As I stated in a prior post, I lied about my salary to a prospective employer. You can read all the details there. I was in a holding pattern until they came back to me with their offer. Thankfully, they had no more questions about my current salary and 2 weeks ago, gave me the verbal offer. When it was verbally presented to me, I was taken back. The base salary was higher. The bonus was higher. But the sign-on bonus didn’t fully compensate me for what I am leaving on the table. Secondly, their long term incentive plan was no where near what I make now. Lastly, my 2013 bonus at my current employer was not included in the sign-on bonus at the new company. The bottom line after I crunched the numbers was that I would be out approximately $25,000 per year for the next 10 years if I took the offer.
I didn’t see any upside. Although the new company is closer to home, I would have to be there everyday. Even though I live 1.5 hours from my current employer, they allow me to work from home 2 days a a week. Secondly, I am not sure I really clicked with the manager. She was nice, but I was not impressed by her. With the decreased compensation, it didn’t make sense for me to accept the offer as it stood.
I attempted to counter. I asked for a higher base salary, a higher bonus, and an extra week of vacation. Although the HR manager set my expectations by saying that she’s not optimistic they’ll agree to any of it, she told me she would try. A few days passed and the HR manager calls me back. She informed me that the company tends to put their best offer forward and that the offer stands as-is. I couldn’t believe what I heard! Everything I’ve read about salary negotiation told me that companies tend to allow room for negotiation. With that, I politely and respectfully declined the offer. Her first response to me was that this has never happened to her before. I wanted to scream by saying, “Well what did you expect. I gave you a mountain of paperwork, paystubs, brokerage statements, and you couldn’t match my current compensation!” However, I was polite, and kept the lines of communication open. She was very understanding, but informed me that there was nothing she can do. I guess its more cost effective for them to either go with the next best person, or to start from scratch.
I have some other options in the works and will keep everyone posted.
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