Fearless Salary Negotiation

You aggression factor

How aggressive should you be when you negotiate starting salary?

A simple way to determine how aggressive you should be when negotiating starting salary.

Before we can calculate your counter offer, we need to determine how aggressive you can be.

Remember those two “0—10” questions we looked at when you set your minimum acceptable salary? We’re finally going to use them!

We’re going to do some very light math here. Here’s the formula for your aggression factor:

[How badly they need you]
- [How badly you need this job]
= Your aggression factor

Here’s a quick example: Let’s say you are pretty sure the company needs you to do this job pretty badly, but you don’t need this particular job too badly. “How badly they need you” would be about an 8, and “How badly you need this job” would be about a 3. That means the formula would be 8 - 3 = 5. In this situation, your aggression factor is 5.

If your aggression factor works out to be less than zero, just set it to 0. That means your aggression factor should always be a number between 0 and 10.

Pretty easy! Make sure you keep this number handy because we’ll come back to it in a little bit.

Okay, now we’re ready to determine your counter.

You've changed jobs before and felt like you were leaving money on the table. You never have to feel that way again.

In this free 5-email series, I will show you how to conquer that feeling for good.
      Counteroffer even if you really like the job offer
      How to determine your counteroffer when negotiating starting salary

      Get 1-on-1 Help

      Negotiating a job offer soon? I'll help!

      I'm Josh Doody, a professional salary negotiation coach who helps High Earners negotiate their job offers. On average, High Earners improve their first-year compensation by $47,273 with my help.

      Apply for a free 15-minute intro call to learn how I can help.

      Get 1-on-1 Help Or learn more about Josh