[pm90]

Interestingly, I haven’t ever seen actual candidate data used to determine compensation. Ie companies almost never use a candidate demanding more to actually change anything. It’s all based on these “professional comp surveyors” as the parent has described.

[DaiPlusPlus]

Unrelated: I'm sure we have our own fantasies of potential employers (or past-employers) begging us to work for them with them increasing their offers or offering other benefits - but I'm curious if that's ever actually happened to anyone.

[sokoloff]

Negotiations for big, non-standard benefits (custom health plan, greater retirement match) are practically impossible.

Negotiations for a custom salary are entirely normal IME.

[freeone3000]

You should absolutely negotiate salary. Saving a few ten thousands a year on salary for a department doesn't really mean that much to your manager or to the company, compared to filling that slot in the org chart.