Happened to me. I merely asked if there was wiggle room? "How much wiggle room!!!"

"$3,000 and a small amount, $1,500 for relocation?"

"I can ask," they said.

"That's all I can ask," I replied.

Next morning: "offer formally rescinded."

I was told multiple times during interviews that that the salary was $130k. The written offer was for $114k. When I asked to be paid $130k they rescinded.

If an employer rescinds a job offer due to a professional, respectful attempt to negotiate - that is not an employer you want to work for. So it's doubly worth doing.

In this 💩 market, Yes.

They could..

If the first offer is in range and acceptable to you, there is nothing wrong with taking it though.

Why would they rescind the offer?

With most things, the answer is “it depends”. 

If the range is $80k-$100k and you’re offered $90k and you “counter” with $150k, then companies/hiring managers have no interest is wasting 3-4 days negotiating with you when your expectations are way out of line with their posting. 

I would say in the current market ball is in the employers court.

In my experience, when verbally giving the offer they give the amount yet along the way and initial phases, employers have been transparent as to range and ask what I’m looking for. Depending on the situation, I give a number in that range (example: their benefits, if it requires relocation, commuting, how badly I need the job, level of job/if range meets workload demands).

Never had an offer rescinded when I’ve been made one, and I counter it with asking for (an appropriate amount) more to see what they’re willing to work with. Like sign on bonus, help relocating, or compensation to cover a benefit gap/loss.

If it is a foot in the door/job I really want to grow my career towards, I will take offer or even state early on I am willing to take a lesser salary than previous job just for the benefit of my career and foot in the door as I mentioned. This honestly has worked in my favor at times when they see the commitment for the role itself and my willingness to be flexible as possible.

I made it work once, got the offer for 70k and I replied

Me: "I was looking for something closer to 80k, do you think it could be done?"

Recruiter : "mmmm let me try asking, but I will only know in a week though, ok bye"

That was the most tense week ever, she finally came back to me and said "hey good news, they are willing to offer you 82k"

I accepted in a microsecond, risky move though, I only felt like I could try because I absolutely aced the interview, not for the faint of heart

Can they rescind? Of course they can. And, in a razor-tight market, they might.

Consider the situation from their point of view. You're their top candidate, but you're only slightly better than the second choice candidate (which is typical of a tight market). They offer you $80K. You counter with $90K, but they know they can only afford $80K. They can then either offer you $80K again, hope you accept, and hope you don't leave soon because you feel underpaid or they can just hire the second choice who has already stated that they'd be happy with $80K.

They've always been able to rescind the offer for negotiating. Negotiating is essentially declining their offer and making a counter offer.

The why really depends on the beliefs of the company or manager. For some, they believe it's simpler to just move to the next candidate. For some they believe coming in below your ask is going to lead to you leaving for a better offer. And sometimes you're just too far apart in a number.

I don't really know where this idea comes from that once they make an offer it's locked in and you can always fall back to their number.

When you negotiate there's a few things that can happen

• They can accept
• They can counter
• They can stay firm in their offer
• They can rescind

Because you’re not unique, and they’ll just find someone to do the job for a lower price. And trust me, someone will ALWAYS do it cheaper.

A couple “views” here:

1) highly competitive jobs they aren’t saying no to everyone else until you are signed and in. They can and will replace the desired candidate in the blink of an eye. Think entry level fashion merchandising…

2) not so competitive jobs Hiring is stupid expensive. They spent a lot of money in the form of time and software costs, advertising and sourcing… they made you an offer, they usually expect you to negotiate a bit. Reasonably.

What’s reasonable? Typically 5% or $5,000 annual for most jobs on salary. Remember salary isn’t the only bargaining you can do.

You have to have leverage to negotiate. 7 other people just like you in line? You have nothing they can’t get in the next person. Experience, education, etc etc is bargaining power. Just be reasonable. They will reconsider if you’re not.

I’ve never negotiated after receiving an offer, since I state my salary expectations clearly in the fist interview 

In this market it can backfire because they'll go for the next desperate person on their list. I was offered a lowball wage for my industry and didn't negotiate because I had been unemployed and needed something.

For whatever it's worth, my advice of negotiation is this - understand your situation.

You should always negotiate if you can, as in , your situation allows you to. Are you a new graduate living with parents and have no real expenses. You should negotiate.

Are you looking for better employment, have a job lined up or have multiple irons going and trying to maximize your earnings...negotiate.

Are you jobless with benefits running dry, mouths to feed and debt climbing - probably shouldn't negotiate even if being low balled.

