Even though I'm happy at my current firm I applied to a new place and was offered the job.
My new title is unlicensed designer 2, though i'll be licensed soon after taking my last exam, hopefully in about a month.
My questions are:
1. does the aia salary survey include bonuses and OT or are they strictly base salary?
2. Should I negotiate towards the rate of an Architect 2 (72k) or a Designer 2 (62k)? there is a difference of about $10,000. Since I'm a Designer 1 at my current firm with a base pay of about 53000 (60 with bonuses and OT) I feel a little intimidated by the possibility of a giant raise. the new firm also offers OT and bonuses but those amounts are hard to quantify
forgot to add, the firm is mostly engineers w/ only a few architects. They offer a $2000 raise with the license, So i'm inclined to ask of 70k, which is a big increase for me
Engineering salaries tend to be higher (I've seen anything up to 100% difference for same level experience) so if one of your prospective employers is an engineering firm proper I would ignore the AIA guidelines altogether and find some engineering industry data. Obviously all salaries are base salary, anyone trying to lure you over with promises based in your OT being paid is basically saying you'll be doing a ton of it. Which you may be fine with if it's paid. I w
orked with someone once who had made themselves dependent on OT (low base pay, high student loans) and that's not a great situation at all. Bonuses except for very senior people are usually entirely discretionary and/or profit related so nothing but your base salary and benefits should go into your principal consideration of a job based on its pay.
I would negotiate towards arch 2 and ignore OT or bonus because they can not be guaranteed.
They’ll likely counter with the following:
1. You are not yet licensed, what if you keep failing your last exam?
Response: You have very good track record with exams and you are highly confident you'll pass. If they still don’t budge, establish (in writing) a process to increase your pay to your desired level once you become licensed.
2. They’ve been consistently giving out bonus
Bonuses are not part of the base salary, they are taxed at a higher percentage as extra income. Insist on higher base pay, and if they don’t budge, establish in writing the approximate expected bonus level that will be satisfactory to you.
3. They pay overtime while other firms don’t, so your overall pay is higher than other firm’s base pay
Response: You are very efficient and you self-manage at a high level. Your pay should reflect how much you accomplish and not how much time you spent or waste in the office.
It also doesn't hurt to have more than one offers. In the future, apply to more places (even ones you are not 100% interested in) if only to get reference numbers to confirm your range.
it's OK to counter (politely) multiple times. I've had the same employer raise their "final" offer multiple times.
Remember, you are still being evaluated during the negotiation process. How you handle yourself during this stage says a lot about how you will handle business for your employer. How aggressively / successfully you negotiate for your own financial interest can be translated to how aggressively / successfully you will negotiate for the firm's financial interest in the future.
I also tend to "judge" the potential employer's character on how they handle negotiations, and have turned down good offers after lengthy negotiations because of the employer's negotiation "techniques". But that's your own judgement call.
salary negotiation question
Even though I'm happy at my current firm I applied to a new place and was offered the job.
My new title is unlicensed designer 2, though i'll be licensed soon after taking my last exam, hopefully in about a month.
My questions are:
1. does the aia salary survey include bonuses and OT or are they strictly base salary?
2. Should I negotiate towards the rate of an Architect 2 (72k) or a Designer 2 (62k)? there is a difference of about $10,000. Since I'm a Designer 1 at my current firm with a base pay of about 53000 (60 with bonuses and OT) I feel a little intimidated by the possibility of a giant raise. the new firm also offers OT and bonuses but those amounts are hard to quantify
Thank you!
forgot to add, the firm is mostly engineers w/ only a few architects. They offer a $2000 raise with the license, So i'm inclined to ask of 70k, which is a big increase for me
im at about the same level with a annual review coming up in a few weeks - let us know how it works out
I would negotiate towards arch 2 and ignore OT or bonus because they can not be guaranteed.
They’ll likely counter with the following:
1. You are not yet licensed, what if you keep failing your last exam?
Response: You have very good track record with exams and you are highly confident you'll pass. If they still don’t budge, establish (in writing) a process to increase your pay to your desired level once you become licensed.
2. They’ve been consistently giving out bonus
Bonuses are not part of the base salary, they are taxed at a higher percentage as extra income. Insist on higher base pay, and if they don’t budge, establish in writing the approximate expected bonus level that will be satisfactory to you.
3. They pay overtime while other firms don’t, so your overall pay is higher than other firm’s base pay
Response: You are very efficient and you self-manage at a high level. Your pay should reflect how much you accomplish and not how much time you spent or waste in the office.
thanks for your help - I'm writing the counter offer now, hopefully will have some good news soon
Good luck!
It also doesn't hurt to have more than one offers. In the future, apply to more places (even ones you are not 100% interested in) if only to get reference numbers to confirm your range.
it's OK to counter (politely) multiple times. I've had the same employer raise their "final" offer multiple times.
Remember, you are still being evaluated during the negotiation process. How you handle yourself during this stage says a lot about how you will handle business for your employer. How aggressively / successfully you negotiate for your own financial interest can be translated to how aggressively / successfully you will negotiate for the firm's financial interest in the future.
I also tend to "judge" the potential employer's character on how they handle negotiations, and have turned down good offers after lengthy negotiations because of the employer's negotiation "techniques". But that's your own judgement call.
got an email this morning that the hiring principal needs to discuss my counter offer w/ the board - I'm taking this as a good sign
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