Welcome back to my weekly newsletter where I help corporate professionals like you design, build and navigate your high impact career with clarity and confidence.

Last week I had an experience that changed how I approach job offer negotiations.

Let me give you the context.

A director in corporate finance approached me to help him evaluate a job offer and design a negotiation strategy.

All normal activities in my line of work.

As we chatted about the offer there were three areas that he wanted to address with the hiring manager before signing.

Two of the three had to do with his salary and bonus.

But it was the third one that stood out to me.

This talented man had been introduced to the company through a mutual connection and the team had quickly scheduled him for an interview directly with the CFO. After several rounds of interviews, they made him an offer for a newly created position.

However, instead of offering him a FT role, it was a contract position designed to roll into a FT role after a period of time. The hiring manager was clearly worried about the perception of this because he called my client to explain why the offer wasn’t a FT position.

This was on a Friday.

By the time we spoke early the next week, my client was feeling really frustrated.

“I’m trying really hard to not take this personally,” he said.

We dug in more.

While the bait and switch was unfortunate, this was a company my client really wanted to work for and while he wasn’t happy, he really wanted the job.

At the heart of the issue, what hurt the most was that my client felt like the hiring manager didn’t recognize the value he could bring to the organization.

He felt like he was getting “put on trial” which didn’t feel good.

The final kicker was that he’d come from a toxic workplace in his last job where the CFO had tried to undermine his attempts to bring parts of the finance function into the 21st century. It was all a little too close to home.

I paused in the midst of our chat.

“You have two options,” I said.

“Option 1 - since you really want to work for this company, you could ignore the fact that you’re upset about the contract and that you feel undervalued. If you choose this option, focus the conversation on the compensation adjustments then sign the agreement.

Or Option 2 - you could professionally bring up the fact that you’re struggling with the switch and see what the hiring manager says.

However, if you choose Option 1, you have to make peace with this situation before you sign. If you don’t, the next time your boss makes a decision you don’t agree with, you’ll add that decision to this and start to build a case against him. It will start to poison how you view your boss and the decisions he makes. You HAVE to make sure this won’t happen.”

My client paused and then he asked, “I see. Okay, how could I bring it up professionally?”

And here’s the phrase I taught him.

“I’m really struggling with…”

I love this phrase because it doesn’t place blame on anyone. It merely highlights - in a vulnerable way - what’s going on inside.

Because let’s be real, a great hiring manager wants to create an offer that a candidate is happy with. So if my client shares what he's struggling with, it will help the hiring manager understand and empower him to act.

And here’s what my client practiced.

“I’m really struggling with the switch from a FT role to a contract position. Before we proceed, could you help me understand why the switch was made?

insert conversation...

then my client responds with something like “Thank you for sharing more. [insert any follow up questions]...

Since this is a contract position, could you help me understand…

What performance metrics will you be looking at to evaluate if I’ll be given a FT role?

How will feedback be provided?

When will you decide to offer me a FT role or not?”

Once these questions are answered, there’s alignment. It’s clear and it made the contract position easier to accept.

I got a text a few hours later saying that my client had a great conversation with the hiring manager and felt much better about the contract position.

The hiring manager was sending over the revised offer with the comp changes he’d requested and they were both looking forward to his start date.

What a win!

Yes, the 9% raise was great.

But what was even better was the lightness that this director felt because he’d been brave enough to bring up what was really bothering him and get it on the table.

I guarantee you that this year will feel much better, his performance won’t suffer and his chances of converting the contract to a FT role is much higher now as a result.

And that’s the lesson I learned from this experience.

A job offer negotiation isn’t won or lost in the numbers. It’s won when both parties can openly share what they need to feel whole and create an arrangement that meets both parties' needs.

So if you’re about to approach a negotiation, my encouragement to you is to get clear on any issues - beyond comp - that are bothering you. That way you’ll be able to start your new role with a clear conscience and lightness that will empower you to do great things in your role.

You’ve got this!

Until next week,

Beckie

PS Curious what the ROI was for this client on the coaching session? It was something ridiculous like 3,650%

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