Like it doesn't take much to do the math. Let's do some easy math. Let's say you're trying to fight for an additional 12k a year on your salary. That's 1k before taxes a month. 500 before taxes a paycheck. Its not nothing, sure....but is that worth losing the entire job for? In some situations, yes...that's a perfectly fine gamble - but if you have dependencies you have to consider that as well.

And if you don't love the offer and are truly being low balled, you don't owe the company hiring you anything. Take their money and keep looking , it's easier to find a job when you have one, and when you walk in 6 months to finally get what you're worth - then that's on them

In today’s hyper competitive job market right now. It’s either you accept the offer or declined the offer. I think any delusions of your personal worth in the job market is not going to carry much weight if there were 1,000 plus applicants for that one job opening.

They can and I have worked with companies that have I also have had one rescinded during negotiations.

If their first offer is fair and acceptable to you, I do not understand why you would not accept that.

Unless you are in a very niche industry, there is always that 2nd candidate will take your offer.

Once you counteroffer, the original offer is no longer valid until the employer affirm the original offer ( told you this is the best that they can do) or present you a new offer.

All while the 2nd best candidate, who may be 5 percent less qualify but did not ask for a 5 to 15 percent counter offer, is ready and happy to take your offer.

As I always tell people, ever undersold but also prepare to walk or got offer rescind if they do not counter.

Every time I've negotiated, it's worked in my favor. Only once have I accepted an offer without negotiating, but it was because they offered slightly more than the max range they had listed the job for.

I don't know why so many people are surprised about the rise in offers being rescinded, just because this wasn't a thing in the past.

There are lots of things going on in today's market that either didn't used to happen at all in the past, or never happened with the frequency we see today.

Examples of things that weren't normal or prevalent in the past:

• 6+ rounds of interviews, spread over multiple months
• getting ghosted after getting to a final round
• getting and accepting an offer, only to have the employer tell you that the budget for cut
• ghost jobs
• home work assignments for jobs outside the creative space
• having to fill out dozens or more interviews to get even one interview
• bait and switch for even high level jobs
• one-way video interviews

These are some of the things that were not happening at all, or with any regularity, a decade ago. So, why do so many seem surprised about an increased aversion to negotiating?

Most companies don't want to negotiate, for the same reason that candidates don't want to be low-balled. Negotiation increases what the employer has to pay out. And why should they cooperate with that, when hundreds are applying, and at least a handful may be viable?

As a candidate, if you applied for 5 equivalent (in your mind) opportunities, concurrently, and 3 of them met your asking price, but two were below that price, would even bother with the two that were not up to what you requested, when there were 3 that met or exceeded it?

Now, imagine employers in the current market, and ask yourself the corresponding question...

Negotiation works when you have leverage. If you don't have multiple concurrent offers, (or an existing job you don't have to leave), or you don't work in some small industry with few viable candidates, then you probably don't have enough leverage to risk a negotiation attempt.

Choose wisely, especially if you really need work.

Better to accept that job if it is close to being viable, and then negotiate with the next one from a position of having a fall-back, than to be surprised that yet another company will walk away from a negotiation and just pick their next finalist in line...

I had an offer rescinded once when I tried to negotiate. They were offering me less money to supervise than I was currently earning not supervising — and they said, “oh it’s a public position so you won’t have to pay social security.” They didn’t get, that really wasn’t the point. 

You can negotiate successfully. There is one clear tenent. You have to be able and willing to completely walk away from the offer like you don't need it. Be able to completely say "this or no thank you," and really mean it.

If you're not in that position, don't negotiate. That usually means you already have a stable job with sufficient pay.

Most companies are banking on desperation, which lowers the rate of the going market rate for your labor. The only thing propping it up is your ability to reject it and ask for more.

You do have to understand the supply of labor as well. If there are many available substitutes for your labor (people that can do your skillset, or if the job requires what some would consider to be "low to no skills," then you have less bargaining power. The harder it is for them to get your skillset on the labor market, the more power you have.

And there has to be some expectations of an acceptable salary. Would someone pay $1,000,000 a year for a janitor? Probably not. Would a surgeon work for minimum wage? I know those are extreme cases, but every job has some basis of what is considered reasonable compensation.

Sometimes no. Sometimes, some places, some situations yes.

It is used as a scare tactic, yes, just like "always negotiate" is used as the opposite, but the truth is that it is cyclical. In, say, 2022, "always negotiate" was pretty sound. In the 2025 employers' market, it will often still work out, more than people reading the Lurid-Story Sub realize. But you probably want to pick your battles. In 2028 who knows. I've never personally had an offer rescinded but I don't need that to happen to believe others, and to match my strategy to context.

