Metadata
Title
Evaluating Offers & Negotiating Salary
Category
general
UUID
f1043254a74a423f9ba2fc1e956050c0
Source URL
https://career.gatech.edu/salary-negotiation/
Parent URL
https://career.gatech.edu/category/career-education-table-of-contents/
Crawl Time
2026-03-18T05:15:45+00:00
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Evaluating Offers & Negotiating Salary

Source: https://career.gatech.edu/salary-negotiation/ Parent: https://career.gatech.edu/category/career-education-table-of-contents/

Congratulations, you’ve received an offer! There are many factors to consider when deciding whether or not to accept an offer. Review these sections so you can make an informed decision.

Evaluating Offers

There are a few different areas you should think through when it comes to any offer you receive, whether you are evaluating and choosing between multiple options or deciding if the one you’ve received is the right fit. 

The basics:

  1. Make sure you understand the offer you have, and ask any clarifying questions of the recruiter.
  2. Gather related information (notes from interviews, job description, offer letter).

Evaluate your fit based on several different areas: 

  1. The Job 
  2. How will your work here make a difference?
  3. What about this job will hold your attention?
  4. What will this job lead to in terms of future opportunities?
  5. The Company 
  6. How is it competitive?
  7. How is it responsive or responsible?
  8. Does the organization’s mission, vision, products, and/or services resonate with you?
  9. Growth Potential 
  10. How will you be challenged?
  11. What skills will you gain?
  12. How will you be evaluated?
  13. What impact will your work have?
  14. The People 
  15. What were your observations of your potential coworkers?
  16. Did you feel a connection with those you met in the interview?
  17. Where might you find a mentor?
  18. How do you anticipate you will be treated on the job?
  19. The Nuts and Bolts
  20. Is the salary competitive? (Do your research)
  21. Is the cost of living where the job is located affordable on this salary?
  22. Is the location a good fit for your preferences?
  23. What benefits are offered, and do they meet expected standards? What extra benefits might be on the table?

If you still don’t have clarity (and haven’t been given an opportunity to do so yet) ask your HR rep or recruiter if you can be connected with someone who has been working in the role you’ve been offered for 1-3 years. More than likely, they will be happy to oblige, and you can get a first-hand perspective about their experience in the role. 

Once you’ve gone through all these steps – at some point you’ll hit a point where you have to choose. Often, this may be without complete information on potential alternatives. Keep in mind that your first job or jobs may not be your ultimate “dream” job, but there are many paths to success and to landing the role you’ve envisioned for yourself down the road. Think about what you can learn, how the role is a good fit, and how you can grow into and ultimately build on the experience.

Job Offer Guidelines For Students & Employers

The Career Center recognizes that accepting a job offer is an exciting yet complex decision for students. At the same time, we acknowledge the significant investment employers make in the recruiting process, including time, travel, and hiring costs, and the importance of students honoring offers they accept. 

To support fair and positive recruiting practices, the Career Center has established the following Student and Employer Job Offer Guidelines, which are designed to balance the needs and expectations of both students and employers.  

Please note these are recommended guidelines, not policies. Students: review the “Managing Deadlines & Requesting Extensions” tab for additional tips.

Offer Guidelines for Students

Georgia Tech expects students and employers to honor commitments made during the recruiting process – specifically related to offers of employment for full-time or co-op/internships. To “renege” is the practice of accepting an offer and later declining it after acceptance.  If you renege on an offer you have accepted, the consequences may include: 

In addition, collecting job offers until you decide which one is the best for you takes away opportunities from your Georgia Tech peers who are trying to secure employment. 

If you have accepted an offer, communicate professionally with your other employers/recruiters to let them know you have accepted another offer. Any student who is considering reneging on a job offer is strongly encouraged to meet with a Career Center advisor by setting up an appointment or attending drop-in hoursto review options. 

When employers report a renege to the Career Center, we will follow up to better understand the circumstances that led up to the renege. There may be reasonable circumstances that could result in either students and/or employers altering their commitments.  

Should a renege occur, students should demonstrate appropriate professional behavior by: 

If dishonesty is involved, the behavior may be a violation of the Georgia Tech Honor Code and could be subject to additional penalties.  

Recommended Job Offer Timelines for Employers 

While students may accept offers before the listed offer timelines below, they should not be obligated to respond sooner. The Career Center provides employers with the following job offer best practices, as we find they work in the best interest of both students and employers.  
Summer conversion offers* Fall offers** Spring offers***
Timing of student decision October 16 October 16  OR 3 weeks  whichever is longer February 15  OR 2 weeks  whichever is longer

* Summer conversion offers are full-time offers made to an intern or co-op student for an opportunity beginning after graduation. 

