How-to Guide on Finding a Job After Management Consulting — McKinsey alumni perspective

23 min readJan 30, 2018

Thinking of leaving consulting?

Are you thinking about leaving McKinsey (Bain, BCG, management consulting) and want to land a dream role where your skill sets are valued, your pay is the same or higher, but unsure about where to start? Does it feel like it’s the right time to transition out of the firm, but unsure about truly the best date to ‘declare search/take garden leave’ or the benefits? Are you starting to reach out to companies and struggling to run you interview processes in parallel? Are you unsure which job to take and if you’re getting the best salary possible from your top choice? In this note, I’ll address all of these questions with tactics, templates, and personal examples. I’ll share example bullet points to highlight your consulting project work. I provide a week by week work-plan to maximize your search time. I’ll provide you with offer negotiation points that have obtained 30–100% increases on the negotiated offer

Many sections are also broadly applicable to mid tenure professionals: crafting a workplan, finding a board of directors, identifying strengths, deciding on an offer, and offer negotiation. Enjoy the read then act on the main checklist takeaways in the conclusion

My Motivation: In Nov 2017, I made the transition from a McKinsey Senior Associate to Facebook as a Product Marketing Manager. I was supported by many alumni (my own ‘board of directors’) and this is my way of paying their help forward in an end-to-end guide — from deciding to leave to negotiating/signing an offer — built on top of over 100 conversations

Disclaimer: These views points and advice are from my personal perspective and do not reflect the official policy or views of McKinsey & Company nor any of my current or past employers. Examples provided within this article are only examples. Assertions are not reflective of the position of McKinsey & Company nor any of my current or past employers

Job Search Checklist

This checklist contains all of the action items from the article

✔ Create a weekly workplan (gaunt chart) for your search and share it to increase accountability

✔ Choose a date to go on search, factoring in financial considerations

✔ Find 1–3 people to join your ‘board of directors’ as advisors to your search. Set up regular touchpoints

✔ Complete the ‘Introspection Exercise’ to identify your strengths and interests

✔ Optional — Read ‘In-Transition by HBS’

✔ Optional — Complete ‘Strength Finder 2.0’ evaluation

✔ Refresh your resume leveraging example bullets from other alumni

✔ Create a LinkedIn profile written in long form

✔ Talk with 5–10 recent alumni of your firm with your prepared conversation guide

✔ Develop a target list of companies in Asana/Trello and track your progress via example cards

✔ Create a offer decision matrix, refine fields and weights, and get reactions from mentors

✔ Read ‘Never split the difference by Chris Voss’ then apply four negotiating principles

Sections in this end-to-end guide

I. Declaring search

7 reasons search time will put you at an advantage versus other candidates holding full time jobs
Crafting a week by week ‘workplan’ to maximize search time and forming an accompanying budget
Critical financial choice points (401k, bonus timing) to potentially consider before officially declaring search/garden leave
Getting in the CEO mindset of your Search Time and finding a Board of Directors (e.g. advisors)

II. Explore what’s out there with a strong Professional Profile

How to identify your strengths and what brings you to a ‘state of flow’. Resources and exercises provided
Why and how you can have five 1:1’s per week in your early search with recently exiting McKinsey alumni of similar tenure
Four takeaways to optimize your LinkedIn profile and resume with example McKinsey project bullet points

III. Interviewing

How to develop a prioritized target list of companies and get in contact with referrals
Tools to time your interviews to land offers in parallel

IV. Negotiating and deciding

Three frameworks to drive to a decision between multiple attractive offers
Negotiating tactics to gain 30–100% more in total comp

I. What are the true advantages of search time (aka garden leave)?

Search time at McKinsey is a period when the firm provides full compensation and benefits while employees look for a new job (without any concurrent project work). The number of search time weeks increase with your tenure at the firm. It’s an unparalleled benefit to help alumni of the firm land in great roles