It’s happened to me and mind you I’ve been in recruitment for over a decade at this point & I have seen it happened to others too

Some companies don't negotiate, including the one I work for. They don't rescind offers. They make one and if the candidate tries to haggle, they interpret that as the candidate declining their offer and they move on. The problem is that it's hard to know up front.

It’s very rare for me to rescind an offer.

I have however presented many “first and final” offers. I’ve also rejected negotiations from candidates. My recruiting experience is only in-house and I’ve always recommended to my hiring managers to go with a competitive offer or the maximum of what the compensation team calculates if they are involved in the offer process. I also try to get in front of potential lost bonuses or other benefits, so that if a sign on or relocation assistance is going to come in to play it’s part of the original offer building and not some reactionary move.

Lots of people are coached to never accept the first offer. Similar to bidding below asking on a home and relying on negotiation tactics. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I doubt any reputable company will redact their offer if you try to negotiate, but don’t expect them to always cave.

I made a respectful counter offer and got the “we want someone not in it for the money” once. That company was out of business 4 months later.

Some companies dont want to negotiate bc they know candidate 2 is more than willing to accept their offer.

Here’s a scenario where you may not negotiate: they pay near or above the top end as a gesture of goodwill. To negotiate and be greedy is a bad look in their eyes and risk offer being pulled.

The above was what I experienced. I accepted the offer without negotiating as I was happy with tue total comp, job arrangements.

No. I’m not a recruiter but I am a hiring manager and negotiation is expected for professional salaried roles. Not everyone does it and I don’t low ball people thinking they will negotiate, I offer them what is mid to high market rate DOE and if they negotiate they may or may not get a little more. It’s more often that folks get more time off etc than much more salary. But I will usually give them a little more as a show of good faith. I don’t want them coming into a position feeling negatively about their salary. Lots of things are negotiable.

Hourly folks can be a little different in that hourly rates can be less flexible but no one has ever had an offer rescinded in my experience just by asking.

IMO if someone rescinds an offer because someone negotiated, the job seeker has dodged a bullet.

It has happened to me.

I think it would depend on the job market.

I’ve absolutely rescinded if the counteroffer is batshit crazy. For example - offered a physician base 250k, he countered for almost double with significant changes to the PTO and benefits and a sign on bonus. The problem isn’t that he countered, it’s that he is so far removed from reality that I figured he would be annoying to employ. From the legal side of things, as soon as you counter the offer, you’ve essentially rejected the initial offer. Most companies will still keep it on the table, but they’re not required to do so. So if you’re going to counter, use good judgement and don’t be a jackass about it 😅

Dont negotiate if you are not willing to walk away from the deal

I did three interviews for a place. Last interview was with the CEO. We had verbally agreed that I’d start there, they would just send me the written offer. He assured me I wouldn’t be lowballed as they had interviewed quite a few people who couldn’t meet the requirements. His door would always be open to discuss salary if it didn’t match the job duties.

A few hours later I get the written offer. It’s for the lowest advertised wage. I counter with other similar jobs and their pay rate. They rescinded the offer and said I was out of their price range. They didn’t end up getting anyone to take the terrible low ball offer for another 4 months. I’ll treat this as a bullet dodged.

I’ve been told by every job recruiter than you’re crazy not to negotiate the salary that’s offered to you. I finally had the courage to try it this year and it worked. I got a 5,000 dollar bump in my starting salary - which was amazing!!

Sometimes a certain rate may require an executive approval, and that may be a PITA that they don't want. Or above a certain rate may require the company to re-post it.

Always ask like very kindly and matter of factly if the salary is at all negotiable at first, and just go from there so you can get a vibe check

Happened to my husband two years ago. This is not the market to try to negotiate unless it’s a very small amount, and even then, I wouldn’t.

They can always find someone who will work for less who is more desperate.

Never happened to me but it DOES happen. The reason is simple. If you say “I need/ want $X to work for you” and they say “Sorry our max is $Y” and you turn around and say “ya okay sure I’ll take that lesser amount”. They now have the very real fear that you will accept the offer but continue applying and accept the first job offer that meets your $X amount. It happens all the time. An employee will take a job paying less than what they want just so they have SOMETHING coming in with zero intention of actually staying there. Then, the company wastes time and money training and onboarding you.

My advice is this. Know what you want and what you’re actually worth in the market. If you get an offer that is within that range, just accept it. You can push for a performance raise at your first review. Only push back and try for more if you are willing and intend to walk away if they can’t provided that pay. The idea that you never accept the first offer is terrible advice. You just need to know what the number is in your head before you get the offer. If it’s at or above that number, take it. Be reasonable and practical when setting that number for yourself though. Don’t sell yourself short but be realistic.

