How to Negotiate Salary With a Job Candidate

You've found the person. The interviews went well, the reference checks were clean, you're ready to make an offer. Then they come back with a number 20% higher than what you had in mind, and you're typing and deleting the same email for twenty minutes.

Most small employers have never been trained to negotiate. You're not a recruiter, you don't do this every week, and the stakes feel personal — this is someone you actually want, not a transaction. That's exactly why it's worth having a plan before the number comes back, not after.

Decide your numbers before you talk to anyone

Do this before the first interview, not after the offer is rejected.

• Your target number. What you'd happily pay for this person, this role, right now.
• Your ceiling. The absolute ceiling, and what would have to be true for you to go there — a rare skill, a fast start date, a role that's been open for months.
• Your floor. The lowest you'd offer someone you're genuinely excited about, without it feeling insulting.

Write these three numbers down somewhere before you extend an offer. Once a candidate is in front of you and pushing back, you will not think clearly enough to work them out from scratch. You'll either cave too fast or dig in over an amount that won't matter in a year.

Make the first offer clearly, once

Don't open low expecting to negotiate up — candidates notice this, and it starts the relationship with a small dishonesty. Open at a number you'd be comfortable with them accepting on the spot.

A simple script for the call or email:

> "We'd like to offer you [role] at [salary], starting [date]. This is based on [the responsibilities, the experience you bring, what similar roles pay in our team]. Take a few days to think it over — I'm happy to talk through any questions."

Name the reasoning. A number with no logic behind it invites a counter based on nothing but hope. A number tied to something specific — scope, experience, internal parity — is harder to argue with and easier for the candidate to explain to themselves.

When they push back

A counter isn't an attack. It usually means one of three things: they have a competing offer, they anchored on a number from a job board that doesn't match your role, or they're just testing whether the first number was your best one.

Ask before you react:

> "Can you help me understand what's driving that number — is it a specific offer, cost of living, or something about the scope of the role?"

This single question does most of the work. If there's a real competing offer, you now know what you're actually negotiating against. If there isn't, the conversation usually settles closer to your original number once they've said it out loud.

What to do if the gap is real

If they want more than your ceiling, you have three honest options, and pretending otherwise wastes everyone's time:

1. Move the number, if the ceiling was soft and this person is worth it.
2. Move something else — a signing bonus if cash flow allows a one-off but not a higher base, an earlier salary review at 6 months instead of 12, extra leave, a flexible start date, a title that matters for their next job even if it costs you nothing.
3. Say no, kindly, and mean it. "That's above what we can do for this role right now — I understand if that means it's not a fit." A clean no, said early, is far better for both of you than a maybe that drags on for two weeks.

What doesn't work is negotiating against yourself — offering more before they've asked for it, or raising your own number in the silence after you've made an offer because the pause feels uncomfortable. Silence is not a rejection. Let it sit.

Keep it fair across the team

The candidate who negotiates hardest is not always the one who deserves the most. If you give in every time someone pushes, you end up paying more to whoever is most comfortable asking, which usually correlates with confidence, not with the value they'll bring. It also has a habit of quietly disadvantaging people who were never taught to negotiate at all.

Before you finalise any number, glance sideways: does this create a gap with someone already on the team doing similar work? If yes, either the new number needs to come down, or you have a conversation with the existing person coming up sooner than you planned. Neither is fun, but finding out from a payroll spreadsheet six months later is worse.

After they accept

Put the final number, start date, and any non-salary terms you agreed to in writing, even if it's just a confirming email. "Great, confirming the details we discussed: [role], [salary], starting [date], with a salary review at [date]." This isn't distrust — it's so nobody is relying on memory of a phone call three weeks later when the paperwork goes to your accountant.

And if they push back again after accepting, after a written offer, treat that as new information about how they'll operate once they're inside the company — not something to just wave through because you're tired of the back and forth.