- Applicant secured higher salary by staying silent during negotiation after low initial offer
- Recruiter broke silence, revealed budget constraints, then offered $12,000 raise and bonus
- Applicant recommends silence tactic to candidates for better and respectful salary offers
Salary negotiations are the most nerve-wracking part of any job interview. Despite clearing technical and interpersonal rounds with flying colours, many applicants leave disappointed because they lack negotiation skills. One applicant, however, recently caught social media's attention after revealing a bizarre yet highly effective strategy to secure a better offer. By simply not speaking during the salary negotiation, he forced the recruiter to increase the offer, ultimately securing a higher compensation package.
The applicant detailed that they arrived at the negotiation table after a gruelling process that took nearly six weeks and four rounds of interviews.
"By the time I got to the final call with the recruiter I was already exhausted and just wanted to see the numbers. When she finally dropped the offer it was a classic lowball move. It was about fifteen per cent lower than the range we discussed in the first screening call," the applicant wrote in a Reddit post.
He highlighted that this is the point where most of the applicants panic and start to justify why they deserve more. However, he decided to try something different by staying quiet.
"I am talking about a full thirty seconds of dead air. I could hear her breathing on the other end of the line and it was probably the most uncomfortable half-minute of my professional life," the applicant said.
"The recruiter broke first. She started babbling about how the budget was tight and how they have great benefits, but then she stopped herself when I still didn't respond."
As the silence grew, the recruiter said that she would check with the hiring manager and see if there was any 'wiggle room' on the base pay.
"10 minutes later she called me back with an extra twelve thousand dollars and a signing bonus. It was like the money just spawned out of thin air the moment I stopped talking," the applicant highlighted.
The applicant advised other candidates to use a similar tactic when in the final stages of an intrview to walk away with a better and respectful offer.
"Just shut up and let them realise they are about to lose a month of work because they wanted to save a few bucks on your salary. It is a game of chicken and the person who talks first usually loses."
'It Is Wild'
As of the last update, the post had garnered over 12,000 upvotes as social media users discussed the pros and cons of employing such a tactic.
"It is wild how the budget suddenly appears out of thin air once they realise you aren't desperate. They bank on candidates being too polite to let a silence hang for more than two seconds," said one user, while another added: "What if she didn't break? What if she said: “Hey, did you hear me? What do you think about this offer?” It's awesome that it worked for you but if the recruiter/person hiring you has any confidence this isn't going to magically work."
A third commented: "Yes! I was at the offer stage with a large company, and I hesitated a bit when they said what the salary would be - not as a tactic, I really was just thinking it over - and the recruiter raised the salary by 10K! Easiest raise I ever got! Lol."
A fourth said: "Congrats! I remember once on an offer call they gave me a number and I told them what I needed and they said, "We usually don't start folks there." I was just silent because that was not a question. They ended up meeting me where I was comfortable."