If you are in the rare position where YOU have the leverage going into the offer (companies actively fighting to get you), then you can leverage that for better deals. But this is the exception- it’s honestly rare to be in that situation.

In this market? I have.

For example, in this scenario, my company ALWAYS is transparent about the salary band up-front. We discuss the base and bonus in detail during the first phone screen and have each candidate confirm that they are okay with it.

This particular time, our fiscal year was ending and we had to meet a hiring deadline (we let the candidates know this would be a quick turnaround time in terms of how quickly they needed to accept).

It was a split decision between Candidate A and B but we ended up going with A while keeping B warm. We extended the exact offer that Candidate A confirmed to want, trying to eliminate back and forth and get them to accept right away to meet our deadline. Candidate A countered and said no, sorry, I need X now.. This annoyed us as they had previously agreed to that number, we met it, and now they came back and said they “needed” more.

This obviously rubbed the hiring manager the wrong way and they said, okay. Tell Candidate A we can’t meet that and wish them the best of luck. Offer to candidate B. I did and candidate B was thrilled and accepted immediately. Candidate A obviously was bluffing and frantically tried to say they’d accept the original offer but the job was already given away to the backup.

Moral of the story: Don’t get greedy in this market. You are a dime a dozen and if think you have the leg up to negotiate, it better be for a role where you don’t have 10+ other “you”s waiting in line.

it’s rare but it does happen, especially with shitty managers or small places that take any pushback as a “bad attitude” red flag. negotiate politely and don’t be weird about it, that’s all you can control. sucks how jumpy companies are now with how hard it is to land anything

I’m 34, been working for at least a decade now in corp America and when the first two jobs out of college, I never once negotiated. Fast forward to now, the last 3 jobs I’ve had I’ve always negotiated and every single time, companies have always given me what I’ve asked for. If you know you are top candidate, they will work with you.

The folk, right now, who risk themselves by negotiating are people who are bringing nothing to the table except a warm body, a functioning brain, and some unspecified future potential.

If you have specialised skills, knowledge, or experience then you can absolutely stop negotiate. If you are the same as 50 other candidates who have applied for the job then if you try to negotiate they'll go with one of the other 50.

You have to justify the counter offer with Data.

-competing offer -use Glassdoor and levels fyi to look at salary -use notes from interview ie job descriptions stated X but in the interview they wanted X responsibility

Yes, it does happen.

I applied for a tech job at a school and they didn't give me a salary figure until they made an offer. It was a bit more than half what I wanted / thought was reasonable. I asked for more, but they told me it was beyond their budget.

Yes it's a good idea to negotiate for a higher salary, but ideally you know what the range is first. If you don't, then you should have a good idea what the going rate is and target somewhere at least at the median or higher. Just be prepared they might call your bluff.

And regardless of whether they "rescind" the offer, if they can't or won't pay what you're asking then it doesn't matter, so it's always kind of a gamble.

I was offered a full time remote role and was ready to sign the papers when I noticed in the paperwork it was changed to an onsite position in Texas. I asked about it, got the explanation “because we changed it”.

Thanks but no thanks. I’m not moving from Canada to Texas.

Companies are often not expecting someone to counter-offer. Offers are backed by a lot of industry comp research and internal parity. Good companies make strong offers from the start.

Best advice would be to ask the recruiter/HR if the company generally negotiates or not. If they say yes, then obviously negotiate. If they say no, not ever or no, very rarely - then only negotiate if you would truly decline the current offer.

I've never worked for a company thst has rescinded an offer due to negotiation. I doubt our legal dept would support that. The only way we can rescind an offer without approval from our legal dept is if a candidate fails the drug test or can't obtain a security clearance if it's required for the job.

If your offer is from a large company, I wouldn't think they'd rescind for offer negotiation. Just make sure it makes sense. If you said you were looking for $100K in the interviews, and they offered you $100K, you'll just be pissing everyone off. They met your request, so now is not the time to ask for more unless you legitimately received a competing offer from another company that you'd accept if they don't accept your counter offer. If they offered less than the amount you requested, then go ahead and negotiate.

Offers rescinded for negotiating used to be something that never happened, but we're seeing a lot of stories of it happening now. I still think you can and should negotiate but you have to be super careful. Usually you can roughly judge your standing and how much they want you and need you on their team. If you feel like you have any pull at all, I think you can politely ask for maybe 5% more salary and that's hard for them to say no because it's so little but it's a good boost to get right up front. Make sure you are only politely asking and not like threatening or anything . That's about all I would dare to do if I was happy with the job offer.

