The Negotiation Coach
The words for the call almost nobody rehearses: what to say on the phone, the email to send afterwards, and what to ask for instead if the salary genuinely will not move.
How this actually goes
- Ask, then stop talking. The silence after the number is the whole technique. Let them answer first.
- Never bluff about an offer you do not have. It gets called more often than people think, and costs you the one you have.
- They expect you to ask. A polite, reasoned ask is normal, even though in Seek's 2026 survey, 46% of New Zealand workers had never asked for a pay rise.
- If the base will not move, move something else. An extra week of leave is roughly 2% of your salary, and usually sits with the hiring manager, not finance.
- Get it in writing before you resign. A verbal "we will review it in six months" is worth what it costs to say.
"Thank you, I am really pleased, and I want to say yes."
"Before I do, can we talk about the base? You have offered $128,000, and I was hoping for $135,000."
"The role was advertised up to $135,000, and I can take over the reporting from my first week."
"Is there room to get there?"
Then stop talking, and let them answer first.
Kia ora,
Thank you again for the offer for the Senior Business Analyst role. I am keen, and I would like to accept. As we discussed, I am asking for $135,000 on the base. Everything else in the offer works for me.
Ngā mihi,
Sam
Ask for one of these instead, one rather than all of them:
- An extra week of leave, worth roughly 2% of the salary
- A pay review at six months, in writing
- A training budget, or a professional membership paid for
Written for you just now. Read it before you send it: it is a draft, not a signature.
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The Negotiation Coach is part of On the Move. AI drafts come with a paid plan; on the free plan there is no AI, and the tracker's follow-ups, thank-you notes, referee requests and "why this role" drafts are written from our templates. Sign in first, so your offers and your plan follow you between devices.
The Negotiation Coach is part of On the Move
It writes from your actual offer and what you want, so the script has real numbers in it rather than advice. Paid plans keep jobtracker.co.nz free for people between jobs.
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The offer
If the ad showed a range and the offer is below the midpoint, that is the single strongest thing you can point at.
Your position
Only put something here if it is true. You will never be asked to bluff, and a bluff that gets called costs you the offer you have.
A fixed salary band is often genuinely fixed. These usually are not, and they sit with the manager rather than with finance.
Your script
The long version, from finding the range before anyone asks to the offer itself: Salary negotiation in New Zealand.
Written with AI, from the numbers you gave it. It does not know what the employer can afford and will not pretend to. Check the whole package after tax with the Offer Comparer.