Something different today! I guess the April fools joke is that I made something useful! If you enjoyed it, leave a like! I've included the phrases down below for you to put in your emails - Copy / Paste / Modify them if you want: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Deflection Technique 1 - The Reversal: ‘Before I give you a number, can you please provide me with the salary range for this position?’ The direct solution. Deflection Technique 2 - Neutralize: When asked for your salary expectation, neutralize it by saying something like, ‘I’m looking to stay right where I’m at,’ then give a number that’s 10-15% higher than your current salary. They don’t need to know that. Go higher if you’re brave enough. Deflection Technique 3 - The Polite Stall: If they won’t budge, try, ‘I’m sure your company has a fair and competitive compensation structure. I’d be more comfortable discussing salary once we’ve determined that this is the right opportunity for both of us.’ You can also use this as a way to show you're serious about finding the right fit and not just chasing a paycheck. Also, consider these more polite roles: “I’m open to discussing salary, but I’m also interested in learning more about the company’s compensation philosophy and how salaries are determined. Could you share more information about that?” “I’m hoping to find a role that aligns with my skills and experience and that provides a fair and competitive salary. Based on my research, I believe that a salary in the [insert salary range] range would be appropriate. How does that range align with the company’s compensation structure?” [ Non-salary Options ] They won’t budge on dollars? Try this: “I understand that the salary might be fixed at this point, but I believe there’s room for negotiation in terms of non-salary benefits. Considering my commitment to the company and the value I bring to the table, would it be possible to discuss enhancing aspects like additional vacation days, an increased signing bonus, or a more substantial equity package? I’m confident we can find a mutually beneficial arrangement that reflects my worth while still respecting the company’s budget constraints.”

I used Josh's tips and finally made over $100k as an Engineer after 5 years of working. I was one of those dudes that just went to work, head down and just got things done. Then I got tired of constantly taking on other people's work so i made the move. A lot of Josh's videos are extremely helpful.

When I was working day labor years ago, something a coworker said left an impression and has been backed up by corporate types as well: "if a boss buys you lunch, they're not going to pay you sh*t."

Josh: A good trick about not disclosing your previous salary is telling the recruiter something like: "I cannot disclose my salary because of my previous non-disclosure agreement with my previous company." At least, companies here in Latin America force you to non-disclose your previous or current salary.

Remember “No” is an acronym for New Opportunity.

I LOVE the phrase "I'm interviewing for positions in the range of $X and $Y." This shows you won't play their game + it introduces a sense of competition and keeps the conversation moving forwards to how you fit. Great content as always, Josh, love your work (from a Career Coach)

Thanks for mentioning the part of "future promises" part of salary negotiations. My current employer did that shit to me where he promised that my salary would increase after 6 months based on performance reviews and that I might earn more than market right a year down the line. Turns out at the 6 month mark, he did not give it to me because of his absurd expectations. DO NOT FALL FOR THE FUTURE PROMISE OF INCREASED SALARY

As someone who hires people I will say that when we finally are making an offer there is something about that candidate that we really want. After sifting through dozens and dozens of resumes and half a dozen actual interviews and second interviews by the time the offer process starts you are pretty well positioned for salary negotiation. All these tips are excellent questions!

"Not just chasing a paycheck" Come on now, let's not kid ourselves. All we're doing is finding the best paying & most tolerable job we can get.

-if its not in writing, its not real. -dont delay getting paid now for a maybe different amnt in the future -dont accept a lower "training period / adjustment period / trial period" pay. when you work, you get paid fully. -overtime is not automatically excluded from salaried positions. you can still negotiate OT with salary.

I ALWAYS counter with the salary range question and it’s never failed once. I jumped about 30% from my last job.

