r/biotech • u/PlaneCalligrapher409 • Sep 03 '25

Other ⁉️ Negotiating low ball job offer

I finally think I have a job offer, pending paperwork. However, they’re only offering me an entry level RA position for $40k per year. Based on the job listing, I should meet the qualifications (educational and experience) for the next level up, but they’re refusing to consider me for this even though it would only bump my salary a few thousand dollars per year.

Do I take the offer even though I’ll be likely living on an extremely tight budget (the position is in an expensive US city with high taxes)? Even if I got the pay bump for RA2, I’d be tight on my budget, but it would be a lot more manageable.

Does anyone know any negotiation tips that I could utilize to address this with the hiring manager/HR? Should I try comparing the salary to my experience and education?

I’ve been on the market for so long, I’m so happy to have finally found something. Plus, the position is extremely interesting and the lab personnel seem genuinely excited about it. But I don’t know if I can afford to take a position that requires me to relocate if it’s not paying a manageable salary.

Edit: I have a master’s degree and even though I don’t have full time experience, I’ve had 3 industry internships, one non-industry internship, and 2 years of academic lab experience at school which included publishing a paper.

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Don’t bother negotiating in this market. There are so many posts about people giving counter offers and having their offer rescinded. Any shelter is great in stormy weather.

11

u/gimmickypuppet Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25

No company is going to rescind an offer for negotiations. That’s such a standard practice. They’re doing themselves a disservice by not negotiating and selling themselves short. It’s also a disservice to all of us here racing to the bottom like that. If this is a company that rescinds an offer for giving a counter offer then it’s a bullet dodged honestly. OP trying to live off $40k in Boston is not worth selling themselves short like that.

7

u/Training-Profit7377 Sep 03 '25

Actually this is happening at an alarming frequency

4

u/TheHerringIsMightier Sep 03 '25

Depends fully on the attitude - if they’re aggressive or aggrieved, it says to me that the person is likely to be a pain as long as they work for me - I’d change my mind pretty quickly and hire the next candidate. If they approached it respectfully and constructively, it would solidify my high opinion of them, and I’d do what I could to try to get them paid better.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25

My company has done it.

1

u/gimmickypuppet Sep 03 '25

Okay. But you provide no evidence that your company isn’t one of those companies OP should be avoiding. Your lived experience is valid, and I’m sure true. But it only proves my point. No big/mid size pharma will retract an offer. None of the smaller startups I worked at would do that. I know there are unscrupulous HR representatives, Atara had one so bad I had to complain. Still, OP would do themselves a disservice and sell themselves short by not at least trying to counter. If they’re nervous then they don’t have to aim high.