Tips on negotiating an indicative offer from one of the "Big4"

First thing I would strongly suggest is not to name the company or competitors in a public forum.

you need to consider what is your ask and what is your bottom line. If they will not meet it then you walk away with no regrets. You can then discuss with HR what scope there is for an increase - you have some leverage pointing to an increase you will expect this year in the new post and being able to signal you are worse off.

You also need to consider where this job could go in 2/3/5 years and whether short term pain may have longer term gains. But you should not walk into a new job pissed off with the salary.

good luck.

In my experience no one moves jobs for less or pretty much the same money. It’s la la land when people say “think of the career advancement” etc. these top 4s are people heavy and it’s a long slog to promotion. Pay rises are paltry once you’re in there too, so go in on a decent amount or stick to where you are. You’ll only resent it if you feel you’re not being paid fairly. What is the market paying in your sector right now? In my honest opinion you’ve to decide, are you ok to walk away from this, cause if you are, you play hard ball and tell them you’re in active interviews with others and you’ve gotten a better offer, so either they match it or you’re walking. Of course frame it diplomatically, and tell them they’d obviously be your first choice but you’ve a better offer. If they really want you, they’ll match it. Up to you to decide how to play it but saying you’re a bit disappointed or you were expecting more, puts them in control of the offer again, a no no. So, tell them your offer is (add whatever you expected to get to what they offered) and you give them the target. Obviously it has to be realistic too, as in asking for 60k for a job whose market rate is 40k won’t fly, and they’ll see through it. Finally if they ask where you interviewed well it’s a small world and tell them you’d rather not divulge that

I would agree with that stance - from the sounds of it you would actually be financially worse off making the move.

I think it would be very unusual for a Dublin based company to offer milage to and from the office with over night expenses should you need to be in the office.

As for salary negotiations - I had a similar requirement to put in current salary in to the application for a job application I did last year. I put €0.00 as it was a required field and then I set an expected salary in the field where it was requested. I was happy where I was but fancied a move but only if it made financial sense. So I threw a Hail Mary figure in. Progressed through two interviews, the follow up to the second interview I got an email asking what my expected salary would be ... at that stage I knew that if they were asking that question the chances of being offered the role were high. I just said that my expectations were on the application and they offered me that. Looking back now I probably could have chanced my arm and looked for more!

You didn't mention a bonus in your list of benefits. Do you get one now? Senior Manager Bonuses in Big4 firms can be 20k-40k.

I'd also expect mileage / accommodation costs to be covered for client visits but not for coming to the office. That would be fairly standard.

Hiring in large companies is an expensive, laborious process. If you have gotten through the interviews and they are at the stage of making you an offer, my advice is to play hard-ball.

As a hiring manager it is a massive pain to lose a candidate at offer stage - so the company will negotiate. If they balk at your request just back down to what you find acceptable.

You will have a long time to reap the benefits of this interaction or to regret it.

I think you should push hard in the current job market.

What value do you put on your time? Big4 senior managers put in serious hours, then add your commuting time on top which sounds lengthy. For a similar salary, a nice bonus, you are going to lose a lot of hours in your week. There's more to life than money. No point having an extra €20k salary and no time to spend it (or handing a chunk of it over to a petrol station/toll booth/hotel).

Don't waste your time, they'll just tell you what you want to hear. I trained in Big4 years and years ago. All of them brought us in to gradate open evenings, meet and greet kind of thing with staff of all levels that work there. The common message was great work life balance, oh you play football - no problem leaving on time to go training, etc. Not at all the scenario when we started working there. Plenty of guys in my intake gave up the rugby, football etc because of the hours expected - and we were just trainees on tiny salaries.

When you're senior manager level you can be guaranteed to be working til at least 6 and beyond most evenings. Granted I was in audit which was probably the worst of the worst in terms of hours, but it's a general culture in those firms. Instead of people greeting each other with 'hello' it was 'busy?' - that's all anyone cared about, how busy you were.

I can understand that 5 days WFH can be boring, cabin fever, etc. But being in your home town, clocking off at a nice hour in the evenings, and not doing savage commuting (it might be 1 day per week now with the Big4, but that could all change in a heartbeat), I'd give it all some serious thought over the weekend if I was you.

Not trying to put you off, just saying to really consider if the grass is greener in this potential new role.

I'd echo this comment. I spent 10+ years at senior manager / director level at Big-4 firms - they're sweat shops. I didn't work so much overtime because I delegated to staff that were paid overtime or given time in lieu but the pressure / volume of work is unlike anything you'll experience elsewhere - at least that's my experience. Due to the volume of work it's hard to switch-off. And if you make one mistake during the year that's all they remember at your annual review. Having them on your CV opens doors though as it shows you have a certain work ethic!

Tell them they’re a bit low

Just to add, the lack of pension until 30 seems ridiculous, I'd push back on that and ask for a 10% increase on their offer for that alone.