Watching paperwork is key too. My current employer puts all of their salary and employment agreements through HR. When I got through the hiring process and went to HR for the final paperwork they asked me to sign another employment agreement. During the previous process the salary range was 21-24/hr. Since I have 8 years of xp I was negotiating for the 24. HR handed me paperwork that listed 17/hr! What followed was hostile negotiations where the department that wanted to hire me wasn't even involved, it was just HR trying to low ball me our of a job. I did get 21/hr but only by giving up the medical benefits package and they wouldn't negotiate beyond that. I also later found out that, I'd been told and expected 9-5, m-f, the department I'm working in almost always works 6-7 days a week!

Always know your worth! That’s one of the biggest things. They will always try to lowball you. Best negotiating technique is to always be willing to walk away if the deal isn’t good.

What if the potential employer refuses to say their salary range and just continues asking 'What would be the ideal salary for you?' even after I flipped the table by asking their salary range? (FYI, this actually happened to me a few times during my many job applications.)

For the little experience I have in these negotiations, I think the most important is the willingness to walk away. You can't really negotiate without the ability to just stand up and walk out if it's not going your way. Probably the reason why you should try to find jobs while having one already.

Been in this field for 25 years. For last 15 years, I've consistently gotten offers for exactly what I wanted, even if it's outside of their posted range. If I want 130k/yr, my script goes like this "Well, I'm at a comfortable salary now which is 125, but , I could get by with a small bump above my current pay if benefits are good and the projects are more exciting." They always come back with a minimum of 5k over what I told them my current salary is.

I was making $70K as a software engineer with a few years experience, then I got another job offer for $110K + bonus. When I went to leave for that job, I get an offer to stay from my current company for a little over $100K. Companies don't like when people jump around every couple years, but when you can get salary increases of almost 40% by getting another job with equal experience, what incentive is there to stay when raises are only matching current inflation? Crazy to me how disconnected from reality corporate has become. Hopefully we can move to a point in the future when salary becomes more transparent and corporate elitism goes away. Thanks for the videos man!

Never fall for the lowball offer with promises of "future growth". That will invariably be a load of BS. The only exception is maybe a startup, but then you can follow the tip about suggesting equity-based compensation as well.

For my last raise, I gave them a minimum which I knew was their around their max and a max which I knew was unrealistic. I felt giving them an unrealistic max would make them feel like they did something when in reality, I was 80-90% confident my min was already their max. This netted me a 11.1% raise last month.

As a recruiter, I approve this message (not that anyone needs my approval 😁). Great video, Josh!

Good advice. When I was negotiating my current job I almost gave my salary number but asked for what they thought was fair and got 12% more than I was going to ask for.

What I've done just about every time is tell them I'm making about 10k more than I really am, and that I'd like to move up a bit to make the job switch worth it. It's worked every time that I've been in a position to be able to do that. Also, the previous salary thing is illegal where I'm at, but that doesn't stop them. I was in an interview once and the guy asked for the salary of my last 3 positions. I said I'd give them that information if they gave me the salaries of the last 3 people that held the position I was filling. His answer was "fair enough" and nothing else was said lol.

also remember guys sometimes is easier to get a new job with a better salary than waiting for a raise (this was my experience in most tech companies)

This is golden. Thank you! I always reverse the question, 'Well, what's the budget you have in mind? As I wouldn't want to overstep my mark by giving too high of a figure'. Works every time :)

I got a 13% raise at my current job by building up my leverage then using it. I was doing 3 jobs (literally 3) and hinted that I was looking, and asked for a pay increase and a workload decrease and got what I asked for. I was surprised because I thought I'd have to leave to get what I wanted.

This salary negotiation thing is one good reason for those who think that women get paid less - they are scared of asking too much therefore losing the job opportunity (as it mostly the case with mentioning too high number in Europe). Discussed this thing with a lot of women friends, all of them are pretty much on the safe side of things - don't ask for too much, "you gotta appreciate the culture" etc.

I appreciate it, Josh. My first software job out of college, whilst not even being in a HCOL, was over six figures. I never gave a number. Surprisingly, they only asked me for a range towards the end of my internship, and I inflated the numbers slightly. Somehow, it worked, and they gave me the top of the range. I always kept your advice in mind during the entire process.

