take. "What would I need to show by when for that to be possible?" Write down the answer and send it back to them in an email the same day.

A worked example: the whole conversation

Amara is interviewing for a customer support team lead role. Her research says the role pays 48,000 to 60,000 in her city. Her walk-away is 50,000, her target 56,000, her stretch 60,000.

• Screening call. Asked for expectations, she says: "I would like to understand the role first. Could you share your budgeted range?" The recruiter says 50,000 to 58,000. She replies: "That overlaps with my research, so let us keep talking."
• Offer. They offer 52,000. She says thank you and asks for a day.
• Counter, next morning, by email. "I would be glad to accept at 56,000. I have led a team of six through a system change, which is exactly what this role needs in its first year."
• Reply. They can do 55,000 and a review at six months. She accepts, and asks for the review in the written offer.

She gained 3,000 a year and a scheduled review with two emails and one sentence she had practised out loud.

The mistakes that cost people money

• Giving one number too early. Once said, a number becomes the ceiling. Delay, then range.
• Naming your walk-away as your ask. Ask for your target. The walk-away is private.
• Apologising. "I am sorry to ask, but..." tells them the number is negotiable downwards. State it plainly.
• Arguing from need. Rent and school fees are real, but employers pay for value. Argue from what you bring and what the market pays.
• Bluffing another offer. If you have one, you may say so. If you do not, do not invent one; it is often checked and always remembered.
• Countering twice. One counter with a reason is respected. A second one makes people wonder if you will ever be satisfied.
• Never practising. The number comes out small and fast when you have not heard yourself say it.

Frequently asked questions