The moment you get a job offer is also the moment your leverage is at its highest. Once you accept, the leverage is gone. Most candidates either skip negotiation entirely or treat it as an awkward favor they are asking for. Hiring teams do not see it that way. They expect a counter, they have usually built room into the offer for it, and they will respect a thoughtful negotiation more than a quiet acceptance.
Here are the tactics that actually move offers, used by candidates who do this well.
1. Slow down before you respond
When the offer arrives, do not react in the moment. A short, gracious response that buys you time is one of the most underused moves in salary negotiation: "Thank you so much - I'm excited about this. I'd like to take a couple of days to review the full package and then come back with any questions." Almost every recruiter will say yes. Then you have time to think clearly instead of negotiate live.
2. Negotiate the whole package, not just base
Base salary is one component of a compensation package. Depending on the role, you may also have signing bonus, annual bonus, equity (RSUs, options, or other), commission structure, retirement matching, vacation days, remote flexibility, and a start date.
If base salary has hard ceilings - many companies have bands they truly cannot exceed - there is often more room in signing bonus, equity, or one-time payments. Ask about each of these explicitly.
3. Anchor with a specific number, not a range
When you counter, name a specific number. Ranges invite the lower bound. A clean ask - "I was hoping the base could land at X" - is easier to respond to and harder to talk down than "I was thinking somewhere in the X to Y range."
4. Justify your number with evidence, not feelings
Companies respond to data. They respond less well to candidates who simply say they "need" or "feel they deserve" more. Bring concrete signals to your counter: market data for the role, the level you are being offered against the work you will actually do, any competing offer you have, and your current compensation if relevant.
"Looking at compensation data for senior engineers at companies of your stage in this market, the typical band lands around X. Given the scope of this role - including ownership of the payments service - I'd be more comfortable if we could land the base at X."
This is a much harder sentence to push back on than "I was hoping for more money."
5. Use silence after the counter
After you make your counter, stop talking. Do not soften it with "but I understand if that's not possible" or "even close to that would be great." Let the silence sit. The recruiter will respond. Many candidates negotiate themselves down in the few seconds after their own counter; do not be one of them.
6. Get it in writing
Every agreed change should appear in the final, written offer. Verbal commitments are easy to misremember on both sides. When the revised offer arrives, read every line - including details like equity vesting schedules, start date, and bonus eligibility timing - before signing.
7. Know when you are done
Negotiation has a limit. After one - sometimes two - rounds of counter, you will typically know whether the company has more room. At that point, decide whether the offer in front of you is one you genuinely want to accept. Continuing to push past that point usually costs more than it gains.
What the other side hears
The single biggest reason candidates skip negotiation is the fear that asking for more will pull the offer. Almost no companies pull offers over a respectfully worded counter. Hiring managers who have just spent weeks interviewing you and an entire pipeline of candidates are not going to throw that away over an extra few thousand dollars on base. Asking does not make you difficult. It makes you a serious candidate making a serious decision.
