It ended up being worth it to pay for somebody to help

I didn’t know how to begin a salary negotiation conversation, even though I was confident I could get more out of my offer. My biggest concern about hiring Josh was the cost of coaching.

It ended up being worth it to pay for somebody to help me manage and remove stress from the process. I felt far more confident both talking with my future employer and in accepting my offer. I negotiated a conversion of $50,000 from the sign-on bonus to base salary plus a small portion of equity. For me the most important change is getting equity. I wanted to feel like I was bought in and that my relationship with my future employer means something.

The thing I liked most about my coaching was working together to come up with a clear plan for what I needed to do. We discussed different things we could try to ask for and how we would pursue each of them. Ultimately I had clear steps I could follow. I got a clear understanding of the order in which I should prioritize the components of my offer. I appreciated thoughts on how to talk about my offer with other important people in my life like my wife and my parents.

I really did appreciate the process and have been recommending Josh to friends who may start job searches soon. Aside from the obvious financial gain, negotiating salaries is stressful and it’s easy to leave things on the table. Working with Josh, I was able to put aside any imposter syndrome and lack of confidence and pursue an offer with my best interests in mind.