[kris-jagasia]

I used to be involved in the hiring decisions of big corporate consulting co. (software + other stuff) and they would consistently negotiate salaries that were 50% above the initial offer. Their strategy was to low ball, and work up from there. I'm not sure how many companies employ this strategy, but I report that it definitely does happen. Another point is that as you move away from fresh grad opportunities and more experienced, it's less obvious what "market rate" really is.

[vonmoltke]

Interesting. I will keep that in mind the next time the issue comes up.

The particular case I mentioned was complicated because: a) the initial offer was knowingly less than I currently made; b) I previously worked for the parent company of the company making the offer and the offer was the same salary grade and almost the same salary I had when I left 2.5 years before. I'm not sure I would have tried to negotiate even if I thought I could get them up 30% - 40%.

[kris-jagasia]

Ah. From being on the other end of hiring decisions, my general advice would be to aim high on initial conversations and gauge reactions + adjust downwards from there. You can always adjust down, hard to adjust up!

[vonmoltke]

Yeah, unfortunately they never asked me what I wanted or expected.