Edit: As it pertains to experience, I have more than enough experience. The position requires 3 years of experience, I have 7. I am actually exactly what they are looking for. In the interview, they joked that I changed my resume to match the job description (I didn't).
You can't get what you don't ask for.
By the by, if they happen to say something like "4 weeks vacation isn't standard company policy", look them right in the eye and say "I'm not an ordinary hire". This has never failed me.
Then again, I always did find all of the ceremony around "earning" vacation days through attendance, banking sick days, and rolling over vacation like its cellphone minutes to be completely insane.
I'm sorry, I misunderstood the level of the position. Totally my fault, I should have asked more questions. Thank you for your time and please keep me mind if you have a more senoir level position in the future. Have a good summer!
-imns
There are secretaries/assistants that make 50k a year. They are screwing with you.
To keep this brief, I would counter with something like "I've looked at other positions and really feel that I am worth at least 60K. If you can agree to that, along with a performance review and potential merit increase in 6 (or 8 or 12) months based on my performance relative to other members of the team I think we can have a mutually beneficial agreement"
You can massage the words a bit, but you get the point.
However, you need to figure out what YOU are worth, not what the job typically pays, and also determine if the potential employer has a realistic set of expectations or if they were just looking for a cheap hire.
If you're fresh out of school this is probably a decent (but not great) offer. Keep in mind too that the initial experience may be more valuable than the salary...
That said, 4 days vacation for the remaining 2011 sucks too. It should be prorated and industry standard (which is low) is something like 2 weeks vacation (so pro-rate that).
You really want this job? Counter offer with more vacation.
The reality is you should have asked for at least 80 so you had room to negotiate.
This is where you say No and then go silent. Until they offer you what you want.
It won't hurt at this point to be bold. I would be surprised if you could get them up to $70K from $53K so there isn't much to lose.
If they're replacing someone, flat out ask them what the previous person made and why he left. Point out that he might have stayed if they'd paid better. Or ask what other people in similar positions within the company are making. Insist that you should be at the top end of the range.
If they don't at least match what you asked for initially after countering, then just move on. Unless you in an extremely desperate situation, just move on.
I was thankfully able to get my current employer to give me a raise that has brought me up to what I think my skill set is worth, so I'll be sticking with my current job for now.