Thanks Josh. I separated from active duty military a couple years ago, decided I wanted to go to college and get into the corporate work force. The military has a weird way of breeding 'loyalty' and doing what's in the best interest of the organization. I was used to working, at worst, 70 hour work weeks. I have been with my company for a year, applied for various positions a pay scale higher than where I was. HR tried to pay me the bare minimum for the pay scale for the position I applied for. I was able to negotiate a higher salary and am making 33% more than I earned at my previous position.

Technique number 2 is my go to and is directly responsible for my salary going up exponentially. I almost always add 20-30%

Appreciate this content, Josh 😀

Thanks so much for this, your timing is perfect! I got let go from my job this month but the silver lining is that I get to ask for a higher salary now when looking for my next role. Recruiters always want my salary expectations even before they send me job descriptions, and every time without fail, they ask for my previous pay as well. I'm at that weird point where I'm not a mid-level developer anymore, but compared to other senior devs my years of experience is on the lower end (8 years), so negotiating could be difficult. This will make things a lot easier for me. One less thing for me to worry about. I really appreciate you doing this. Have followed you for years - I will toss a coin to your Patreon when I can! Have a great weekend :)

Brilliant responses. I'm terrible with the corporate jargon, which I'm sure has worked against me over the years. Thanks for all these great tips.

I'm definitely going to come back to this one. I'm in school for another 3 years or so. Thanks, Josh

Straight and on point, no BS. Thank you for the video Josh.

THIS IS SO GOOD

I definitely effed up with rule #1 in an interview back in Dec. Never making that mistake again.

For anyone looking for some more resources on negotiation in general, I recommend the book Never Split the Difference, total game changer for me professionally. Great video as always Josh, thanks!!

this is one of the most grounded and valuable channels you can watch imo. i did a 9 week boot camp 4 years ago and almost quadrupled what i started at originally since then, with job changes and starting negotiations doing nearly all of that work

Great video,Josh. Thank you.

Fluke, you are awesome 🔥

Thank you so much for covering this Josh. I never know how to approach this question with confidence but now i have an idea how i can position based on my understanding.

straight up real talk. nice. not even a shitty sponsor segment well played :D

Finally a video about this subject that's actually helpful...instead of the same regurgitated talking points about what NOT to say, you actually helped me understand the gist of the "proper" jargon TO say, and how to phrase it properly. The pattern is way more clear to me now.

Great video, Josh! I already have a great job ready after I graduate but those phrases could definitely help out a lot of people.

This was really helpful, thank you.

This is truly good information for potential candidates. You always give sound advice.

This was so good. Thank you!

Thank you for putting this up.

Man, this video is so helpful. Thanks Josh.

the amount of value and genuine advice in this 8 minute free video is insane. nice one.

Thanks, Josh. Quick, informative and spot on.

I had an interview a few weeks back and I asked what the typical salary is for the position. The hr lady gave me a salary number and I said “that sounds fair to me”. I get a call back 10 minutes later and she says in a snarky attitude; “just curious, why do you think $70,000 is an appropriate amount for this position, and have you seen any other positions offering this much?”. I was like bruh… I heard it from you…. Also SWE position are typically more

Yay! More useful research!

Great video to help new candidates! I’ve been doing exactly that for the past 3-4 years and have been actually able to get what I wanted (most of the times). But I still remember a recruitment agency where they wouldn’t want to continue until they had my current salary figure… After a while of back and forth negotiating I ended up telling them if they don’t want to proceed, that’s fine cause there’s plenty of other agencies and opportunities. Never give in to these practises and let these recruiters/agencies starve to death if they wish to proceed in such a way!

Spot on!

This is great and came at a perfect time for me. Much appreciated, Josh!

Thank you Josh for your videos. Please post more videos like this as I find the most challenging is finding the right words to use. The "corporate jargon"

Thank you for sharing this!! I learnt quite a bit and have fallen for some of these before.

Great tips. Thanks Josh.

Thank you for this advice!

