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How do you negotiate salary details?

How do I say - "I want this much money, but if it was less, I'd probably accept it too, but don't offer me less", in a way that gets me what I wanted in the first place.
 
Night Prowler said:
How do you negotiate salary details?
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You need to decide what you’re worth, ask for that number, and be prepared to walk away if they won’t meet it.

Night Prowler said:
How do I say - "I want this much money, but if it was less, I'd probably accept it too, but don't offer me less", in a way that gets me what I wanted in the first place.
Click to expand...
Yeah, what you describe isn’t really a thing. If you’re willing to take less, then why are you asking for more and still expecting to win the argument?
 
I was never in a situation like this so I don't know how it's done. I want this position, and I also want money, but I don't wanna walk away from it over, say, 100 EUR less. If they ask me for a number, I know what I'm gonna say, but I also don't wanna give of an impression that would make them just choose the next candidate.
 
Also, I have no idea how much I'm worth as I have no idea how much other people in the same position at my company earn. It's also possible I'll give them a number that's lower than what they wanted to offer me.
 
Night Prowler said:
I was never in a situation like this so I don't know how it's done. I want this position, and I also want money, but I don't wanna walk away from it over, say, 100 EUR less.
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If they want you but don’t want to match your salary request, and your request wasn’t outrageous in the first place, then they’ll counter with some offer and you can decide what you want to do with it. But honestly, if they try to nickel and dime you on the way in the door, then you should expect similar treatment when it comes to promotions and cost-of-living adjustments down the road.

If they want you but your salary request is outrageous, then they’ll just pass on you, because they’ll assume you could never be happy with a significantly smaller salary and that you’d just move on before too long.

If you ask for way less than they think you’re worth, that could also be a yellow flag for them (what’s wrong with this guy that we haven’t figured out yet, since he’s offering himself at such a discount?), but more importantly for you it could massively stunt your pay growth. Your starting salary has a much bigger impact on your income over time in that position than any yearly pay increases or same-track promotions will.

Night Prowler said:
If they ask me for a number, I know what I'm gonna say, but I also don't wanna give of an impression that would make them just choose the next candidate.
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If getting this job is so important that it outweighs pay considerations, and you’re seriously concerned that you won’t get it if you ask for what you’re worth, then you could always lower your salary request. But that’s probably a bad idea if you wind up asking for less than you’re actually worth, unless you’re just trying to get your foot in the door in a new industry and plan to switch jobs later to get your pay up to where it should be.

The best advice is to know what you’re worth, ask for it, and don’t accept less. If you don’t know what you’re worth, that’s its own problem, and you need to talk to other people in similar positions and do some research to get a better idea of where you stand. Just keep in mind that salary websites like Salary.com cite ranges that include people at all levels of experience with the same title, so if you’re early in your career you should expect to start in the bottom 25% of a generic range like that. Salaries are also very dependent upon your location, even different cities within the same country, so make sure you get the right numbers first.
 
Night Prowler said:
How do you negotiate salary details?

How do I say - "I want this much money, but if it was less, I'd probably accept it too, but don't offer me less", in a way that gets me what I wanted in the first place.
Click to expand...

Regretfully I never managed to do it properly myself. The only times it seems to work are:
  1. When you are ready to leave and you mean it. I was once offered double the salary by the same people who one year prior refused a mere salary review of 3%. Anyway, I was determined to leave and so I did.
  2. When -by hard and objective evidence- they need you badly, usually when some people left recently, not possible to find in the short term and you are the only one left.
*properly= when neither of above conditions apply.

The next best solution is to tell them how much you want without explicitly telling what you are going to do if…
Just tell them I will be really happy with X money, please consider my proposal. If they ask you do not say explicitly that you will search elsewhere. Not even hint it. They know it already. It may cripple your promotion. And you’ll need the promotion both to leave or to stay.

After the review if you are still unhappy start looking elsewhere.


EDIT: Many replies since I start to write, excuses if there’s something redundant here.
 
I guess I'm going to have to give up my official Maiden Fan card.

Yesterday morning, on my way to work, I got in my car and started it so that it would warm up before I scrape the windows - and for the little while before I got out, a radio station started to play. It was but a few seconds, but it was a Dickinson sung ballad. I couldn't waste my time, being already somewhat late, so I had to get out and throughout all the process of scraping the car I couldn't realise or be sure if it was Out of the Shadows, Wasting Love or Tears of the Dragon.

I think it was the latter, but, well...
 
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