** Fall offers refer to full-time, internship, or co-op offers made to students during the Fall recruiting season. 

*** Spring offers refer to full-time, internship, or co-op offers made to students during the Fall recruiting season. 

Job Offer Guidelines for Employers

Our goal is to create a positive outcome for our students and employers. We believe providing students with adequate time to make employment decisions helps to minimize offer reneges and improves retention. Students may accept offers before the offer timelines below but should not be obligated to respond sooner. 
Summer conversion offers* Fall offers** Spring offers***
Timing of student decision October 16 October 16  OR 3 weeks  whichever is longer February 15  OR 2 weeks  whichever is longer

* Summer conversion offers are full-time offers made to an intern or co-op student for an opportunity beginning after graduation. 

** Fall offers refer to full-time, internship, or co-op offers made to students during the Fall recruiting season. 

*** Spring offers refer to full-time, internship, or co-op offers made to students during the Fall recruiting season. 

Employers offering exploding offers (offers that will be retracted or expire in a very short time period) will likely face limited success and damage to their organization’s brand. In addition, incentives involving diminishing bonuses, reduced options for location preferences, etc. are not recommended. Further, asking a student to make an acceptance decision on the spot is also considered inappropriate. Short offer timelines contribute to students accepting offers quickly that may increase the likelihood of reneges.

How to Research and Negotiate

Negotiating your salary takes preparation and an understanding of what is reasonable to negotiate. Take the following steps to be sure you have collected all the needed information before you try to negotiate: 

  1. The average salary for that position. Go to Glassdoor and Salary.com to understand common salaries offered, and be sure to filter salaries by location. (Ex. Salaries offered in NY tend to be higher in Atlanta due to higher costs of living.)
  2. Refer to these Salary Negotiation Resources.
  3. Use a cost-of-living calculator to better understand common costs you may encounter in that geographic location. CNN Money and Bankrate.com are good resources for making estimations.
  4. Examine the job description and identify how you match or exceed the qualifications listed. The more qualifications you meet and exceed, the easier it will be to advocate for a higher salary or other items.

For full-time positions, your range to negotiate for a higher average starting salary could be $1,000-$10,000. Typically, employers will have smaller salary bands of $1-$10,000 for an entry-level role. Your ability to negotiate increases as you gain more qualifications and years of experience. 

Negotiations do not have to be adversarial, and we encourage you to speak in a friendly manner throughout the conversation. It is important to remember that this is not the only time you can negotiate. You can negotiate after positive performance reviews, taking on additional responsibilities, and advancing into a new role. It is recommended that you negotiate over the phone vs. email because tone can often be misread via email. 

Do not do the following: 

Common Scenarios 

Step 1: Thank them, but do not accept the offer on the spot. Ask for how much time you can have before following up with your decision. It is common practice to give a student until Oct. 16th or 3 weeks to decide in the fall semester. In spring semesters, you may only be given 1-2 weeks to decide on an offer. 

Step 2: Immediately contact all other employers to let them know you have received an offer.  

Step 3: Ask if they can let you know where you stand in the process or could interview you earlier. 

Step 4: Ask for an extension if you need to. The employer may give you additional time. 

Step 1: Make a pro and con list.  

Step 2: Rank order what is most important to you and see how many of your offers align with your top priorities. 

Step 3: Understand the benefits, retirement options, healthcare, and other perks you are being offered.  

Step 4: Reflect on the following questions: 

          1. Does this job speak to me? 2. Can I visualize myself doing this for a long period of time? 3. How does this relate to my long-term career goals? 4. Do the typical work activities sound interesting, and do they seem to be a good fit with my skills, interests, and abilities?

What can you negotiate? 

We do not advise negotiating all items listed above. Pick one or two you would like to negotiate so you do not appear greedy or not excited about the position.

Salary & Negotiation Resources

Effective negotiation is based on providing strong evidence to support your request. One (of many) types of evidence that you can utilize in your argument is comparative salary data for like-jobs and for similar candidates entering the talent marketplace. The more closely linked you are to the data you provide, the stronger your argument.

Salary Resources

Georgia Tech student/alum salary resources:

Other salary resources:

Sample Negotiation Language 

Sample Negotiation Letter

Though it is helpful to have a negotiation conversation by phone, it’s important to also provide your request in writing in case the HR rep needs to forward it on for approval. YOU are the best person to outline your case, so be sure to provide all the data in writing either before or after your phone conversation. See a sample letter below:

Salary Negotiation SAMPLE

Managing Deadlines & Requesting Extensions

It is often in a company’s best interest to give you a tight timeline in which to consider an offer – it allows less time for you to find potentially competing jobs, and helps them to hire the top talent they are seeking.

