Laid Off? You Still Have Leverage to Negotiate a Job Offer

Laid off and wondering if you still have leverage to negotiate your next job offer? Most people assume their salary negotiation leverage disappears after a layoff, but that’s not how hiring teams actually think.

In this episode, I’ll break down how hiring teams view layoffs, whether you still have leverage in the job offer negotiation process, and how to approach negotiating your next job offer step-by-step. That way you can avoid leaving money on the table in your next role. 

OFFER NEGOTIATION TOOLS MENTIONED

• Total Compensation Calculator: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/total-compensation-calculator
• Total Compensation Research Comparison Tool: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/store/job-offer-total-compensation-research-comparison-tool
• Negotiate Offer After Layoff Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/resource-center/negotiating-a-job-offer-after-a-layoff

OFFER NEGOTIATION RESOURCES

• Offer Negotiation Coaching: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/
• Offer Negotiation Courses: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/courses
• Offer Negotiation Templates: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/salary-negotiation-templates
• Counteroffer Email Example: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/store/counteroffer-examples
• Offer Negotiation Script Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/resource-center/salary-negotiation-script-strategies-for-job-offer-negotiations
• How to Negotiate Job Offer Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/job-offer-negotiation-course
• Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duI2cSA5jak 

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WHO AM I

I'm Brandon, the Founder and Lead Negotiator at The Salary Negotiator®. As a former corporate negotiator, I now help employees increase their compensation. Through hundreds of salary negotiations, I've helped career professionals secure over $200 million in additional compensation. My expertise is backed by more than 150 five-star reviews from career professionals on Google and Trustpilot.

Transcript

Can You Still Negotiate?

