Articles From the Team

Offer negotiation – the role of a great intermediary

Offer negotiation is a fascinating topic when it comes to recruitment. Negotiation is a key skill in the life of any lawyer. It is employed in our personal lives on a daily basis and can be employed across range of scenarios, from negotiating with family at home or to something on a larger scale such as purchasing a property or negotiating a job offer.

The negotiation of a job offer can be a particularly tricky subject when it comes to in-house legal recruitment. An employer will wish to provide an offer that they feel is fair in the current market, matches a lawyer’s experience and demonstrates how highly they value the individual joining their organisation. However, this often has to be balanced against budget pressures provided internally. Depending on their motivations, a future employee may be looking for an increase on salary from their current role but more often than not, will wish to be paid in line with their value in the market. We are fortunate that the vast majority of the people we assist are reasonable in their expectations.

This balancing act has to be completed in a setting where neither party wishes to upset or offend the other during offer negotiation, in case it upsets what will hopefully be a long-term and positive working relationship. A project we have recently worked on provides an excellent example of this. An organisation we were assisting found a lawyer who they wished to offer the role to and put forward what they thought was an appropriate and competitive offer. The lawyer was extremely excited about the opportunity but wished to have one element of the offer reconsidered slightly.

This is a common occurrence. The individual was apprehensive in highlighting this concern for fear of upsetting the organisation and therefore potentially losing the offer. It is vital to have a middle man in these scenarios (BCL Legal!) that has a strong and open working relationship with both parties. This allowed us to communicate the concern, which the organisation understood and rectified without issue.

I am sure the vast majority of us still remember being recruited for our past or present roles and the importance that this has on how we see the businesses we work for. The importance of having an intermediary who can smooth the way should not be underestimated.

For more information contact Liam Digan at BCL Legal.