It is in the candidate’s best interest to be able to consider all of their possible opportunities before making a decision. However, it is often very difficult to do this during an active job search. The best thing you can do is to be proactive in managing your offer deadlines by asking for deadline extensions or asking other employers you are in the process of interviewing with to expedite your interview process.

As Georgia Tech students, you may refer to the Job Offer Guidelines for Employers and Students as necessary to assist your efforts to delay offer deadlines.

Requesting an Extension Email Example

Dear Mr./Ms./Preferred Pronoun/Full Name _______,

Thank you for offering me the [job title] position. I’m excited about the possibility of working with ____, and I would enjoy [share positive aspects of the position].

In our previous conversation, you asked me to notify you of my final decision by [date], but I am still in the process of wrapping up some outstanding interviews. The Georgia Tech Career Center Job Offer Guidelines for Students and Employers recommends employers wait until Oct. 16 for summer conversion offers and Oct. 16 as well for new fall offers, or 3 weeks to decide. Would you be willing to let me have additional time to follow up? This additional time will allow me the clarity needed to make a firm decision.

Thank you for your consideration of my request. I am very interested in this opportunity and would appreciate the additional time if possible.

Kind Regards,

Your Name

Major

Georgia Institute of Technology

Phone #

Email

LinkedIn link

—-

Additional examples for accepting offers, declining, and other professional correspondence may be found here.

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Confidentiality Agreements

See below for information for Georgia Tech undergraduate, graduate students, and post-docs on Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Confidentiality Agreements (CDA) as they relate to student participation in an internship or other outside the classroom experience both on and off campus.  

What is an NDA/CDA? 

A non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement protects an organization in the event that one of its employees, staff, visitors, or interns shares proprietary or confidential information with people or entities outside of the organization. When conducting research, creating new products, or even coming up with original ideas, all of this information (often called intellectual property) has value to the organization where it was created, and thus can be protected under the law.  

What does it mean to sign an NDA/CDA?  

By signing an NDA or CDA you are agreeing to the terms listed in the contract. Those terms can vary significantly depending on the nature of your relationship with the organization and the confidentiality of the information that you may encounter.  

For example, a company you are visiting for the day on a tour may ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement specifying that you cannot take photos of your tour and you will not share any information you learned during your visit with anyone for a specified amount of time. Alternatively, a company that you intern or co-op with may ask you to sign an NDA that not only prevents you from publicly sharing information about the projects from your role but does not allow you to work for a competitor within that industry for a number of years.  

It is important that you carefully read and understand any NDA or CDA that you sign as part of your participation in an experiential learning opportunity (job, internship, co-op, research project) to understand the implications of the agreement and how it may limit your actions during and after the experience.  

Noncompetition Agreements  

A noncompetition agreement restricts your ability to work with your employers’ competitors.  

TIPS: 

Common Elements of an NDA or CDA 

Here is a list of clauses commonly found in an NDA or CDA agreement. Not all of these examples are included in every NDA/CDA and the language may vary depending on the nature and specificity of the agreement. 

Indemnification 

This section is a commitment that you will defend and compensate a party for any harm, loss, liability, etc. that you may cause if you disclose confidential information. The amount may be listed, sometimes not. It also may include lawyer fees and other compensations.  

Example text: “Breach of this Agreement, including without limitation, the actual or threatened disclosure or unauthorized use of the Confidential Information without the prior express written consent of the Provider, an irreparable injury such that no remedy at law would adequately protect or appropriately compensate the Provider for such injury. Recipient agrees that the Provider shall have the right to equitable relief.” 

Liability 

This section indicates that you are liable if you disclose confidential information.  

Example text: “Unauthorized use or disclosure of the Confidential Information without the prior express written consent of the Provider may cause irreparable harm. Recipient is liable for the unauthorized disclosure and shall adequately compensate the Provider.” 

Ownership 

This section may state that all work, knowledge, products, techniques, intellectual property (patent, copyright, and trademark), etc. are the property of the internship site under confidentiality. In this instance, it is important to be aware of what information is confidential and who owns it.  

Agreement Term 

This section is generally the length of time the CDA/NDA is in place.  

Example text: “Term. Unless mutually extended by written agreement signed by an authorized representative of both parties, the term of this Agreement will be one (1) year from the Effective Date.” 

Survival or Term 

This section indicates the ongoing responsibility of the agreement and terms.  

Example text: “In the event of a termination or expiration of this Agreement, the obligations under this Agreement shall survive for five (5) years from the Effective Date.” 

Governing Law and Venue 

This is the location where the NDA/CDA will be enforced if it is breached.  

Example text: “Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the state of Georgia. Any claim related in any manner to the Agreement shall be instituted and commenced in, and venue shall be Atlanta, GA.