How To Negotiate Salary After a Job Offer

Most candidates accept the first number they are given. It is understandable — the offer feels fragile and the relationship is new. But an employer who has chosen you has already invested weeks in the decision, and a professional, evidence-based negotiation almost never costs you the job. What it frequently does is raise the base that every future increase is calculated from.

Negotiate after the offer, not before

Before an offer, a number is a filter. After an offer, it is a negotiation — they have decided they want you. If salary comes up early, give a researched range and add that you are flexible pending the full picture of the role.

Do the research first

Walking in without data is what makes negotiation feel like a bluff. Build your range from:

• Comparable advertised roles on ACT Jobs and other boards, same city, same seniority.
• What people in your network are actually paid — ask about ranges rather than exact figures.
• Sector differences. NGOs, banks, manufacturers and startups pay very differently for the same title.
• The total package, not just base pay: transport and housing allowances, medical cover, pension contribution, bonus, mobile credit, training budget, leave entitlement.

Come out with three numbers: your walk-away figure, your realistic target, and an ambitious-but-defensible opening ask.

Ask for the offer in writing first

Before discussing anything, request the full written offer: base salary, allowances, benefits, probation terms, notice period and any bond or training-repayment clause. Negotiating against a verbal summary means negotiating against something that can change.

Make the ask

Be warm, be specific, and justify with value rather than need. A structure that works:

Thank you — I am genuinely pleased to receive this and I want to accept. Before I do, I would like to discuss the base salary. Based on comparable senior accountant roles in Addis and the fact that I would be taking on both the monthly close and the tax filings, I was targeting ETB 34,000. Is there flexibility to get closer to that figure?

Note what that does: enthusiasm first, one clear number, a reason grounded in the scope of the role, and an open question rather than an ultimatum.

Never justify with personal expenses. "My rent has gone up" invites sympathy, not money. "I will be running the tax filings, which the advert listed as a separate role" invites a revised number.

Negotiate the package when the base is fixed

Public bodies, large NGOs and banks often have genuinely fixed salary scales. Ask about the parts that are not:

• Transport or housing allowance.
• Starting at a higher step within the same grade.
• A written six-month review with a defined increase.
• Training or certification sponsorship — ACCA, PMP, a professional membership.
• Additional leave days, or a flexible or hybrid arrangement.
• A signing or relocation payment.

Handle the three possible answers

They agree. Ask for the revised offer in writing before you accept.

They counter. If it clears your walk-away figure, take it — squeezing a third round for a small amount damages goodwill you will need later.

They refuse. Ask one question: "I understand. Is there scope to revisit at six months against agreed objectives?" Get any such commitment in the offer letter. A verbal promise from a manager who may have left in six months is worth very little.

Things to avoid

• Inventing a competing offer. It is checkable, and it ends badly.
• Negotiating by text message. Phone or email only.
• Naming a range and then asking for the top of it — you will be offered the bottom. Name one number.
• Accepting verbally and then reopening the discussion.
• Apologising your way through the conversation. This is a normal business discussion.

One well-prepared conversation, lasting perhaps ten minutes, sets the base for every raise you receive afterwards. It is worth an hour of research.