Salary Negotiation

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name: Salary Negotiation
description: Prepares and scripts salary and job-offer negotiations - market research, target/minimum/anchor numbers, BATNA strength, deflection and counter scripts, and total-compensation trades when base is capped. Use when someone asks "how do I negotiate my offer", "they asked my salary expectations, what do I say", "is this offer low", or "how do I counter without losing the offer". Do NOT use for writing resumes, cover letters, or managing the application pipeline - use job-application instead; for declining an offer gracefully, see offer-rejection-writer.
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# Salary Negotiation

The single most expensive sentence in a job search is naming a number first without research behind it - it caps the entire negotiation before it starts, and the gap compounds through every future raise. This skill builds the three numbers, the leverage, and the exact scripts before any compensation conversation happens.

This is general career education, not legal or financial advice. Employment law, disclosure rules, and negotiation norms vary by location and contract.

## Operating procedure

Order matters: research produces the numbers, the numbers produce the scripts, and none of it should be deployed until an offer exists - negotiating before they want you is negotiating from zero leverage.

### Step 1: Gather inputs

Collect before scripting anything (label unverified figures as guesses):

- Role, level, location, and company size/stage.
- Current compensation, fully loaded: base, bonus, equity, benefits.
- Stage of process: pre-screen, interviewing, offer in hand, or competing offers.
- The user's alternatives: other active processes, and whether staying put is tolerable.
- Any number already spoken aloud by either side - a named number is an anchor that cannot be unsaid; strategy must work around it.
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