🎯 Your situation
These are genuinely different letters, not tone settings. Pick the one that matches what is actually happening.
👤 You
✉️ Who it goes to
✍️ The detail
One number, not a range. Ranges get read as their bottom end.
Scope, specific experience, a competing offer or your current package. Something they can verify or at least recognise.
Only mention one that exists. This is checked more often than people expect, and being caught ends the conversation.
Written to follow “I would be glad to look at …”. Useful when the band is genuinely fixed.
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Salary Negotiation Email Generator
A counter-offer email has one structural job: to raise a number without making the employer feel the deal is at risk. Almost everything that goes wrong here is tonal. Reaffirm that you want the job, ask once, clearly, with a reason attached, and make it obvious that a no still ends with you accepting — if that is true. If it is not true, that changes the letter, and you need to be honest with yourself about which situation you are in before you write.
Anchor on something outside your own preferences. The strongest reasons are concrete: the scope of the role as it was described to you, a specific piece of experience you bring that the posting emphasised, another live offer, or what you are currently paid. Avoid asserting market figures you cannot substantiate — a number you cannot back up is easy to dismiss, and being caught inflating one costs you more than the raise was worth.
In most private-sector hiring, a polite, single counter-offer is expected and is very unlikely to cost you the job. That is not a guarantee, and the picture changes with the employer, the country, the seniority of the role and how the offer was framed. Some public-sector and collectively bargained roles genuinely cannot move base pay at all. If your right to work depends on a sponsored offer, or the offer letter sets a firm deadline, weigh that carefully before pushing — and take proper advice rather than relying on general guidance if the stakes are high. Nothing on this page is legal or financial advice, and this site does not publish salary benchmarks; use figures you can actually substantiate.
What the letter needs to contain
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1
Warmth first
Open by confirming you want the job. The employer’s first question on seeing a counter is whether they are about to lose you; answer it before you ask for anything.
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2
One number, stated plainly
A single figure, not a range and not a hint. Ranges are read at their lower end, and hints get answered with the original offer.
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3
A reason that is not about you
Scope, specific experience, a real competing offer, or your current package. “I need more” is a fact about your life, not a reason for their budget.
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4
Flexibility, if you have any
Naming what else you would value gives them a way to say yes when base pay is locked, which is more often than candidates assume.
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5
A close that keeps the offer alive
Make it unambiguous what happens if they say no. Leaving that implied is what turns a negotiation into a standoff.
What goes wrong
- Bluffing a competing offer
Employers do ask about it, sometimes in detail, and occasionally they call the bluff by wishing you well. The upside is a few percent; the downside is the whole offer.
- Negotiating before you have the offer in writing
Get the written offer first. Countering a verbal number can leave you arguing about what was actually said.
- Giving a range
You will be offered the bottom of it. If you would be happy at the bottom, that was your number.
- Justifying with personal need
Rent, a mortgage, a new baby. These are real and they are not arguments an employer can act on. Anchor on the role and on what you bring to it.
- Asking for everything at once
A list of six requests reads as a renegotiation of the whole offer. Lead with the one that matters most, and mention flexibility on the rest.
- Reopening it after you accept
Once you have accepted in writing, the negotiation is over. Going back changes how you are seen before you have started.
Worked example — countering on scope, no competing offer
The situation. Sam Achebe has an offer for a demand generation role. During the interviews the job grew: it now includes owning the paid budget and managing two people, neither of which was in the posting. He has no other offer and he intends to take the job either way. The letter has to raise the number without hinting otherwise.
Dear Louise Tran,
Thank you for the offer — I am genuinely pleased, and Northwind SaaS is where I want to be. I would like to talk about the base salary before I sign.
You have offered £62,000. Would you be able to move to £70,000?
The role as we ended up discussing it is broader than the posting. It now includes owning the paid budget outright and line-managing two people, and both of those came up after I applied. £70,000 reflects that shape of the job rather than the one advertised.
I have run the attribution rebuild this role depends on before, end to end, and it took me two quarters rather than the year it usually takes teams doing it for the first time.
I want to be straightforward: I am not shopping this around, and I am not asking you to bid against anyone. If £70,000 is not possible I would like to understand what is, and I would still very much like to join.
Why it works
- The first line says he wants the job. Everything after it is read in that light.
- One number. No range, no hedging, no “somewhere in the region of”.
- The reason is a fact about the role that Louise was present for and cannot dispute, which is much stronger than an appeal to market rates.
- The last paragraph explicitly kills the fear that he is shopping the offer, and says he will join regardless. That is true for Sam — if it were not, this would be the wrong variant.
- No salary benchmark is cited, because he does not have one he could substantiate.
This is the “Straight counter-offer” option above, rendered through the same builder. Press Load the worked example to open it in the editor and edit it into your own.
Salary Negotiation Letter Questions
Should I negotiate by email or on a call?
Email is easier to get right, because you can choose your words and it creates a record of exactly what was asked. A call is better if the relationship is already warm and you want a conversation rather than an exchange. A common compromise is to raise it in writing and offer to discuss it live.
How much should I ask for above the offer?
There is no universal percentage, and any site that gives you one is guessing about your role, level, country and employer. Work from something concrete instead: the scope you were told the job has, what you are currently paid, or a real competing offer. Ask for a number you can explain in one sentence.
Can an employer withdraw an offer because I negotiated?
It is uncommon in ordinary private-sector hiring, but it is possible, and it is more likely if the ask is aggressive, repeated, or paired with an ultimatum you cannot back. Ask once, politely, and make clear the offer still stands as far as you are concerned.
What if they say the salary is fixed?
Believe them, and move to the rest of the package: start date, annual leave, an earlier review, title, remote or hybrid pattern, training budget, or a signing amount where that exists. Banded employers often have room in these even when base pay is genuinely locked.
Should I tell them my current salary?
Where the law permits the question, disclosing a low current salary tends to anchor the offer downward. Some places restrict or ban salary-history questions entirely. If you would rather not say, redirecting to your expectations for the role is a normal and usually accepted answer.
When should I not negotiate?
When you have already accepted, when the employer has explicitly made a final offer and you are willing to take it, or when you have no intention of declining and you have already asked once. A second ask after a clear no rarely gains anything.
Other Letters You May Need
All free, all with the same live preview and download.
Accept properly: restate the terms you are accepting, and settle the start date before it becomes an argument.
🙏 Declining a Job OfferTurn one down without burning the bridge — three honest versions for the three reasons people actually decline.
🚪 Resignation LetterGive notice properly: five situations from full notice to immediate, with the contract questions you should settle in writing.
🤝 Reference RequestAsk a former manager, a professor or a colleague for a reference in a way that is easy to say yes to — and easy to decline.
📨 Interview Thank-You EmailFollow up while the decision is still open: same-day notes, final-round follow-ups, and the rejection reply that keeps the door open.
🖋️ Recommendation LetterWriting one for someone else: how to make it specific enough to be worth reading, and what not to put in writing.
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