I was in a situation where my company went through an extensive interview process and negotiated a salary with a candidate. Our HR department sent him an offer letter which gave him 7 days to accept. For reference, most offers are accepted the same day. He finally called us on day 7 saying he wanted to negotiate. He claimed he received another offer which was a lot more than what we were offering. The number he gave was unrealistic for our market and we sensed he was lying. We told him that the offer was firm, there was some back and forth…he got emotional and said some borderline statements (he said several times that we were “lowballing” him) which the HR took offense to. On the call, she rescinded the offer. After the call she sent the candidate an email citing unprofessional behavior and excessive negotiation.

Some companies have several finalist that are a good fit for the job.  The selection process isn't over until the new hire is onboarded 

We made an informal offer to a candidate. He was decent, not great. So we offered him a figure in the middle of the range we'd published.

He took two days to counter.  During that time, we found another much better candidate.  We dropped the first and went with the better one.

Yes this can happen. It’s unfortunately a candidate flooded market. You decline they will move onto the next. Unless you’re an “expert” in your field, which assuming but the Reddit question you’re rather entry/junior. You should disclose upfront your intentions. Why go through the process and waste everyone’s time including yours if you’re so far off. A shit company will rescind. A good company/recruiter will be clear with you. It shouldn’t be a game of “who shows their cards first loses.”

Interview questions to ask the HR/recruiter personnel only: Salary- what’s the salary/budget for this role? You should have a general idea of what you’re targeting. Most of the time you won’t get your ask. A good recruiter will say the salary is ($x). If they don’t you go “I am targeting more of $X+Y but can be flexible based on other incentives/benefits/etc”

It’s never happened to me but I don’t negotiate salary. If the salary isn’t what I want I don’t bother applying. The only two things I negotiate Re time off (PTO) and hybrid work. In the U.S. most companies offer similar benefits when it comes to medical, dental, 401K match, etc. Please note I said “MOST” and not “ALL”. But PTO varies a lot. For me, 20 days is my minimum. The other thing is I don’t want to be in the office 5 days a week. Three is enough.

I think it's fairly messy to negotiate at the end stage.

All compensation desires should be discussed early preferably before interviews even start, and possibly refined after interviews once the scope of the job is better assessed.

If you make your expectations clear, and at the offer stage, they fall short of that, that should just be your sign that it's not for you. Negotiating after that fact is a bit silly to me.

They know what market rate is, they know how much working entails, they know how much the work is worth ... if they try to lowball you move on

If you’re not willing to walk away or have the offer removed, you’re not negotiating.

That’s why it’s so much better to search to a job when you still have one.

A related gripe is when companies say the range is for example $100-$130k but will absolutely never offer $130k, even when the candidate is extremely qualified and made a similar rate with another job. If the employer is never going to actually hire for the top range, they shouldn’t actually I’ll use the higher end of it.

I’m on the hiring side. From a hiring manager perspective, how I look at post-offer negotiation depends on what previous discussion about money occurred during the hiring process.

I have rescinded an offer in the past when I’ve provided the top of my range during the interviews (which is also printed in the job listing), the candidate said they were comfortable with it, and then once they get an offer they say they need more than the max of the range. Like wtf? Why did we waste our time?

So basically my advice is there’s nothing wrong with negotiating per se, but it depends largely on what the conversations have looked like leading up to the offer. If there’s been a firm number or maximum provided during the interview stage, THAT is the time to ask if there’s any wiggle room to go higher. If the interviewer or HR says something like “maybe for the right candidate”, then by all means negotiate post-offer. But if before the offer, an exact number or a maximum of a range has been provided to a candidate and there were no objections, most employers infer that to mean it’s a salary the candidate is willing to accept. And many would consider it to be bad form to ask for more after an offer for the amount that was previously discussed has been extended.

This was over 10 years ago, but I had a woman recruiter ghost me after I replied very respectfully to an offer letter with a counter offer.

I reached out again to emphasize my interest in the role, and she replied by admitting she had "never experienced a female candidate countering an employment offer and didn't know how to react."

I shit you not. And my counter, you ask? $2000 above the initial offer to cover mobile plan costs since they weren't offering a work phone (my job was to do their social media)

I wound up getting the role because they agreed to a monthly smartphone stipend.

I will always counter, because apparently even recruiters who are part of marginalized communities will marginalize their own community and need to adjust. Systemic isms are a real thing.

The market is not candidate friendly right now, but some negotiation is still to be expected. Companies rarely go out with their top offer for this reason.

It seems very short sighted for an employer to immediately pull an offer over a reasonable and respectful counter, but it all depends on the company, industry, role, candidate pool etc.

