Anybody have experience negotiating an internal job offer?

I currently am in a project management role with a global manager. The manager of the department that I support came to me and asked me to apply for a role that is more closely aligned with production. I apply, interview, and receive a written offer from HR offering a 5% pay increase.

I am not overly excited by the job, it is a new role and basically is doing a lot of the things other people don't want to do. It will look good on paper and is considered a stepping stone to management.

I assumed that the pay increase would be in the 8-10% range like every other promotion that I have received. I feel like I'm getting lowballed especially considering the whopping 3% COL adjustment we got in the first quarter. Any suggestions on how to handle the situation?

Sounds like you work where I do… I tried to make an internal transfer, it was summarily rejected and my boss told me to leave the business if I want more money.

Good luck, not much leverage in your position…

Counter with your expectations. Pretty crappy offer for a promotion though.

For context, I just promoted one of my employees recently to the next level without them asking and gave 16%.

I never took a promotion for less than 10%. Ask for an extra week of PTO also. If they say no, decline the promotion and start looking elsewhere

Promotions (internal or external) are your biggest opportunities in your career to increase your earnings. Don't waste it. A decent manager and company understand that and won't short change you. A bad company and manager will try to take advantage of you. Figure out which you are working with/for and plan accordingly

I'd say there are a lot of variables...... including the jobs, responsibilities, when standard review/raise time is, etc.

I work at a place where internal promotions are non-negotiable. Or at least that's the rumor amongst all employees, personally I believe everything is negotiable. I just received a promotion, it wasn't really worded as an offer, it was worded as a congrats, you're now xyz. But the offer was also pretty fair. I received a 10%+ raise in March due to performance, this promotion came with a 13+% pay bump (so I'm making 25+% more than I was this time last year) and a slight bump on the equity side. I was also told this wouldn't necessarily effect my yearly review, ie, if I perform and the company is performing I'm still likely to get another bump next March.

Mine came through our HR system as a congrats on your promotion to XYZ here is your new pay effective this date. Click here to accept.

The part that bugs me, is the manager came to me asking me to apply and then the raise was a joke. I'm the most qualified person who wouldn't being taking a demotion for the role.

Who is better to reach out to, the hiring manager or the HR recruiter? The hiring manger has been out of town the last three days.

SECAg13 said:

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Mine came through our HR system as a congrats on your promotion to XYZ here is your new pay effective this date. Click here to accept.

The part that bugs me, is the manager came to me asking me to apply and then the raise was a joke. I'm the most qualified person who wouldn't being taking a demotion for the role.

Who is better to reach out to, the hiring manager or the HR recruiter? The hiring manger has been out of town the last three days.

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Reach out to HR Recruiter. A

Reaching out to the recruiter was successful! A three sentence email led to the offer being increased to an 8% raise. It may not seem like much but that could be $250k + in lifetime earnings by the time you factor in future raises, bonuses, and 401k match.

SECAg13 said:

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Reaching out to the recruiter was successful! A three sentence email led to the offer being increased to an 8% raise. It may not seem like much but that could be $250k + in lifetime earnings by the time you factor in future raises, bonuses, and 401k match.

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Congrats man!

Sounds like it's solved.

I would have made it simple to HR guy across the table. "What would you have to pay to bring in somebody from outside the company?" It would have been the big number.

SECAg13 said:

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Reaching out to the recruiter was successful! A three sentence email led to the offer being increased to an 8% raise. It may not seem like much but that could be $250k + in lifetime earnings by the time you factor in future raises, bonuses, and 401k match.

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Way to work your way through the process. Glad it worked out for you!

aggie_wes said:

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I never took a promotion for less than 10%. Ask for an extra week of PTO also. If they say no, decline the promotion and start looking elsewhere

Promotions (internal or external) are your biggest opportunities in your career to increase your earnings. Don't waste it. A decent manager and company understand that and won't short change you. A bad company and manager will try to take advantage of you. Figure out which you are working with/for and plan accordingly

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But why decline a promotion?

You can continue to look outside using the promotion as a launchpoint.

infinity ag said:

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aggie_wes said:

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I never took a promotion for less than 10%. Ask for an extra week of PTO also. If they say no, decline the promotion and start looking elsewhere

Promotions (internal or external) are your biggest opportunities in your career to increase your earnings. Don't waste it. A decent manager and company understand that and won't short change you. A bad company and manager will try to take advantage of you. Figure out which you are working with/for and plan accordingly

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But why decline a promotion?

You can continue to look outside using the promotion as a launchpoint.

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True. Depends on how much leverage you have and how much additional work you'll take on in the meantime. It's not a bad play to accept and keep looking.

I took a lateral move this year, as I was bored and wanted to try something new, and an hour long conversation with the recruiter got me +10% in salary and another 2.5% in expected bonus. For internal moves, I generally overshoot my expectations out of the gate but avoid countering. If they come in at a number I can tolerate then I take it.

Now if I'm coming in external it's a very different story.

Glad it worked out! Always ask the Recruiter for more, unless it is a significant jump in $ up front and you're happy with it.

They want you to get paid fairly and are also motivated to fill the role quickly. You turning down the offer = the HM and Recruiter going back to square one.

SECAg13 said:

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Reaching out to the recruiter was successful! A three sentence email led to the offer being increased to an 8% raise. It may not seem like much but that could be $250k + in lifetime earnings by the time you factor in future raises, bonuses, and 401k match.

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I've seen Pawn Stars. Tell them the best you can do is 8.4%.

Had a similar experience recently. I made a counter offer and justified why I thought I deserved more than the initial offer. As a result, I got a good bump. The worst they can say is no.

Thoughts and/or maybe my expectations were to high moving from sales to salaried role?
Have internal offer on hook and responding to HR in addition to HM pushing from their end as well.
Specialized promotion with more responsibilities that's been open for 120days, externally for 90, 2 grade level increase which is coveted (wide range though)

• Moving from Acct Mgmt to salaried position and total offer is 20% less than current (based on 4yr average). HM (whom i know and is pushing with his and HR leader) offered midpoint upfront as 'our' minimum target, both disappointed.

To add:

• HM gave me figures in advance so was prepared when HR called (undervaluing career/experience with focus on current salary and BASE comp, heck 'target' comp is 99% guaranteed even in a couple of tough years). HR said was final, but she offered to go back to Comp as didn't feel they had the 'full' picture after we talked. Probably humoring me and I offered email to make sure they had 'full' picture so here we are.

TMI - disappointed more so in long term prospects...will likely take it and look to move in 2yrs as the specialized nature is high demand. Moving to this company/team, I took a step back in role (not salary) from several years in leadership (don't like so have an accepted ceiling)