Employers always have room to negotiate. That’s just not true! Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t. Hiring authorities don’t “always” have anything. So the question to ask in the middle of an offer opportunity, is “is there any room to negotiate.. salary, benefits, etc.?”
Employers always start to offer you a job at the lowest money they can get away with. Again, absolutes like this are totally unfounded. These kind of ideas communicate an adversarial relationship between the candidate and the employer. Maybe, some organizations do this, but it is very rare. Most companies and hiring authorities are interested in being as fair as they can be in compensation. Most of them are well aware that you get what you pay for.
Never take responsibility for your reason for saying “no.” Blame someone else you have consulted. OMG! Where did this come from? Well, I kind of know. It comes from the negotiation technique of, “I would like to take your offer myself, but my boss, higher up’s, etc. just won’t let me do it.” You know, the “good cop… bad cop” routine. Whoever came up with this idea and applied it to the job search… and I listened to two videos that recommended this as well as reading it in an “advice” article… it’s NUTS! What are you going to say in a job offer negotiation, “well, I’d like to do it, but my spouse just doesn’t think I should” or “I would like to take the job at that money, but my spouse (… mother, father, brother, adviser, guru) thinks that I should hold out for more money..”
It goes without saying that this is one of the dumbest pieces of advice I’ve ever heard regarding any job offer negotiation. Don’t do it!