While we don’t typically resend offers, when I received a counter offer from a candidate, that was well over the range I could offer them, i had to spend some time talking them out of the job. I knew I could never give them the salary they wanted, and they would likely be looking for a new role within a year if we weren’t meeting their salary expectations. And I didn’t want to go through the hassle of backfilling that role that we spent months to fill.

If they rescind the offer that's a massive red flag that whatever place is a sweatshop

Depends on your skills, job description, leverage, company. Too many variables to give a definite answer. I high balled offered them the first time and got offered that salary plus a bit more. A colleague of mine was able to negotiate a huge increase because he was deemed very valuable. If you’re for an entry level job, maybe an extra $1 or $2/hr. An important part of job hunting is knowing how much leverage you actually have and how to use it. If you give them crazy numbers, then yes, they might rescind. If you give them reasonable numbers and they rescind, probably best to not work for them in the first place.

So there are of course unreasonable people who will take a counteroffer as an affront to them and/or a sign that you aren’t “committed to the company” or “don’t see how good of an opportunity it is” <—— which literally every bad company that tries to underpay will tell people.

As for reasonable people/companies, if no salary or range is discussed at all during the whole process and then you get an offer and counter it, I don’t think that comes off as unreasonable to most people, but some may want you to back up your reasons (I have x years of experience, market rate is y, etc).

If a range is told to you, you get an offer in that range, then counter, that is also reasonable.

What is sometimes not seen as reasonable is if you tell them you want to be at around 80k, which is within the range, they offer you 80k, and you counter at 90k. Let’s assume 90k is still in their range. When you counter, you are going to need a pretty good reason (ie, benefits aren’t as robust, a lot more responsibilities than advertised in the job posting, etc).

If they gave you a range and your counter is outside of that range, then even reasonable people may think that you are trying to hold them “hostage,” like you know they really like you and/or likely already rejected a bunch of other candidates and it’s down to you and maybe one other person who might not be interested or fielding other offers, so it comes off a bit like a poker play and that pisses some people off, even if you have good reasons to ask for more. In that instance, the only way I see that coming off as even somewhat reasonable is if benefits were never discussed or overstated, there is a lot of personal car use with no reimbursement, there is more overnights than discussed, etc.

If you’re countering just to counter, it pisses some people off. It’s like if you price something way under market on Facebook marketplace and someone has you drive out to them to look after numerous conversations where they are interested, then after all that time, after you get there and have invested so much back and forth time, they offer something way lower. It just puts a bad taste in a person’s mouth. HOWEVER, if the person said they would be willing to pay between x and y, depending on condition, then you invest the time expecting in that range, so it’s not seen as annoying. Conversely, if you tell someone you want no less than $5,500 for a car (like when you tell a company you wouldn’t take job for less than x) that you listed at $7k, they don’t indicate any issue with that, you spend a bunch of time and effort, then at the 11th hour they say, actually, I’ll only buy it for 4k, you’ll likely be pissed unless they have good reason that you agree with. You only “wasted” time on them because you proceeded with the assumption they were fine paying at least 5.5k.

If nothing is discussed and they rescind because of a valid counter, then you would not have wanted to work for them anyways.

Don’t counter just to counter though. Some companies spend a ton of time and money on market research to offer a fair or better wage than market in order to keep employees, if nothing else because it’s expensive to rehire and onboard. To send a company like that a counter “just because” might make you look like a dick if you can’t back it up.

I'm a recruiter (in house) and have never seen an offer recinded for negotiating. The closest I have seen is when a candidate tries to up the amount after coming to an agreement during the negotiation process. If a candidate says I will accept if I get X, gets X, and then tries to ask for more, I'll let them know it's this or nothing.

Its wild to recind an offer for just trying to negotiate. You spend so much time getting them through the process only to withdraw an offer seems like a massive waste of resources.

Are you saying that offers are rescinded after confirming the budget for the position and trying to negotiate within the range or are you saying they didn't gain clarity at the outset and tried to negotiate at offer?

I've asked at every job I've taken. I feel it is important to set a precedent that you're worth more than they initially offer.  2 wouldn't budge (but I didn't push too hard - I later found out 1 of them would have if I didn't blink, but I left there 4 months later b/c I hated it), 5 met my number as soon as I said it. Zero rescinded.  Just my experience. Ymmv. 

It all depends on how you do it. I have seen some people do it in a rude manner, which tells the hiring manager a lot. And I have seen some people do it respectfully and get a better offer.

I had to save a candidate once. He was a sales guy I really wanted to hire. When it came to the final part of the process he pushed back a couple of times on HR for more $$$. They called me and told me they view him as a future malcontent and would be rescinding the offer. I told them that was not an option.