Those who have decided to leave the firm in the next few months often ask whether they should use search time; or wait it out and try to interview while doing project work. My strong recommendation is to take search time. Search gives you a leg up over other interviewees in the market. It allows you to…

Prepare magnitudes more than the average candidate who can prep only during nights and weekends. For example, during my prep for Facebook interviews, I approached the interview like a two week due diligence. For this role I spent ~60 hours of invested time in one week (interviewing experts sourced through Upwork, watching all Facebook’s videos at their recent conference, reading tech strategy blogs on FB vs. Google, and pulling together a 10 page document of responses to anticipated behavioral questions, speaking with 5 Facebook employees for an hour each, etc.). It’s unlikely that a full time employee could prep with the same intensity
Schedule more interviews in parallel, therefore positioning yourself to better evaluate more offers and use them against each other for negotiation. This itself could yield tens of thousands in incremental salary
Access to the McKinsey Alumni database, which has the direct contact information for alumni (e.g. personal/work email, and phone number for all 30,000 alumni)
Push faster to meet the timing of possible accelerated interview timelines. Most hiring managers wanted to make a hire yesterday. By having a quick turn around between rounds and not being the bottleneck, you’ll be able to match the speed that they want to run their process at and show excitement
You’ll avoid interview reschedules; McKinsey is busy and often client requests are scheduled without regard to your scheduled interviews; partners make last-minute requests for pages…
You’ll be fresher and fully present for your interviews
When telling McKinsey Alumni/Recruiters that you’ve ‘declared search’ you’ll signal strong intent. Alumni will be much more likely to go out of their way to help you vs. the alternative (‘exploring leaving the firm’)

I. Create a budget for how long you can fund your search, then craft the appropriate workplan

How long will the search take?

Search time will vary widely from person to person. My search was 4–5 weeks from declaring search to gaining three offers that I was very happy to choose among. For two other peers, it took 5 months and 8 months. Search time is highly dependent on your narrow versus broad recruiting criteria, recruiting season (September and October are the months where the most hires are made while December is a dead month), and interview performance versus other candidates

How long can I fund the search?

Create a budget (yes open excel and put those consulting skills to use) to understand how long you are willing to be on search in total? What is your target timing? What is the longest you could sustain search for?

There’s a chance that you may get an early offer (which was the case for a friend) which seems to meet some of your criteria/aspirations. At that point do you accept? Having a budget laid out will be one data point to understand whether to accept this early offer or decline it because you can wait for a better fit

When figuring out your search budget consider the following factors:

Cash in: Savings, After-tax cash from search time/garden leave, Income from firm bonuses

Cash out: Health care expenses, Rental/homeownership expenses, Information technology expenses, Travel/Interviewing expenses, Monthly office expenses (if you decide to conduct search out of a paid co-working space)

Constraints: The finances and opinions of your significant other, Other potential obligations

Template workplan

With your budget laid out; next create a week by week workplan and hold yourself accountable. It’s important to think holistically about the search as a real job + an opportunity to put work/life back into balance. Here’s an example of the workplan that I achieved week by week:

Week 1

Communicate that you’ve decided to take search (with McKinsey PD department and internal supporters)
Take a vacation, decompress
Start updating resume and LinkedIn
Begin reaching out to recent McKinsey Alumni
Locate an ‘office space’ to work out of

Week 2

Finalize resume and Linkedin with external input
Have 5 exploratory conversations with McKinsey Alumni
Start to supplementing the search process with personal goals (e.g. workout, reading, etc)
Find your board of directors/career coach
Craft behavioral answers

Week 3

Formulate a list of criteria (large companies, south bay area, technology, etc.)
Have 5 exploratory conversations with McKinsey Alumni
Refine a target list of companies
Apply via direct conversations with McKinsey hiring managers/other connections who are hiring, via friend referrals, and lastly by job boards
Socialize your search broadly with your network
Begin a process of self discovery

