Been offered a new job but the salary is a little low. Do I tell them what I expect or do I give them a higher number and then hope to come to agreement on the number I want?
Being retired military, I already have good health coverage, so don't need theirs and that would be a great savings for them.
What's the market value for the position?
Low compared to what?
The salary you can ask for is a function of what the position can reasonably be expected to pay. You should be able to find what others are paying (there a number of sites out there; the quality of the data varies. You can ask folks in your network.)
Lots of jobs are paying below what they did 24 months ago.
And since you've got some key things covered, you should consider your rock-bottom number (ie, can't pay the bills without at least that much salary) as well as the upside potential of the job. Would you have lots of growth in the future, or is it limited?
If you give them a number, then what happens if they don't give it to you? Do you walk away? Or accept a lower number anyway? If you then accept the lower number, what would that imply? This is a very tricky "negotiation", and you should think through the ways it could play out to the end.
Once you give them a different number, you've drawn a line in the sand.
The health benefits are tricky, as they may not be able to consider that even if it makes sense to do so.
Finally, do you have the MT interview series? There is an excellent podcast on handling just this scenario.
John Hack
Sorry this is so delayed.
I can't give precise guidance without understanding the role and the location and the salary offered.
That said, I generally don't recommend you negotiate, because of course one never negotiates salary (what would you offer in return? harder work?) ;-)
If you do good work, your salary will come up appropriately.
And benefits are simply NOT part of the equation. Companies don't think that way when it comes to offers. They don't say, hey, he costs us less here, we can give him more there. The budgets are different, and insurance is even more complicated than that. Further, your provider will be different than theirs, which could create time conflicts.
Mark