Great video Josh 💯

thanks for sharing 💮

Love these kinds of videos man. Came at a good time too!

Thanks, I needed this advice.

Very helpful! Thanks!

valuable insights into firm's attitudes and behaviors. thanks man, appreciate the work.

Very helpful Josh thank you for the insight

Thanks for the tips 👍

I like videos like this. Not just for salary negotiations but in general I'm not a quick thinker and usually when I get into situations like this, I'll flubb it and the thought of potentially being better off if I handled it better starts living rent free in my head

Great Advice Josh

I'm just happy I live in a state with pay transparency law recently taking effect this year. Its so much less stressful to see ranges on job postings required by law now.

Excellent tips, thank you

Amazing video man :)

This channel along louis rossman is one of best "business" channels.... telling who world actually works, not talks (which have incentives to party talking them). (TBF I dont know what is to actually work for rossman, just his takes on other businesses and rents and such)

Love your videos

Another great vid Josh, now convince these folks to keep learning and keep looking.

thanks, much helpful !

Thank you for the video

Good stuff, took me a while to get this inside from actually doing a bunch of interviews

Good content lately!

I’ve been in phone sales for the past 3 years and finally had enough of the bad leads and poor management, so I quit. I’m going back to customer service for a while to regroup. I was making about $20-22 an hour. I have 6 years of total phone job experience including past customer service. I was at a Taco Bell drive thru with a big sign that said “STARTING AT $15 an hour!” So now 16 year old high school kids can make $15 hour in Utah. I brought this up as a negotiating tool and said - “I know I can’t expect to make what I was making in sales, but based on 3 years of customer service experience and 6 years of phone job experience as a whole, also based on what the job market is currently paying, I would say $18-19 an hour is pretty fair.” They offered me $17 an hour... I am so burnt out that I took it... LOL. Crazy to think I’m making $2 more an hour right now then a 16 year old kid getting their first job at Taco Bell. The job market is truly a $h1t show right now.

That was exceptional value for time and hopefully money! GREAT video, very concise.

Holy crap thank you thank you THANK YOU for this.

Solid advice

I'm getting this video transcribed. Good stuff here Josh.

Honestly, these are solid tips because if you are avidly looking for a better salary and come from the experience of going through the pain of accepting lower paying positions, you'll fight back and keep pushing towards getting them to give you the answer you want because, at the end of the day, it's your livelihood on the line. It's more of a confidence issue to stand up for yourself because no one else will. Some people learn that about themselves right out the gate at 16 getting their first job somewhere. Others don't figure out this until their 40's. Better to do it now than be that person who cowers simply because it requires dialogue and a bit of friction. Know what you want and be a savage with these companies. They're dime a dozen and as long as you keep your pipeline full of other opportunties, this won't concern you in the slightest. Promise.

super helpful!!!!!!

Great advice! I think the software industry’s employee turnover is only going to increase. If companies want commitment and not just bodies, they should pay what it’s worth.

Subscribed! Ty :D

nice, thanks. that is a useful video.

I think this salary negotiation advice makes sense when dealing with the manager or company's recruiter. I'm more open with external recruiters, especially since I'm kind of towards the top of what my area will pay. I usually say something like "I currently make $x, which I know is kind of towards the top of our area's range. I don't want to go down. Obviously more is better. I'll rely on your expertise and incentive to get me the most you can." It makes it clear where you are. It also gives the recruiter a chance to talk about their view of the local market and even if you don't know much about that you should be able to get a vibe if they know what they're talking about or not.

Fluke is great

6:54 you truly have mastered the corpo jargon, great content, as always. Keep up the good fight, Josh!

thank you!!!

Bro these are golden

Thanks!

Great video

Very good advise, finally. That is what I did recently when I switched jobs.

Never split the difference is great on this. Anchoring - setting an extreme offer which leaves plenty of room to move to the actual target value Loss Aversion - the feeling of missing out with the implied withdrawal of an offer, due to at times false deadlines.

Amazing video