Week 4–7

Recruiter screens, first/2nd round interviews, on-site interviews; paralleling companies as much as possible
Check in with your board of directors/career coach

Week 8–9

Negotiate offer and sign
Communicate offer internally (e.g. email the regional listserve)

I. Critical financial choice points to consider before declaring search officially

You’ve decided to go on search and with mixed emotions are ready to communicate the decision to HR or your professional development (PD) manager. Before declaring search, consider the following as you choose the exact date:

Bonus pay: Some companies pro-rate your bonus pay no matter when you leave. For example, if you leave in beginning of September and your bonus pay pays out at the end of December then 9/12th of your prod pay in December. The implication here is that you may not have to wait for your bonus to hit to realize your earned share of bonus pay
401k matching: Some companies state that you’ll need to be employed through a certain date in the year in order to get your 401k matching for the year. You should figure out this date, then work backwards to when you want to declare search, or you may be leaving money on the table. For example, say hypothetically that you have 4 weeks of search/garden leave and 2 weeks of PTO, and that the cut off is July 31st, then you should wait until Jun 21st (adding a week buffer to be safe) to declare search
Maximizing your 401k contribution: You may want to hit your contribution max for your company’s 401k for the year ($18,500 in 2018 based on IRS standards) to put away more tax deferred savings before leaving your company. The IRS allows you to contribute $18,500 across all comapnies you worked for that year. For example, say you’re leaving X firm in August and have budgeted up to 5 months until Janurary for your search. In addition you’ve contributed $5,000 to date. Then you may want to increase your contribution % to a high # (say 50–75% of each pay check) to make up for the remaining $13,500
Using PTO and Beach time to extend your search time: Search will likely take longer than you think so staying on the firm payroll longer prior to declaring search is smart. Consider using PTO + productive beach time. Once you declare search come companies ask you to use your PTO before going on search/garden leave. For example, say you have 10 weeks of PTO and 4 weeks fo garden leave, then you’ll have 14 weeks in total time
Ending search usually ends your search time pay: For search/garden leave at most companies, your salary will end at the earlier of either #1) you tell your company that you’ve signed an offer and will join a different company or #2) you run out of search time. You’ll likely be asked to notify the company when you’ve accepted a new position. Remember to plan as well to hand back your IT (e.g. laptop and phone) after your search period ends, whether or not you’ve accepted a new position
Your company may offer part time search which can extend health care benefits: Some companies allow employees to go on part time search to extend the total amount of time of the search. For example, X weeks of search can be converted to 2X weeks at 50% pay. The added benefit here is extended healthcare coverage and you’ll be able to communicate to potential employers that you’re currently employed for a longer window of time. Your company may also cover medical and dental insurance costs for months after leaving as an added benefit
Some companies have a benefit where you can borrow against your 401k: Through some companies, you can borrow up to 50% of your 401k’s value at a low interest rate (usually between 3–5%; around the same price as a low interest home loan). Taking advantage of this might be a good idea if you are pulling together funds for down payment on a new home or have higher interest rate debt outstanding (e.g. auto loan, credit card debt). Once you leave the company typically the repayments on the loan can be transitioned to withdraw from your bank account

I. You are the CEO of your Search Time and need a board of Directors

Search can often feel lonely. You are the CEO of your search and often it’s lonely at the top. You have assets and liabilities (e.g. strengths and weaknesses), you have limited time and budget, and you need to be targeted with your strategy (e.g. target list of companies). You’ll go from running at 100 MPH making pages in the team room with hourly demands to running at 40–60 MPH with accountability only to yourself

This is why every successful CEO needs a trusted board of directors. Finding you’re ‘board of directors’ for your search can help you to:

Maintain your objectivity when deciding what roles/companies to prioritize and which offer to accept
Provide access to a larger network and a constantly updating overview of who is hiring
Give you emotional support and encouragement

Who should be on my board?

