The ask that could be worth hundreds of thousands over your career. Practice it before it counts.
Quick Answer
Salary Negotiation Practice is AI-powered rehearsal for the conversation that determines your compensation trajectory — asking for a raise, countering a lowball offer, or negotiating beyond base pay. It's for anyone whose pulse spikes at the thought of naming a number to a manager or hiring manager. Research shows negotiating produces an average 18.8% uplift, yet 38% of workers never ask, according to Pew Research, with the gap widening to 42% among women versus 33% among men — a confidence problem, not a skills problem, since a single £5,000 negotiated increase can compound into roughly £634,000 more over a 40-year career, per Harvard Law School's Programme on Negotiation. Sessions apply classic negotiation theory — knowing your BATNA, anchoring first, and using objective criteria — while a realistic counterpart pushes back with budget objections, lowball counters, and "let me check with someone." The AI evaluates composure under pressure, specificity of your ask, and how you handle objections.
It's rarely a lack of knowledge. It's the moment itself — the pause before you name a number, and what you do when they push back.
Ask for more on a starting offer for the first time
Counter an offer that lands below market or expectations
Respond when your manager claims there's no room to move
Bring up compensation during a performance review cycle
Use a competing offer to negotiate without burning bridges
Trade equity, bonus, PTO, or title when base is fixed
Grounded in Fisher and Ury's negotiation classic, Getting to Yes
Determine your best alternative before you enter the room, so no single offer feels like your only option.
The first credible number shapes the whole range — open near the top of your researched figure.
Understand what's actually driving the other side's position, not just the number they've stated.
Back your ask with market data and role benchmarks, not just personal need or willpower.
Steady, unrushed responses under pushback
A concrete number and reasoning, not a vague ask
Responding to budget claims and stalling tactics
Firm and collaborative, never combative
The two highest-leverage moments are after receiving a job offer (before you accept, while the employer has already decided they want you) and during a formal performance review cycle when compensation decisions are already on the table. Negotiating outside those windows isn't impossible, but you'll need a stronger justification — a market shift, an expanded role, or a competing offer.
"No budget" is often a starting position, not a final answer. Our scenarios include this exact objection so you can practice separating the constraint from the decision — asking what would need to be true for budget to appear, proposing a review date, or shifting the ask to non-base levers like bonus, equity, title, or additional PTO.
Research on negotiation outcomes shows candidates who negotiate their salary receive an average uplift of roughly 18.8%, yet a large share of workers never ask at all — driven mainly by confidence, not skill. Employers rarely rescind offers over a professional, well-reasoned counter; the far more common outcome is landing somewhere between your ask and their initial number.
BATNA — Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement — is a core concept from Fisher and Ury's negotiation classic Getting to Yes. It's your walk-away option if this negotiation fails: another offer, your current role, or simply more time in the market. Knowing your BATNA before you sit down means no single number can feel like your only option, which changes how you negotiate even if you never mention it.
More than most people assume. Harvard Law School's Programme on Negotiation calculated that a 25-year-old who secures just £5,000 more in starting salary — and receives standard annual raises over a 40-year career — accumulates roughly £634,000 more in lifetime earnings than a peer who accepted the first offer. A single conversation compounds.
Yes. Base salary is often the least flexible lever in a negotiation. Our "Negotiating Beyond Base Salary" scenario practices trading on signing bonus, equity, title, start date, remote flexibility, and professional development budget — useful when a manager or recruiter says base is genuinely fixed.
Related
It generally goes to whoever asked. Practice the conversation before it counts.
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