Negotiation FTW!

I'm not a negotiator. I'd prefer to just take what's offered and make the best of it. So when I got my salary offer last week and it was above what I deemed my bottom line, I would have been happy. Fortunately I had done some reading about negotiating faculty salaries and I had Big J to support me.

So I asked for 8.7% more than the offer (it makes more sense in whole dollars) and waited...waited...waited. It was at this point I was sure I was going to get the response of "thanks, but no thanks." Or rather "fuck off." By Friday afternoon I was pretty nervous, but the dean had been out of town, so it was really just a matter of time. This morning I got the call. "We can't offer you the 8.7%, but we'll give you 7.9%." (This, my friends, was a matter of $500).

My inner non-negotiator was ecstatic! I mean, I was ecstatic by the first offer, so this was even better! The first offer plus a little more than 8%. How amazing is that! Of course then I got to thinking that I should have asked for more. But honestly, I'm making more than my last job, and definitely more than the last two years, so I'm pretty darn happy.

I never saw myself as a negotiator, but I'm really glad I did it. And when the associate dean called me he said he was glad I pushed on the salary as well. I think that says a lot about the process. So to any women in the process of accepting a new job I think the message is clear: negotiate. The worse they can say is no.