How to Negotiate Salary: Scripts for a New Offer and for a Raise

By Mustafa Tarabya, founder of CVBooster · Published 2026-08-01 · Updated 2026-09-03

8 min read

Confidence does not move a number. What moves it is knowing the range before you speak, having a reason for the figure you name, and picking your moment. An offer and a raise are different games, so this splits in two.

Two different games

In an offer negotiation the company has already spent money on you: recruiter hours, interview panels, a hiring manager who told their boss they found the right person. Replacing you means restarting all of it. That sunk cost is your position, and it evaporates when you say yes.

A raise runs on different mechanics. Budgets are set months ahead and your manager usually cannot approve a real increase alone. They argue for it with a compensation team who will ask what changed. It is a case you build and submit early.

Find the real range before you name a number

Almost every bad outcome starts with a figure pulled out of the air. People anchor low because they guessed, or anchor high and get quietly dropped. Real pay data exists, and most of it is free.

Pay transparency laws. Several US states require a pay range in job postings, among them Colorado, California, New York, Washington, Illinois and Hawaii. If yours does not, search the same title in a state that does.
Published public pay scales. US federal roles pay on the General Schedule, published yearly by the Office of Personnel Management. States, counties, school districts and public universities publish schedules too, so there you negotiate grade and step.
Government wage statistics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: median and percentile wages by occupation and metro area. Broad and lagging, but it shows whether an offer is sane.
Visa filing disclosures. Employers sponsoring US work visas file a Labor Condition Application stating the wage, and the Department of Labor publishes it: filed pay by employer, title and location, not a survey.
Levels data in technology. Crowdsourced sites collect base, bonus and equity by level. The sample skews upward, but your level matters more than the headline figure.
Collective agreements. Where a union or sector agreement covers the role the rate is written down: US building trades wage sheets, teacher step and lane schedules, tariff agreements like the German TVöD or a Finnish TES.
People who do the job. One honest conversation with someone two years ahead of you beats ten aggregator pages, especially sites that make you submit your own salary to see results.

Ask the recruiter what the band is

Recruiters usually know the approved range and are often allowed to share it. Ask on the first call: "Before we go further, could you tell me the approved salary range for this role? I want to make sure we are in the same territory."

If they decline, ask something harder to dodge: "Is the budget above or below $120,000?" Many US states and cities also bar employers from asking your salary history, and some transparency rules require the employer to give the scale on request.

Situation one: negotiating a job offer

When they ask your expected salary too early

Answering the expectations question on a screening call is the most expensive mistake in the process, because whatever you say becomes the ceiling. Deflect once: "I would rather understand the scope of the role before putting a number on it. What range has been approved for this position?"

If they press again, do not stonewall twice. Give a researched range with the bottom set at a figure you would genuinely accept: "Based on comparable roles in this market I am looking at $110,000 to $125,000, and I am flexible depending on the full package."

"Based on comparable roles" says the figure came from research, not your last paycheck. "The full package" keeps bonus, equity and benefits alive. If a form demands a number, enter the top of your range, never your current salary.

When the first offer lands

Do not accept on the call, and do not reject on it. Sound pleased and buy time: "Thank you, I am really glad to hear it and I am excited about the team. Could you send the details in writing? I would like to look at the whole package and come back to you by Thursday."

Naming a specific day makes that professional rather than evasive. Two or three business days is standard, and you use them to check the offer against your research.

Tip: Silence is free. When the number is said out loud, wait three full seconds before responding. Recruiters are trained to fill that gap, and often what fills it is a sentence about flexibility.

Countering with a number

Counter with one specific figure, not a range, because ranges get read as their bottom. Give a reason grounded in the market and the role, never in your rent or commute. Put it in writing.

Send: "Thank you for the offer, I want to accept. Based on my research on comparable roles in this market, and on the scope we discussed, particularly owning the migration project, I was targeting $130,000. If you can get to that, I am ready to sign today."

Three parts work there. You say plainly that you want the job. Your reason is the market, not your needs. You close with a commitment, which makes it easy to carry upstairs. A competing offer is the strongest reason there is, and only if it is real.

What else is on the table

Base salary comes out of a fixed band and often a headcount budget your hiring manager does not control. Other things do not, which is why the answer is so often "no, but". Have the second ask ready.