I had to call him and essentially ask him if he was stupid. We had talked about money before it got to the point of us writing him and offer and I made sure the offer was above his expectation. Now he was just trying for more. He agreed that he was killing a good thing.

I told HR to talk him again and he started with over a 20% increase from his previous position. That was about 8 years ago and he is still with us and does a great job.

Posted range was $160k - $200k.

The offer was $100k flat.

Asked if that's the most competitive offer they could give.

Offer rescinded.

I’ll take less if I can get 100% remote. I’ve never been fired or had a bad review. I just want to protect my health.

They don’t rescind the offer if you ask for more. If they say they can’t and you keep pushing then they will rescind.

I've had mine rescinded before. That was last year.

It depends on the job market. Depending on how much the company likes you and what the rest of the candidate pool looked like will inform their decision. If they really liked you or you had a specific skill that they really need and no one else in the candidate pool had, they will probably negotiate with you. If it was close between you and one other person or they had a strong candidate pool with a number of good candidates, they probably won’t negotiate with you. That’s why in business, they usually make the offers first and then the turndowns in case the have to change their hiring decision

I got an offer rescinded once for asking about the neighborhood (in the Bronx) and parking. I lived/worked in the Bronx for many years, and I don't want to come out after a late night to parts missing from my car (again).

I usually negotiate but one part time job (clinical social worker) told me the amount and said “it’s non negotiable”. I knew my worth and declined spot on and wrote a professional email to the hiring manager letting them know the reason I didn’t take the job. My current job I didn’t negotiate because I got the MAX of the range (about 17k difference from the minimum). If they want me, they will pay. If I was desperate I would not push too much but I would want a fair wage. I remember one job I accepted and the offer was lower and I needed a new car and pay tolls. I called them the next day and spoke with HR and told them I couldn’t take the job and explained the commute and the expense. She called me back and gave me the full amount. It depends how bad they want you!

The only time that happens is when the person says "no", then asks for more money. No means no.

It’s not super common but it can happen. Especially if you’ve had conversations about salary, agreed on a number or range and push for a lot more when the offer comes.

Yes companies seem to be doing this now. The old concept of candidate experience has disappeared. Companies seriously do not care at all about candidates. I do not know what prompted the change.

Healthcare/hospital recruiter here. I would never rescind an offer because of asking to negotiate. I’m also not typically able to raise the base rate offered, sometimes can get approval for relo. Overall, I’d say it’s still worth an ask! Anywhere that does rescind is somewhere you don’t want to work

Studies show that women often lose offers when they try to negotiate salary.

It depends on the economic cycle and the company. When it is an employer's market as it is today, then yes they have little tolerance and if they say final offer, they mean it. Otherwise continuing this path they will give the offer to their 2nd choice lined up.

If you bring evidence that their offer for you is low then they would have to explain why you get less or agree and increase. So, do your research in pages where people submit salaries and pick the latest with your level. Just randomly asking without leverage is difficult.

I've never had it happen. Most companies expect candidates to negotiate. They may not have budget to do it, but it never hurts to try. As long as the counter is reasonable you should be ok - and if the offer gets rescinded, you probably wouldn't want to work for such a dysfunctional company.

Last year I asked for a small increase from an initial offer as well as clarification on the insurance benefits (it wasn’t clear if there was a employee contribution and/or if family was covered at all) after receiving an offer. The offer was rescinded after emailing my questions.

Any company who is not willing to outline company benefits prior to receiving an offer acceptance is shady as f. I dodged a bullet for sure. Thankfully I am making almost 30% more than that offer now.

It depends on how much they want you. I've twice negotiated 20% higher than the offer I was given.

Some companies don’t want employees who will speak up for themselves. Those companies will pile you with work until you’re gone. They don’t want someone who will talk back and tell them no. That’s why the offer would be rescinded. If you ask for more and they rescind the offer, you dodged a bullet.

depends on how much leverage you have. if its an unskilled role that doesnt add a whole lot of value and there were 50 other applicants then its not worth their time to negotiate, they'll just make a phone call to one of the other 50 who is willing to take what is offered.

if its a high value skilled role and you have a fairly unique level of skill or combination of skills that will take them time to replace then youve got more leverage to negotiate and it would frankly be expected that you do.

This definitely happens. My partner had a role and offer rescinded because he negotiated. It’s wild out there.

I've negotiated every time. I'm a Machinist so it's a bit different. For example at an interview I said I needed $30/hr and their faces went from excited to depressed. They said we're actually thinking more like $20/hr so we agreed we were just to far apart. However they offered to show me around the shop which I accepted...always interesting to see

I've had it go both ways.

