Microsoft Software Engineer

So now you've got the compensation data, are you ready to negotiate? Not quite.

First off, comp data is constantly changing. Early 2022 numbers are already coming in higher than the 2021 numbers listed above (though Microsoft's increases have been smaller than other tech companies), and it’s critical to know the full range for each component to optimize your negotiation. But even more than that, many people think knowing the compensation data is the most important part of a negotiation, but it’s not. This is particularly true at Microsoft which is known for paying below market and rarely gives top of band offers. You can go tell your Microsoft recruiter that $X is top of band and that you want that number, but in 90% of cases that won’t work. So what will?

Companies negotiate when they believe you won’t accept their offer. But, since you just finished a long and arduous interview process with them, they know you are likely to accept the job unless you have higher competing offers from other great companies.

This means you need to create leverage and make it believable that you are considering other options but would prefer Microsoft if the compensation is comparable. This sounds easy but quickly becomes challenging if you don’t have other offers or if your other offers aren’t higher than the top of band comp numbers you are targeting.

Even if you are in a perfect situation where you have a competing offer with comp just slightly higher than the top of band numbers you are targeting, the negotiation can still get complicated. Microsoft will often inflate numbers using stretched performance bonus and stock refresher targets, and therefore claim they have matched the competing offer. Or, they may simply say they are unable to match your specific competing offer. We've tried a wide range of tactics to handle these objections and depending on your specific situation the success rate can vary from 30-80%. It's critical to choose the right approach. There are dozens of rules at Microsoft that can completely de-rail a negotiation. Think of the system like a black box where a series of inputs can be reliably turned into a specific output, but you need to know how to perfectly setup the inputs