For my board of directors, I found two people whom I could be open with and talk with on a regular basis. One was a Senior Engagement Manager who just left McKinsey for a large tech company. Another was a friend out of a top B school who was recruiting for buy side finance. The last one was a Bain engagement manage equivalent, also on search. I would talk with each of them weekly either on the phone and during a regularly scheduled dinner respectively
Find a McKinsey associate/engagement manager currently on search or who recently ended their search; even better is if they are a personal friend who can be counted on to give honest and thoughtful feedback as your sounding board; and if they are available and accessible
It’s ok as well to broaden your board to include friends from other consultancies. I’ve found the further away from McKinsey that they are, the less they will be able to empathize with the consultant lifestyle and skillset, and the less actionable their recommendation will be

Questions to ask your board

Info on companies

Who’s hiring? Who pays well? What were the numbers that they gave you at the offer stage? (which can then be compared to what you could expect given your relevant tenures)
Which companies value the McKinsey skills set?
What are the companies looking for? Do you know someone who could provide a referral to that company?
Are any of these companies on my target list not doing well? Are there any other companies I should add?

Interview process

I’m thinking about these two offers. Given these factors, what other information should I gather, and would you advise me to lean in one direction?
Can we do a quick mock of this upcoming interview?
What do you think of this presentation that I put together for the onsite interview? Do you know anyone in your network with expertise in this content area that can help me to refine it?

Emotional support

Can I tell you how my week has been going? I just need someone to listen

II. Identify what bring you to a ‘state of flow’

Start your introspection with the following exercise from the Professional Transitions Guide which will help you to identify your tactical strengths. Research shows that your happier and more productive working from a position of strengths
Then supplement your introspection with some combination of these books
In Transition: From the Harvard Business School Club of New York’s Career Management Seminar
Strengths Finder 2.0 or StandOut 2.0

Introspection Exercise

For this exercise, you need a quiet moment and space for reflection. The exercise is simple, but spend some time on it. You may want to do it over a period of days, reflecting and remembering as you go.

Step 1: This step asks you to recall and reflect on experiences you have had (whether professionally or personally) where you have felt your best. These are peak experiences where you felt ‘in a zone,’ or as though all cylinders were firing. If the experience is a workplace experience, your energy and enthusiasm for the work overcame any sense of tedium. It didn’t feel like ‘work!’ In the far left column of a piece of paper, turned to ‘landscape, titled “Peak Experiences,” capture a brief description of each experience. Iterate and reflect on this over a period of time, returning to it as you remember new ‘peak experiences’.
Step 2: In the next column, record any relevant contextual details, e.g., a supportive mentor, a lot of humor, a topic you were keenly interested in.
Step 3: In the final two columns, capture: 1) what strength, skill or expertise you believe this experience leveraged; and 2) what passion, interest or value this experience showcased for you.
Step 4: Finally, review the strengths and passions and interests. Do they feel right? Do they resonate with what you know about yourself already. How do they connect with your experience at McKinsey and previous professional experiences?
Then at the end of the exercise reflect on the following: What do the list of ‘peak experiences’ say to me? Is there something in there that will be an important factor as I look at new opportunities?
What are my strengths? How can I leverage those in new opportunities?
Is there anything this exercise tells me that I should manage differently, given a new opportunity?

After completing this activity, I synthesized my strengths and interests into 1) writing my own ideal job description and 2) screening criteria for new jobs

II. Optimize your LinkedIn profile and Resume

There’s much general advice on these topics so here are my differentiated and targeted tips:

You can allow your resume to run on to page #2. Some this may be obvious, but typically if you’re an associate or more senior, you’ve had enough experience to warrant running onto a second page. Don’t feel obligated to fill out the entire 2nd page
See below for an example of how I phrased my recent McKinsey experience
LinkedIn is great for communicating your experience in long-form writing (e.g. paragraphs) so take advantage of this to make each of your experiences into a story (as opposed to a copy and paste of your resume bullets. See my profile as an example. From my experience hiring 30+ people and as an interviewee, I’ve found that 50% of the time interviewers will browse through a LinkedIn before an interview
Change your Linkedin Status to: “Let recruiters know that you’re open”

