A postdoc asks—

I just received an offer for an industry job, and the salary is actually a bit higher than I was expecting. I'm happy just accepting the offer as it is, but I've heard you should always negotiate. How much more should I be asking for?

Congratulations on the offer! While I do think it is generally a good idea to try to negotiate at least a little (after all, the realistic worst-case scenario is that they say 'no' and you just accept the original offer), you wouldn't want to risk looking very out of touch by trying to ask for much more if the salary is obviously very generous, or if you already know that they are unable to offer a higher salary (due to the nature of their funding or other budget constraints). However, there are a lot of things you might ask for beyond salary, depending on your individual situation. Here's a quick list of commonly negotiated items to think about—

• Job title
• Start date
• Supplementary payment or reimbursement for relocation costs
• Benefits, including paid time off accrual
• Flexibility in work schedule or location
• Tuition costs or reimbursement (if they have a program)
• Childcare costs or reimbursement (if they have a program)

Of course, none of this is strictly necessary. Personally, I've been happy to accept a job without negotiating for anything additional when the offer was already generous and it met all of my needs.

-David Blancha, Assistant Director, Career Development Team for Researchers