Three Ways I Negotiated My Starting Salaries

Plus, some free and inexpensive things I've been doing in NYC this spring!

Thanks for checking out Ten Dollar Latte! I’m not a financial advisor, just a 27-year-old trying to afford life in NYC. I write about how I spend my money while enjoying a $10 latte.

Earlier this month, I wrote about my worst financial decisions ever, one of which was not negotiating my salary for a job I had early on in my career.

I’ve always struggled with negotiating for raises when I’ve been 6 months-1 year+ into a job. I’ve heard more times than I can count “we don’t have money for raises right now,” “wait a few more months,” or other similar phrases. It doesn’t make sense, because companies should be rewarding loyalty (and hard work during the job), but it’s so much easier to negotiate a starting salary than a raise, and you should always ask. I’ve had much better luck negotiating for starting salaries.

Here’s three strategies I’ve used to negotiate a higher starting salary:

1. Leverage my former job’s salary. I know, I know, you’re not supposed to tell a future employer your former job’s salary. But I’ve done it when the offer I received was lower than my current salary, and it worked. This strategy can also be used if you have a job offer that’s at a similar or higher compensation, but doesn’t offer health insurance or other benefits that you would end up paying for out of pocket, effectively lowering your salary.

   The script: “I’m so excited about this opportunity! However, the compensation is below my current salary, which will make it difficult for me to switch. Would it be possible to bring the offer up to $XX to bridge that gap?”

2. Leverage other job offers. I was once interviewing for two jobs at the same time, and when I got one offer first, I used that one to leverage a higher offer from the other. I know—I was super lucky to be interviewing at two places and get an opposing offer. But you can use this strategy even if you don’t have another offer. Many states—New York included—require employers to share their salary ranges on every job posting. Scroll through some and see if the salary offered to you was fair. You can also use this strategy if your current company counters the new offer.

   The script: “I’m so excited about this role, but I got a competing offer for $XX. I’m more interested in joining this company due to ___. Would it be possible to raise the salary to meet my other offer?”

3. Just ask for more. Seriously. During one of my job switches, they offered me $20,000 more than my salary at the time, plus a signing bonus. I honestly couldn’t believe how much money it was (I was so happy to be offered that salary), and I almost didn’t negotiate. But I did. I just asked, and they raised the salary by $5,000 and bonus by $10,000.

   The script: “I’m so excited about this opportunity. However, it’s tough to make the decision to leave my current company. Is there any room to negotiate on the salary?”

Sound off in the comments if you’ve used any of these strategies (or others!) to negotiate a starting salary. If you’re in the job market, I wish you the best of luck with everything! It’s still a tough market out there, but I do think things are looking up!

Some Recent Free/Inexpensive NYC Highlights:

Baseball season has begun! I got into a Yankee game earlier this week for $22 per ticket, fees included (beer not included).

Taken by me in Yankee Stadium

I visited the Conservatory Garden in Central Park (around 104th St on the east side). The flowers are in full bloom! I highly recommend if you haven’t been yet this season.

Taken by me at the Conservatory Garden

I visited a free museum, the National Museum of the American Indian. It’s small but very good.

I also finally achieved 9 punches on my Birch Coffee loyalty card, so my next coffee is free. I’ll put that $10 I “saved” towards my next baseball game.

Thanks for reading! I post weekly on Thursdays about living in NYC, personal finance, and growing my small business. I also post a monthly reset on the 1st of each month sharing everything I spent money on the previous month and goals for the next month. My small business is called Sidetracks—it’s a collection of party card games I designed. Grab a game to make your next happy hour unforgettable (use code MOM20 to get 20% off your order for Mother’s Day only until May 1st!).