Offer Letter

[James Barrow]

>Dori Green said:
>
>Great advice from an old Amish horse trader -- "The first person to 
>name a >price is the loser."

I think the above statement works in regards to contract jobs and working
with a recruiter, but less for positions that involve offer letters.

Typically, one in five posted ads on Dice or Monster list an hourly rate or
range (e.g., $35 or $35-$47).  I've always assumed that this is the what the
client company is offering *after* the recruiter has subtracted his
percentage.  When I read these ads I've always assumed that the amount
offered to the recruiter to fill the position is $50 or $50-$72 (using the
example above).

Whenever I begin negotiations, recruiters often claim that the rate is
"capped", and that no more money can be offered for that position.  This is
where I begin to wonder if I've completely missed something about the whole
recruiter business, or that recruiters have the best poker faces in the
world.

Whenever a recruiter tells me that no more money can be offered, I want to
stop them in their tracks and say, "No, you don't understand.  Don't go back
to the client company and ask them to increase the pay rate.  Instead, why
don't you take a smaller percentage of what the client company is offering,
and give those few extra dollars per hour to me?"

But I digress.  Offer letters, which was the topic of my original post, have
been involved only two times in my career, the last being for a government
position.  

I agree with Ken that salary negotiations shouldn't occur during or after an
interview, assuming that you know what the salary range is going in.  So, if
the pay ranges from $4000-$8000/month, a candidate is going to sell himself
more during the interview process, IMO.

- Jim