Signing bonus. The easiest yes: one time money that does not raise the band or inflate future raises. Ask whether it claws back if you leave within a year.
Start date. Later buys unpaid rest, earlier is worth money if you are between jobs. Both are free to grant.
Title. Costs nothing today and compounds for years, because the next employer benchmarks you against it. If they will not move on money, move on the title.
Review timing. A compensation review at six months instead of the annual cycle, with the date and criteria in the offer letter.
Remote and hybrid days. Put the number of office days in writing. Policies change and managers leave. A contract line survives both.
Vacation and leave. Usually set by service tiers, but starting at a higher tier is a common exception.
Equipment and training budget. Home office kit, conference and certification fees, a named annual amount. Small money, quick approval, different pot.
Relocation, and for equity the unit count and vesting schedule rather than the headline dollar value. The valuation is an assumption, the schedule is a fact.

Tip: Nothing counts until it is in the offer letter. After any call where something is agreed, email the same day: "Thanks for the call. To confirm what we agreed: base of $130,000, signing bonus of $10,000 with the first paycheck, start date of 1 October, and three remote days per week. Let me know if I have any of that wrong."

Situation two: asking for a raise where you already work

Nobody notices you are underpaid on your behalf, and internal raise percentages usually sit below what the outside market pays. Timing first: find out when your organization sets budgets and talk six to eight weeks before, not during the cycle when numbers are locked.

Your manager is usually your advocate rather than the approver. You are not persuading them to hand you money, you are arming them for an argument in a room you will not be in. Make it short and quotable.

Scope that grew. Headcount, systems, budget, accounts. Compare the job you were hired to do with the job you do now.
Outcomes with numbers attached. Revenue, cost saved, cycle time, error rate, retention. Dates and figures, not adjectives.
Work that would otherwise have been a hire or a contract, because that is money the company did not spend.
External market data for your title and metro area, from the sources above.
Written praise: customer emails, peer feedback, a line from your last review.

Tip: Keep a running document from week one, one line per month: what you delivered and the number attached. Rebuilding two years of achievements the week before the conversation gives you a case made of the last six weeks. It is also exactly what your resume needs.

The ask, word for word

Book a dedicated meeting, not the tail of a one to one. Send an agenda: "Could we book thirty minutes this week to talk about my compensation? I would like to walk through how my scope has changed and where my salary sits."

Lead with the ask, then support it. "I want to talk about my salary. Over the past year I have taken on the vendor relationships and the on call rotation, and support escalations are down 40 percent since March. Market data for this role in this area puts the range at $95,000 to $110,000 and I am at $84,000. I am asking for an increase to $102,000. What would it take to make that happen?"

That last question does the most work. It turns a yes or no into a process question and surfaces the real constraint: a budget cycle, a promotion committee, or a rating that comes first.

If the answer is no

Most first answers are no, or no dressed up as "not right now". Do not argue and do not deflate. Convert it into a path: "I understand. Can we agree on what would need to be true for this to happen, and put a date on revisiting it? If I deliver the reporting rebuild by November, can we come back to the number then?"

Email that agreement the same day and ask your manager to confirm it. A soft no with no criteria and no date, twice, tells you where the ceiling is. The fastest route to a large increase is usually a new employer.

When not to push, and what happens if it goes wrong

Negotiating is normal and most employers expect it. It is not risk free, and the honest version includes when to accept instead.

The pay is genuinely fixed. Public sector step and grade systems, union scales and graduate schemes pay from a published table. Negotiate your placement, not the table.
You named a figure and they met it exactly. Coming back for more after they said yes reads as bad faith.
You have already accepted. The negotiation is finished, and reopening it burns credibility before day one.
The offer already sits above your researched range and the role is what you want. Take it.
You still have no information. Pushing without a range is guessing in public, and it shows.

Offers do get rescinded. Most US employment is at will, so a company can generally withdraw an offer before you start, and an offer letter is rarely a guarantee of continued employment. It is uncommon after one polite counter. It happens when the counter is far outside the band, when it lands after both sides already agreed, or when deadline pressure reads as a bluff.

One hard rule: never resign on the strength of a verbal offer. Wait for the signed letter, with the base, bonus terms, start date and any conditions such as background checks.

Four moves. Find the real range before you speak. Avoid naming the first number, and if you must, name a researched one. Ask once, with a market reason and a commitment attached. Get the answer in writing.

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