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/career-interests/

Example McKinsey Project Experience resume Bullets (personal example)

Go-To-Market Sales Transformation for Multinational Enterprise Tech Organization

Created plan and drove implementation to achieve $115m/yr in savings through decentralization and reorganization of corporate sales organization. Facilitated cross-function decision making among four SVPs, CEO, COO, Head of Sales, finance, and HR in an environment with competing stakeholders
Shifted frontline sales footprint and account coverage globally by implementing Retain-Acquire-Develop (RAD) segmentation model for all 5,000 enterprise accounts without affecting sales headcount costs. Modeling required manipulation of large datasets of employee, customer, and revenue information
Reduced direct corporate sales presence from 115 countries to only 50; franchising and exiting from the remainder. Simplifying geographic structure and reducing regional overhead lead to $150m/yr in savings

IoT New Product Launch Business Plan for Industrial Tools Manufacturer

Developed 2017–2018 business plan for a IoT HW/SW solution for construction sites; components of the business plan included refining product roadmap, evaluating distributor versus direct economics, value based pricing model, role-by-role HC hiring plan, and an investment plan for scaling with milestones
Modeled 5yr complete P&L for business under various GTM and pricing scenarios
Obtained $4m in further executive funding for technical and sales hires plus assisted in obtaining first major paid pilot

Customer Care Transformation to Omni-Channel Digital Communications for Top US Telco

Drove kick off, MVP, and phase 1 implementation of outbound calling initiative to handle 430k calls per month ($7m/yr in savings) to position client to be a leader when compared across industries
Coached client program managers to run series technical workshops to implement omnichannel customer support into the organization with full support from IT, customer care, workforce planning, and VP level decision makers
Instrumental in reducing customer support calls from 4.5m to 2.5m/mo and $321m/yr in recurring cost savings

Commercial Launch and Market Entry Strategy for Immunology Biotech Drug

Prototyped, tested, and launched with a team of web developers McKinsey’s first adaptive physician survey (N = 200) to simulate physician prescribing habits through 120+ possible combinations
Invented a new “patient flow” methodology to forecast drug shares accounting for 75 combinations of future scenarios. The methodology and survey results were combined in a robust excel model and access database to influence drug trail investments in the tens of millions

II. Set up 1:1’s with McKinsey alumni who recently left

There’s a common misconception that current Partners and Senior Partners have broad strong connections within the industry and that asking them for favors will provide warm leads to job opportunities. This is usually not the case (as proven by my experience and that of others); partners typically have strong connections with their current clients but have less contacts in the broader industry. In contrast alumni are more likely to be well connected because exposure to others in their sector e.g. industry conferences.

Highest value way to spend early search time

Talking with McKinsey alumni of similar or one level higher tenure is the highest value way to spend your early search time. These 30 min phone calls are likely to benefit you in these compelling ways:

Often ex McKinsey EMs are hiring for their own teams and these conversations can help you skip multiple weeks of recruiting process/steps. McKinsey alumni will often kill to hire more McKinsey talent for their teams because they understand your skillset deeply and you’ll integrate will into their teams. For me, three conversations that I had with McKinsey alumni served as both informational calls and hiring manager interviews which lead directly to final round interviews (skipping the resume screen, recruiter interview, hiring manager screen, and formal hiring manager interview). Lesson though is to come prepared, even if the call is with a former McKinsey acquaintance

Are you hiring on your team?
What are you looking for in your next hire?

Get connected to colleagues in their company that are hiring today, and friends in their network that may be hiring

What are other divisions that are rapidly growing? Do you know anyone who’s hiring?
What are the divisions to avoid/shrinking/poor leadership?

Pressure test your search time workplan

What we’re your biggest learnings from search? (please share any learnings in the comments!)
What were your criteria for search? How long did it take?

