Negotiating an offer: An unreasonable number of reasonable requests
When you get a job offer, it needs to makes sense for you. When it doesn't, you need to know what requests you can make to change things.
You interviewed for a new job and everything went well. Now you are onto the phase of deciding whether to accept the offer or not. As part of your due diligence you’ve made a list of your top priorities but something still doesn’t make sense. You’re enthusiastic but you pause to consider your options. How do you compare those options? What requests can you ask for that might make things work?
Reasonable Requests
A CTO friend of mine shared an important concept when negotiating: make an unreasonable number of reasonable requests. Which is to say when you make fair and sensible requests, people are more likely to accept them. Making lots of reasonable requests are often better than trying to make a few big ones.
If we apply this negotiating concept to your job offer, we need to know what requests you can make.
Requests
Here is an incomplete list of requests I’ve come across, in no particular order: