Salary Negotiation:

[onlydarksets]

I agree, but I thought we were talking about salary. If you are talking total compensation, then that's another thing. For my current job, I told them I needed a total comp of $x, and they offered base+bonus that equaled $x. I don't care that my salary was less than $x. It could have been a range, but the total comp needs to be a fixed number.

Even when you count non-monetary compensation (via benefits), there is a dollar or utility assigned to it. Whatever the total value is to you, that should be presented in absolute terms, and then negotiate from there. For example, you need $70k plus 3 weeks vacation, but you would be willing to take less for 4 weeks off. You wouldn't say "I'll take $65k and 3-4 weeks off", because you'll get $65k and 3 weeks in most cases.

I think I'm agreeing with you sort of.