Get their thoughts on your target company list

Are there companies that I’m missing? Who else should I consider?
Are there companies that I should avoid?
Do you know folks who are hiring at these companies?

Get a referral into the general company (which people are happy to do because they often get a 1k-5k bonus if you are hired)

Can you submit me as a referral to the company? I’ve found this position that’s a fit for my interests

Figuring out whom to contact

Set a target of how many alumni you want to talk with, more truly is better. In my first two weeks of search, my target was to talk to 5 people per week. Here are four ways to find contacts

A) Look through LinkedIn using search criteria to find your first degree connections who had McKinsey (or other consultancies) as a past company

Right hand column shows how to sort for 1st degree connections that were previous alumns

B) Look through Facebook contacts for people in your geographic area who worked at your company

C) Think about all of the people who worked on previous CST (client service teams). Which of them have already left the firm? (e.g. their exit email is in your inbox)

D) Take your target list of companies and search for people at those companies in your company’s alumni database. From this you’ll be able to get a list of names and more importantly their personal/work contact information.

Typical alumni database search functionality can filter by Company in “Only primary (current) role”

For which alumni will typically leave updated contact information

Example outreach email

I’ve found that a cold outreach email to McKinsey alumni will yield a ~ a 50% response rate.

“Hey [McKinsey alumni name],

How have you been? It’s been a few years since our project together in the [High Tech] world with [Jason Anderson].

Would love to get your thoughts on [X comapny] and product marketing manager roles. I’m on search currently — leaving McKinsey as a Senior Associate out of SF — and I thought this role at [X company] looks interesting! [insert link to role]

I’m free at the following times, but if you need more options then find my calendar on calendly.com/xxxx and I’m happy to connect during any time you select there as well.

Tuesday — 2pm-5pm, after 6pm
Wednesday — after 1pm

Greatly excited to catch up!

Cheers,
[candidates name]”

[Resume attached]

III. Developing your ‘target companies’ list

Develop your list of ‘target companies’ which you want to join, bucketed by priority level. This list can be continuously refined based on conversations with Alumni, your board of directors, the openings available, interview experiences

If you’re looking for a higher salary and higher success rate to land an offer, then look for companies and pockets within a company where McKinsey (your company’s) Alumni reside. McKinsey Alumni will value your skill set more and therefore will pay 10–30+% more than companies who don’t have ex-consultants. For companies that don’t value McKinsey’s skill set (e.g. tech startups), you’ll need to educate them on the value of the McKinsey skill set and explain the non-traditional role that management consulting is — which puts a further burden on you the candidate

Many McKinsey clients are also excited to hire McKinsey talent because a one for one replacement with a consultant will often save 70% on an hourly basis. For example in my case, Facebook, Google, Lyft, and Walmart labs were known to be places with many McKinsey alumni

Idea generators for ‘Target Companies’

High-quality ideas

Look at LinkedIn/Alumni boards. Which companies are popular with Alumni?
Who do I know who may be hiring from my professional networks? Who could refer me into their company?
Ask everyone you speak with if they know someone who’s looking for talent

Broader ideas

Glassdoor best places to work
Wealthfront list of career starting companies
Fortune 500 companies
Job boards: LinkedIn, Indeed
Attend meet up groups/conferences
Inbound messages from LinkedIn

My example target list

Considerations

Play to strengths and knowledge area
Co-locate with my significant other in the bay area
Play to strengths
Passions for products

Target areas

B2B or B2C — still narrowing down consideration. Bias toward B2C thinking back to projects that I’ve enjoyed and companies that I liked serving but I also like the corporate thinking at the B2B level
Areas that value the consulting skill set, structuring complex cross functional problems, affect the entire business or the GBU, require gathering of complex data sets — to tell a story look for roles that

List of companies

Top companies

Facebook — opportunity in product marketing manager
MapR — Chief of staff role

Target companies

Cisco — Strategy role
Google — Cloud? Follow up with x?
Genesys — Business operations role associate

