Where are good places to check for market rate? I briefly looked for it and couldn't find an hourly rate.

Just from his behavior I kind of feel like he lowballed anticipating a negotiation but I guess that is largely because he said "How does $30/hr sound?" or something like that rather than "We can pay you $30/hr."

My other opportunities aren't that great. Basically I'm not moving for 5 months after I graduate, so unless I find a full time job in the area, I'll be looking for a temporary job during that time. I haven't started looking very hard (since I won't graduate for a few months yet), but my feeling is that most companies wouldn't want someone at my level to be a temp.

Ask around at school. Your prof's are a really great resource for this kind of consulting information. (They're the higher priced competition probably...) It's nearly impossible to know what to offer when you don't know what the going rate for a prof would be. I'm sure he did lowball you- but it's important not to blow the deal out with your counter offer if it's the only available opportunity. Obv the damage you take from being underpaid is much lower than the damage you take from not being paid at all.

If you have anyone in your field with lots of experiences phone number I'd call them. Make sure you don't let them get you pissed off about the miserably low offer though- just realize that knowing what a full blown PHD with lots of experience would charge gives you a good idea of where you can counter safely.

If I had to absolutely guess I'd prob hit back at 45$... But I don't even know how to phrase it without knowing your industry at all.

Also do you have health insurance? If not getting them to pony up benefits takes priority over pay rate imo.

I can ask my professor (hopefully) tomorrow. My wife has health insurance so it's not a huge deal. We basically have to pay some for it, but it's not like we have to go out and get our own.

Unfortunately my main contact for field owns the company that I would be working for so I don't think that's the person to ask

Thanks for the help

When you find out what a ballpark for the high end costs check back in here and we'll plan a little bit further.

I found out that lab techs (which would be the majority of what I would be doing) make around 55k/year + benefits. I feel like I would add a bit more because of my degree, research, and journal article writing skills, but certainly the majority of the work would be similar.

I'm not sure if the full time vs part time should make me more or less valuable. Maybe the benefit it is to me cancels out the benefit it is to them to not hire someone.

I also just found that a post-doc position pays about 43k + benefits. That has the added benefit that it is supposedly training you for future work though.

55k w/benefits is worth easily 65k imo. I would counter at 40/hr and wait for his response. 55k a year is 26.44/hr... So he didn't lowball you that bad. 35/hr might even be a more optimal offer.

I think the fact that he didn't try to absolutely plow you is a really good sign btw.

I'm thinking of buying a new Audi in the New year and was wondering how to factor extras into the negotiations. Like I want the Alloy upgrade, body styling, sat nav etc. none of which comes as standard. Is there any different approach I should use when I want all of this stuff I don't need

Apparently professors make somewhere north of $200/hr if they do consulting things. They obviously have more experience and clout than I would and wouldn't be doing some of the simpler grunt work like taking the data.

The professor I talked to said he didn't really have an idea of what I should be paid, but threw out the $60-$80 range. He also said that the university charges 30% for benefits so if the university pays someone $100/hr, it really costs them $130.

One thing I need to check is if they are going to pay half of FICA. If not that's 7.5% right there.

A good way to ask for more in your situation is by stating "Since I will need to pay for my own benefits, I am looking to get around $X " Where $X would be somewhere around average base pay + benefits package for your position. For a job that normally pays $30/hour with benefits, you can expect that to be around $45/hour without benefits. Also, are they deducting taxes for you or paying as an independent contractor where you handle that on your own? You might have to cover the employer share of Social Security + Medicare depending how they set you up.

The fact that your wife has health insurance is great for you, but they don't need to know that and you should factor in what they would normally have to pay for health insurance and other benefits into your compensation. If you got hired on full time you

One way that I heard about asking for more is saying "Naturally I want to make as much as someone with my skills and background can make and I believe that is $XX/hr. However, I also would like to work for your company so that rate is negotiable."

The idea is that you're stating a high number that you think you're worth, but since your really don't want them to so "well, sorry. goodbye" you say that you would like to work for them so it's negotiable. It also has a bit of flattery mixed in which might make them happy.

What are people's thoughts on that? I'm also interested to hear people's (especially BoredSocial) ideas on how much I should ask for in response.

LOL a new audi dealer may or may not be willing to wiggle much on price. Higher end luxury cars are a lot less flexible than lower end dealers with more competition in my experience. Try to buy the car for as close to invoice as possible imo.

I really like this line. I also like Shoe's approach. When you counter offer use benefits as the excuse for the bump imo. If you take this approach shoot HIGH on your offer. Like 60-80 high.

I didn't have the chance to read entire thread yet so this could've already been asked, not sure.

I'm about to buy a kitchen and a bathroom in a little while. I was wondering if you guys have any tips for doing this? I've heard margins are at least 50%, would it be possible to get a 60%+ discount on a kitchen? What about bathrooms?

What type of negotiation strategy could be very effective when buying a kitchen/bathroom, are their salesmen sensitive to certain type of arguments? I'd love to hear some thoughts about this.

buying a kitchen and a bathroom?

What's the best way to go about finding the true invoice cost on a car?

I hate the car buying process so much, I've only bought two cars in the last 20 years

My girlfriend has a lease on her car with about a year left on it, is there any way I can negotiate to buy the car before the lease ends at a better price than the stated residual value and end all lease payments asap?

PS: She was a car dealers dream. When she bought the car, she told the salesman she only had $xxx/month to spend and ended up with a 4 year lease screw job.

Mini Coopers do this (so they say). Do you know if this is true?

Yeah, is this weird?

Just bought a new house and it needs a new kitchen and bathroom, simple as that.

LMAO, great story!

Someone needs to make a movie about this guy, sounds like an entertaining character

My wife and I just got new furniture for our apartment. We got a bed for 600$ that originally listed for 3800$. Granted- that was a return... But there is clearly a HUGE amount of markup in furniture. I'd wait for them to have some sort of major sale before buying anything. As for a kitchen w/cabinets, appliances, etc? The margins prob aren't as thick as furniture.

Yeah- but I wouldn't expect a better deal... I would expect to have to pay out of pocket to get out of the last year. The reality is that it's between you and the company that you've leased through at this point. The dealership has basically nothing to do with it.

Leasing isn't that horrible of a deal- as mentioned previously in the thread lease deals tend to be pretty fixed and dictated by the manufacturer. This isn't a bad thing necessarily- it's a positive thing if you like to drive new cars.

No idea. If they claim to do it they probably do. This is definitely where the car business is going- and that's a good thing.