Ten Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer

Overview
This blog post by Haseeb Qureshi shares ten concrete rules for negotiating job offers, drawing from his personal experience landing a role at Airbnb. It challenges vague negotiation advice and provides a clear, actionable framework for engineers and technical leaders.

Key Takeaways

• Negotiation is a learnable skill, not an innate talent.
• Be aware of social and power dynamics but negotiate aggressively.
• Avoid generic advice; focus on concrete steps and preparation.
• Recognize that negotiation benefits the individual and can be a collective action problem.
• Treat negotiation as a systematic process rather than a mysterious art.

Who Would Benefit

• Software engineers preparing to receive job offers.
• Technical leaders and engineering managers coaching their teams.
• Career coaches and mentors in the tech industry.
• Anyone looking to improve their compensation negotiation tactics.

Frameworks and Methodologies

• Break down negotiation into conceptual phases (preparation, value articulation, counter-offers).
• Apply a systematic, step-by-step approach rather than ad-hoc tactics.