Other companies for practice

Roofstock? — unsure about fit in org
Blend? — research more
Solar industry — Mosaic, Sun Run; talk to x
Lyft — ask x for a recommendation
Financial services companies — ask x for perspective here
Charles Schwab
Fisher Investments
Franklin Templeton
Tripping.com — x would have a perspective here
Genesys
Intuit
Medallia

III. Track your interview pipeline then time offers to land in the same window

Landing offers to come in the same timeframe can be advantageous. It will allow you to make a fully informed decision between companies — often only after you receive an offer do you have the time and access to fully flesh out how the company stacks versus criteria. Secondarily, multiple offers will allow you to negotiate salary up effectively (which can lead to 20–100% increase in all in comp based; more on this later)

Recruiting in many ways is like a sales pipeline or marketing funnel. One way to track your progress is to use a free online tool such as Asana and Trello where each company + position can be it’s own card. Cards can be dragged between columns, in this case from right to left, from applied to, to interviewing, to offer/declined status

Asana example

VI. Deciding between offers with a decision matrix

At this point your in a good place. You have three offers, but two have risen to the top. Which one to choose? There are three frameworks that I recommend using. Then gather information to fill in the blanks; and circulate this sheet widely before jumping on calls with your board of directors/trusted friends:

Pros and cons framework

2. Decision matrix

3. Decision matrix with scoring — high mid low scoring on each criteria, weightings for criteria, and a total score based on criteria score and weights

VI. Negotiating up your pay package

Read Chapter 7 of “Never split the difference” Chris Voss, a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI. Then read the whole book if you have the time. I’ve applied the book personally, and seen principles obtain a 30–100% increase in salary amongst friends on their total comp package. Here are my favorite points ordered from most impactful at the top:

Excerpts From: Chris Voss. “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.”

Use broad aggressive ranges: “When confronted with naming your terms or price, counter by recalling a similar deal which establishes your “ballpark,” albeit the best possible ballpark you wish to be in. Instead of saying, “I’m worth $110,000,” Jerry might have said, “At top places like X Corp., people in this job get between $130,000 and $170,000. That gets your point across without moving the other party into a defensive position. And it gets him thinking at higher levels. Research shows that people who hear extreme anchors unconsciously adjust their expectations in the direction of the opening number. Many even go directly to their price limit. If Jerry had given this range, the firm probably would have offered $130,000 because it looked so cheap next to $170,000.”
Talk about non salary terms: “Pleasant persistence is a kind of emotional anchoring that creates empathy with the boss and builds the right psychological environment for constructive discussion. And the more you talk about non-salary terms, the more likely you are to hear the full range of their options. If they can’t meet your non-salary requests, they may even counter with more money”
When you talk numbers, use odd ones: “The biggest thing to remember is that numbers that end in 0 inevitably feel like temporary placeholders, guesstimates that you can easily be negotiated off of. But anything you throw out that sounds less rounded — say, $37,263 — feels like a figure that you came to as a result of thoughtful calculation…in terms of negotiation, some numbers appear more immovable than others.”
In summary….“You can bend your counterpart’s reality by anchoring his starting point. Before you make an offer, emotionally anchor them by saying how bad it will be. When you get to numbers, set an extreme anchor to make your “real” offer seem reasonable, or use a range to seem less aggressive. The real value of anything depends on what vantage point you’re looking at it from.”

Adding to these points I’ve found that by doing a bit of digging, it’s possible to find out salary information for people of the same tenure at most of the major companies by asking your network. Your current salary (with a 401k contribution, signing bonus, moving bonus and all other perks included) can also serve as a great starting point negotiation — ranged of course.

But sometimes these figures can be restrictive to your internal thinking on what the final offer could look like. Just because someone of x tenure got y for their offer at the same company in the same role does not mean you can’t get x + $30k if you apply the ‘Never Split the Difference’ strategy