The counter offer, word for word

Three sentences: thanks, a number, a reason

A counter offer is short: thanks, a number, and a reason that's about the role rather than your personal budget. Nervous candidates tend to either over explain, burying the actual ask in five minutes of context, or under ask, dropping the number without any reason attached so it lands as arbitrary. Three sentences, said plainly, outperforms both. Here's what that sounds like in three situations that come up constantly: countering the base number, asking for a sign on bonus when base is fixed, and asking to move the start date.

The base salary counter

Say it close to this, whether on a call or in an email:

"Thank you so much for the offer, I'm genuinely excited about joining the team. Looking at the scope of this role and what I'm seeing for similar positions at this level, I was hoping we could get to $X. Is there flexibility there?"

Notice what it doesn't do. It doesn't apologize for asking. It doesn't explain your rent, your student loans, or your other bills, none of which are the employer's concern and all of which weaken the ask by making it about you rather than the role. It doesn't hedge with a range, which lets the other side anchor to the bottom of it every time, so name one number, your real target, not a padded one you expect to get chipped down from. Build that number the same way you'd build one for a recruiter's early range question, from scope and level rather than a guess, so it's ready long before this conversation happens. If a recruiter asks you to justify it further, the honest answer is almost always some version of "that reflects the scope of what this role owns and what I'd be giving up to take it," and that's a complete answer, not an opening for a longer negotiation about your finances.

The sign-on bonus ask, when base is capped

Salary bands are often genuinely fixed, especially at larger companies where a recruiter has no authority to move the number regardless of how well you ask. When you hear "the base is set by a band and I can't move it," believe them, and pivot instead of pushing on a door that's actually closed:

"I understand the base is set by a band you can't move. Would a sign on bonus be something you're able to add, to help close the gap between the offer and what I was hoping for?"

Sign on bonuses often sit in a completely different budget line than base salary, approved by a different person with different constraints, which is exactly why this question works even right after being told no on the number that mattered to you. The same logic applies to an early compensation review: "Would it be possible to write in a compensation review at six months instead of the standard twelve?" turns a capped number today into a real conversation about a higher one sooner.

The start date ask

Negotiating a start date matters more than most candidates treat it, especially if you're currently employed and want to leave your current role well. Say:

"I'd like to accept, and I want to give my current employer a proper transition so I'm leaving things in good shape. Could we move the start date to [specific date]?"

Naming a specific date, not "a few extra weeks," makes this easy to approve quickly, because there's nothing to go back and think about. Most companies would rather wait an extra two weeks for someone who handles their exit well than rush someone who leaves their last employer burned, because it tells them something about how you'll eventually leave this job too.

When the offer is good except for one thing

Sometimes the number is fine and a single other term is off: the title is a level below what you expected, or the role is listed as a contractor position when you assumed it would be full time. Counter the specific term rather than reopening the whole offer:

"I'm excited about the offer overall, and I wanted to raise one specific thing. Given the scope we discussed, would it be possible to bring the title in line with [target title]? I don't think it changes the comp conversation, just want to flag it before I accept."

Naming the scope of your ask this narrowly, one thing, said once, makes it easy for a recruiter to say yes without having to reopen anything else. It also signals that you've thought carefully about the offer rather than fishing for whatever you can get, which is exactly the impression you want walking into a new job. Bundling five small asks together, on the other hand, turns a quick yes into a longer internal conversation, so if you have more than one, prioritize and lead with the one that matters most.

What to do with the silence after

After you say your number, stop talking. This is the hardest part of the whole script, harder than writing the words themselves, because silence on a call feels like it needs to be filled, and the instinct to fill it usually produces a concession you didn't mean to offer: "...but I'm flexible, obviously," said thirty seconds after you already asked for a specific number, undoes the ask. Say your sentence, then wait. If it's over email, send it and close the laptop. The recruiter needs a moment to think or check with someone internally, and that pause is normal, not a bad sign. This holds whether or not you have a competing offer to point to: the pause after your number is the same either way.

If they say no

Not every counter succeeds, and a flat no on the number doesn't mean the conversation is over, it means you've learned where the real limit is. A reasonable response: "I appreciate you looking into it. Given where things landed, I'd like to accept the offer as it stands," if the rest of the package is genuinely good, or, if it isn't: "I understand, and I need to think about whether this works for me at that number. Can I get back to you by [day]?" Either is a complete, professional close. What doesn't work is asking the same question again a different way in the same conversation, hoping for a different answer. That reads as not having heard the no the first time.

Have this script ready before you're on the phone. The sequence that gets you to this moment, getting the offer in writing and taking real time before responding, matters as much as the words themselves, because a good script delivered in a rushed, reactive moment still sounds rushed and reactive.

iapplyai.app helps you land on the number to ask for in the first place, by reading the offer against the role and your resume, so the sentence above has a real figure behind it instead of a guess.