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Negotiating Salary at Entry Level?

• I interviewed for a Permanent position at my current internship on Thursday, and I got an offer from the recruiter the next day. I've been interning at the company for 8 months, plus I have 6+ years of internship/work experience prior to that. This is for a position within the company at another location (different state). Although the commute is fairly easy, I'll still be taxed for those two states. I put together a portfolio of all of my work with references included, and they praised me to the recruiter and to my references about how they were so impressed by this, especially coming from a student now coming out of college. I interviewed with the entire team that I'll be working with..7 people (7 separate interviews (45 mins each))!!!! The interview took 5 hours! It's a senior analyst position aand although they said that they'd take someone straight out of college, it's still senior level work from what I took from the interviews. It's intense! Now to the point of my question, they made an offer to me with a lower than expected salary (by $15,000 less than I expected). I was almost insulted because the entry-level analysts at the location that I'm currently in who are only a year or so older than me had a starting salary of at least $10,000 more than I was offered, and I did more at my internship than they do at their actual jobs, and this position is more technical than theirs. I negotiated a salary of at least $10,000 more. I requested the increase to the recruiter and she chuckled and said "smart girl". I'm wondering if it was all a test on their side to see if I was really tough enough for the position which involved a lot of negotiating and contracting. I have the relevant experience for the position, that is why I got the offer next day. With the lengths that they went to hire someone, I just thought that the salary would be more competitive and attractive. Was it too bold to negotiate in my current situation?

• Answer:

  Negotiating for salary is pretty much expected. The company is interested in getting quality talent at the lowest possible price. The candidate is interested in getting the best salary for their skills and service. The only way to get a reasonable offer with these two different goals is negotiation.. As the recruiter said, "smart girl."