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How do you negotiate a job offer?

As a fresh PhD graduate in computer science with no industry experience but a proven track record, how can I best negotiate my job offer?

  • I am possibly in the top 0.1% of all new grad hires with multiple publications, top-tier open-source contributions and great internships. Edit: Since some of the early answers seem to indicate a bit of hostility, let me say that I am really sorry if I came across in a way I certainly didn't intend to (... didn't I say I have no real-world experience?). If there is anything that PhD teaches you, it's humility. You work hard for 6 long years, delve into the unknown and barely push the limits of human understanding. I have tried to do the same, and barely succeeded. The reason I quoted top 0.1% (for which I now apologize) was because I have 2-3x the number of publications than an average PhD, am a committer on a few open-source projects that many of you might use and also have a faculty offer from one of the famous top 10 CS schools that you might have heard before (each school admits at most 1 or 2 candidates every year). Being really inclined towards industry jobs, I gave and did well in interviews and have ended up with job offers almost similar to what everyone else around me seem to be getting (which is probably appropriate for I have no idea to compare their caliber against mine). However, I just wanted to know if my background (not in a sense of entitlement but my skills) can give me any leverage in negotiating the offers on the table (without http://Glassdoor.com and http://Salary.com information) and how should I go about it?

  • Answer:

    Edit: Important note: I sympathize you a lot, believe you'll make it in the best way possible, make a difference in the world, surround yourself with like-minded people who enjoy your company and enjoy all the above and many other things along the way. That said ... You're in bad shape. You would have to carefully articulate to the recruiter how awesome top 0.1% is. And he/she would not understand it. While assuring you he/she does. The recruiter would still assume you fit into the "new grad" bracket and act accordingly. Your best bet is probably to: Excel at the interviews. Establish personal connections with a few of the interviewers. Get a low-level, low-pay offer. Politely reject it citing a few major reasons why are you worth more. Keep in touch with those interviewers, let them know what happened. Do so with a few companies. Wait until they get back to you with some ~25% .. 40% increase after they notice how awesome you have been and after they have new hiring goals to meet. Another best way is to be noticed in the community of an open source project you are contributing to. The sweet spot is to combine the two above: You get an entry-level offer and reject it. Someone from an open source community says "Hey, it would be cool to work with you! Are you available?" You say "Yes." That person talks to the recruiter and the recruiter figures out what has happened. The recruiter asks that person for extra evidence and the case is made to make you a stronger offer. All the best! Dima

Dima Korolev at Quora Visit the source

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Basically, you want to get directly hired by people who understand the value of what you've done. That means you should try to avoid the standard recruiting process as much as possible (since recruiters won't really be able to evaluate your skillset) and focus on reaching out and getting to know people. Previous graduates, friends of your professors, and others who went from Academia to Industry are good candidates. Talk to as many people as you can to get an idea of what different jobs are like and what would be a good fit. This won't just help you earn more, it'll also make sure you know what you're getting into so you can find work that's more interesting. Once you have a pretty clear idea of the exact types of work you'd be interested in, sit down and come up with a case that clearly articulates why your top performer background in academia also means that you will excel at the new job. Do you understand Statistics extremely well, in a way that lets you write incredibly performant algorithms for large datasets? Are you aware of important kernel details that make you a top candidate for writing operating systems? Etc. Once you have a clear case showing that your performance and knowledge from before will lead to more value for the company, it's much easier to ask for significantly more money.

Satvik Beri

The first thing to understand is that there is a risk on both sides. The company could be a brain damaging slavery and you might be a complete moron. Based on the hiring process you can't tell. Unless you hire to a department with just you alone, the question if you fit in the company culture is as important as what you know. Also what you know is not the same as what you can bring to the table. I remember two stories. Once I had an interview with guy with very similar CV as yours - a prestigious  university, excellent results, very confident. I told him bye bye after about 15 minutes because of his arrogance. The other day I found a very cool guy on LinkedIn and I hired him the very same day because of his attitude. The second guy asked for two times as much money and I agreed without much thinking. And I do not regret this. To sum up - who cares about your diploma?

Petr Chloupek

If your open source projects or research are relevant to the field you are working in, that's certainly going to help in the interview, but it sounds like you are already past that. Since you are at the stage of considering multiple offers, the main negotiating point is contrasting the different offers.  If one is significantly higher than the others, you can probably talk up the other offers to match it.  You probably already have a particular company you would prefer to work for, so start by seeing if you can convince that company to come up to a level where you'd accept the offer.

Jeff Nelson

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