[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.