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Lauren
Student
Charleston, South Carolina
1
Question
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How do I know what is a good starting salary and how would I negotiate that?
question about salary in interviews, how much is enough money post-grad? should I accept any offer that I get?
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1 answer
Fred Rosenberger
Data Analyst
462
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St. Louis, MO
Updated
Fred’s Answer
How much is enough? that depends. How much student debt do you have? What field are you in? Where are you living? The pay in cities like New York or Los Angeles will generally be higher than the salary in Ames, Iowa. However, the cost of living is also higher.
Should you accept any offer? No. But also, you need to remember salary is only part of the compensation package. You may also be offered subsidized health insurance, retirement savings plans, varying amounts of holidays and amount of vacation, work from home vs. work in office (or some combination), and a whole slew of other possible benefits.
So if company A offers you 10k more per year than company B, but two fewer weeks of vacation , is that worth it to you? What if one company gives you five paid days to volunteer at a non-profit, but the other offers an annual bonus between 1% and 10% of your annual salary?
And so on...All of these other factors or components will weigh differently for different people. You may not care about volunteering at a non-profit, but someone else may consider not getting that a deal breaker.
Many places won't really negotiate - it may depend on the industry you work in. They will make the offer, and you can accept or decline. You can always ask for a higher salary, but sometimes that causes them to withdraw the offer entirely (yes, it sucks, but this can happen).
So there is no simple answer to this question.
Should you accept any offer? No. But also, you need to remember salary is only part of the compensation package. You may also be offered subsidized health insurance, retirement savings plans, varying amounts of holidays and amount of vacation, work from home vs. work in office (or some combination), and a whole slew of other possible benefits.
So if company A offers you 10k more per year than company B, but two fewer weeks of vacation , is that worth it to you? What if one company gives you five paid days to volunteer at a non-profit, but the other offers an annual bonus between 1% and 10% of your annual salary?
And so on...All of these other factors or components will weigh differently for different people. You may not care about volunteering at a non-profit, but someone else may consider not getting that a deal breaker.
Many places won't really negotiate - it may depend on the industry you work in. They will make the offer, and you can accept or decline. You can always ask for a higher salary, but sometimes that causes them to withdraw the offer entirely (yes, it sucks, but this can happen).
So there is no simple answer to this question.