Brandon 0:00

If you've recently been laid off or you're worried it might happen, one of the biggest questions you probably have is can you still negotiate your job offer or do you just need to take what you can get? In this episode, Mike goes to show you exactly how to confidently navigate a salary negotiation after a layoff. I'm first gonna break down how hiring teams actually view layoffs so you know exactly why being laid off does not hurt your ability to negotiate. That way you can go into interviews and offers with the right mindset. Then I'm gonna walk you through how negotiation leverage actually works in the hiring process and why you still have strong negotiating power even after a layoff. That way you don't fall into the trap of thinking that the company won't negotiate. And I'm gonna close out the episode by walking through the exact steps you should take to negotiate your job offer after a layoff. That way you know how to approach the process strategically and secure competitive compensation again. So let's get right on into it. Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel. If you're new here, my name is Brandon Bramley and I'm the founder and lead negotiator at the salarynegotiate.com. I provide professional job offer negotiation coaching, salary negotiation courses, and tools to help professionals like you navigate the negotiation process and secure competitive compensation. I'm not just a career coach or recruiter giving out generic advice online. There's already a ton of bad salary negotiation advice out there. Instead, I've actually led hundreds of salary negotiations across various roles, helping my clients secure hundreds of millions more in compensation. My background's in strategic negotiations, and my goal is to debunk some of the bad advice out there and give you proven negotiation strategies that are actually gonna work. So if you're a professional looking to earn competitive pay, subscribe for actual tips. And when you're ready to take your negotiations to the next level with me, visit thesalarynegotier.com for my coaching courses and tools. They're designed to actually help you earn more. Okay, I strongly believe that if you receive a job offer, you should negotiate every time. And layoffs are not gonna change that. They don't reduce your value to the new company and they don't eliminate your leverage. The only thing that changes is your mindset, honestly. And that's the part you need to control. So I don't want you to fear or let urgency push you into accepting less than what you could get. Because with everything going on in the economy, especially in tech, layoffs have been everywhere. Companies are cutting costs, restructuring teams, and making some tough decisions, which have left a lot of people uncertain about job security. But what I consistently see working with clients is that even after a layoff, people are still landing strong offers and negotiating them successfully. Yes, it's gotten harder to get a job, but once you get it, they want you on the team. Okay, so I understand that interviewing after a layoff can feel draining and impact your confidence, but you're not in a weak negotiating position as you might think. So a layoff is not a reflection of your current work performance. It's usually about the company, not you. Companies making these decisions because of cost cutting, shifting priorities, or overhiring during growth periods or broader economic changes, and hiring teams understand this. Okay, so they don't see or view your layoff as a negative signal. That's why they hired you. Instead, many companies see layoffs as an opportunity to actually bring in strong talent that they might not have been able to get before. So keep that in mind. All right. So let's talk about the biggest mistake that I see many people make after a layoff. They start thinking that the company is doing them a favor by giving them an offer. That mindset will immediately hurt your negotiation because it weakens your confidence. The reality is that companies invest a significant amount of time and resources into hiring. Once they decide that you're the right candidate for the role, they don't want to restart that process and go with someone else. Okay, so if you've received the hiring offer, then you have leverage. Even if you are laid off, you have a hiring manager that want you in the role and not someone else. So finding a package that works with you and a company is always more beneficial to them than reopening the candidate search. So don't skip negotiating your compensation package when you get in a new role. So when it comes into how to actually negotiate a job offer after a layoff, this is what I'll walk through the exact steps you should take. Okay, these are the strategies I've used to successfully negotiate hundreds of job offers, including a ton for people that have been laid off and they're not coming from a current company. So I recommend you all follow them to navigate your salary negotiation once you actually have an offer letter in hand. The first step to negotiating is to make sure you fully understand the compensation components and benefits in the offer package. The biggest takeaway from this is that understanding the total compensation and not just the base salary alone. Okay, that way you know exactly how to value the offer and what to negotiate because the total compensation is your total monetary take-home pay, and it's gonna usually include your base salary, bonuses, equity, and a sign-on bonus. So throughout the negotiation, we don't want to just negotiate one piece of that, we want to negotiate all the components up. So keep that in mind. The second step is what I call doing your due diligence and asking strategic questions. This is where you're gonna review the offer and come back with a list of questions for the recruiter. It not only helps you clarify questions you might have about the offer, but it also helps you ask strategic questions that are gonna build negotiation leverage. So you can call out things that might not be as competitive at your current company or what competitors offer. And if you always need ideas, go to my templates page or into my course and get my strategic questions that you should be asked the recruiting team. Third step is doing your compensation research. Okay, you're gonna want to find the base salary and the total compensation ranges for the specific role, location, and level at the new company. You can use various online resources to find this data, but use multiple sources and average across those because what we're trying to do is we're trying to find where your new offer sits on that range or both ranges and how much more we should ask for. Because what you're gonna see is that you're not getting paid at the top end of the pay range. So it doesn't matter if you were laid off, you're gonna want to push towards the top end of those pay ranges to make sure you're getting paid competitively, the same as anyone else that walked into their role. So don't skip this step. It should give you a confidence boost going into these negotiations. The second next step is to draft a counteroffer. All right. This is where we're gonna take a data-based approach and we're gonna include some of the concerns that aren't as competitive that we found in the due diligence questions, all right? And we're gonna email that over to the recruiting team. We're gonna go ahead and push for the top end of the range you asked, and I'm always gonna suggest that you go with email because it prevents the recruiter from shutting you down on the phone and gives them everything they need to advocate on their behalf. So if you need some proven counteroffer drafts, feel free to grab them from my templates page or in my course if needed. Um, that way you are effectively covering this and it'll drive to get you something out the door that's correctly and professionally drafted. Now, the final step after sending a counteroffer is being prepared to handle recruiter pushback. Okay, you're guaranteed gonna get some. They could call out that you're not walking away from a company, so you don't deserve a sign-on bonus, yada yada. All right. They're trained to deter you from negotiating. So what I want you to do is be prepared to overcome these objections. You're essentially gonna want to say, hey, I completely understand where you're coming from, but represent your concerns and ask them to take it back to the team for another look. It might take handling a few objections, but if you can overcome this and you follow these streets, they should come back with a better offer. Now, this is the harder part of the negotiation, so I do have a full list of my objection handling responses on my templates page and in my course for download. So feel free to grab those scripts if you want to know how to handle this if you do encounter recruiter pushback. But from here, look, the recruiter is either going to come back with a better package or maybe a package that's still lower than your ass. And at that point, you can decide, hey, I'm ready to move forward and I'm happy with this, or if you want to send an updated offer. But that's essentially the negotiation process. I know it's pretty quick, but regardless if you're laid off or you still have a role, you should continue to follow that with every new offer you get. At the end of the day, layoffs are tough. There's no way around that. But they do not reduce your ability to negotiate as I talked through. The candidates who take the time to approach this process strategically are the ones that are still gonna walk away with a strong and competitive offer. So if you're in this situation right now, take a step back, reset your mindset, and remember that you still have value, so you still have leverage, okay? And you should still negotiate your salary because you got the job offer and they want you on the team. But I get that it's hard, so if you want help navigating your specific situation, I highly suggest that you don't go into the salary negotiation alone. Head over to the salarynegotiate.com and either work with me directly as your salary negotiation coach or check out my salary negotiation courses and tools. I put all the links in the episode notes below. And look, if you found this episode helpful, make sure you subscribe or leave a comment. And if you know someone who's been laid off, feel free to go ahead and share this advice and this video with them for their career. But I appreciate you tuning in and good luck negotiating your pay packages out there.

Brandon 8:03

 OFFER NEGOTIATION TOOLS MENTIONED • Total Compensation Calculator: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/total-compensation-calculator • Total Compensation Research Comparison Tool: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/store/job-offer-total-compensation-research-comparison-tool • Negotiate Offer After Layoff Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/resource-center/negotiating-a-job-offer-after-a-layoff OFFER NEGOTIATION RESOURCES • Offer Negotiation Coaching: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/ • Offer Negotiation Courses: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/courses • Offer Negotiation Templates: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/salary-negotiation-templates • Counteroffer Email Example: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/store/counteroffer-examples • Offer Negotiation Script Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/resource-center/salary-negotiation-script-strategies-for-job-offer-negotiations • How to Negotiate Job Offer Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/job-offer-negotiation-course • Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duI2cSA5jak