I’ve worked for companies where their policy is to low ball candidates. Know your market value and approach it gently.

Yes of course they can rescind. If you're not happy with the offer, then you are a flight risk, so they'd rather hire someone happy with the offer.

This year in this job market it would not surprise me if they did.

Basically it is an employers market. Most jobs I have applied for have a 1000 plus applications for every position.

Shit I have seen jobs with more than 500 applicants and the job was posted only an hour before.

If you won't take the offer there are 999 plus more people to make an offer to. Someone will take the offer .

Yes, I got my offer rescinded when I negotiated.

If they rescind the offer over an attempt at negotiation, you don't want to work there, it will be even worse at your annual review time

I asked for a clear number range for the salary since I’d been told multiple different numbers as they wanted me to agree to an offer I hadn’t even received yet and I got asked “Is it all about the money” like she worked for free or something. I did not stick around long at that job.

Always negotiate. If they rescind the offer, you’ve just dodged a bullet. If they won’t negotiate at hire, how likely do you think they’ll be to approve a raise?

I haven’t been in the job market for a while, so I have a genuine question for people who are actively seeking and interviewing for jobs: does the topic of salary not come up anymore until an offer is actually made?? I’m getting that impression by a lot of these comments.

I've seen it happen. I had a guy attempt to negotiate for a higher hourly rate and additional PTO allowance, and the manager rescinded the offer, saying he didn't feel the candidate was serious about the position.

That is a risk, but you can just accept, then keep interviewing for others to see if they offer more.

I’ve had it happen. Negotiated within their posted rate. They waited over a week and then rescinded it and have blacklisted me now lol. Their loss.

I've had friend experience the same thing on a small amount of money. I really think people are looking for Perfection from the company or they're going to work with and it will not happen. There's always jackass managers and HR departments that don't make any sense even in the best companies. You're looking for a job and sometimes it doesn't go your way.

Oh most definitely. There are hiring managers who get “offended” if you try to negotiate.

Which means they shouldn’t be managers in the first place.

In my experience, whether or not you should try and negotiate for a higher salary depends entirely on what type of job you are applying for and how qualified you actually are for that job

If you’re applying for an entry-level position, or work in a crowded field, trying to punch up your salary is going to backfire; there are 1000 other candidates out there looking for the same job and so no employer really has any incentive to pay you more than the other 999 candidates. They’ll drop you and just move on to the next person in line.

If you work in a specialized field, or are applying for a more advanced position (e.g. principal engineer instead of just an associate engineer position), and you have the CV and skills to justify it, then pushing for a higher salary makes a lot more sense

It really comes down to understanding the market and being honest with yourself about how much your labor is really worth.

I’m not suggesting that the way employers handle this is justified or anything like that. Corporations will always do their level best to pay you as little as possible because capitalism is defined by insensate greed and that sucks for everyone.

But it doesn’t suck as much as being eternally unemployed.

An offer can be rescinded and if an employer does so because of negotiation of salary/benefits then they’re telling you what they think of their employees. There is absolutely a corporate culture of this kind of disrespect and disregard.

Only one way to find out…

(Always negotiate. It shows you have some spine and are manager material)

Yes, it happened to my partner.

It depends how the negotiation goes. If you state the salary you'd like and they meet that, and then you try and negotiate, they may be rightly frustrated.

But if they low-ball or surprise you, negotiating makes sense. 

In this market, it probably makes sense to accept a fair market offer as-is, but you could always ask "I would like to accept, however can you please clarify bonus structures, COLA schedules, and similar? For example, is there an annual salary review process, and if so, when?" So you can find out how long you might be at that salary.

You can definitely OVER negotiate. I have rescinded an offer after they continued to try to negotiate 3 times and we said it was our best and final. Another ask was 80K more than what we offered. It’s unlikely they would rescind for one attempt. I’d also recommend negotiating on the phone/video call.

I think if you are requesting compensation way outside their budget, then there is a concern that you will leave for a higher-paying position. But if your ask is reasonable for the market and what you know about the company, then you should absolutely negotiate.

I negotiate everytime.

Someone said in another reddit post that some companies are using interviews to gauge how good a candidate they can get at the cheapest price. So they can repot the position again with an updated list of requirements & a lower salary range.

If you try to negotiate and they rescind the offer they’re probably not a company you want to work for.

With that said, everyone’s circumstances are their own, so if you can’t afford an offer being rescinded then do what you need to do.

In my 15+ years as a recruiter - nope. Never rescinded an offer due to negotiation.