How to Handle a Candidate Asking for 30% Above Your Range Without Losing Them or Breaking Your Comp Framework
Jason Reeves opens the call exactly the way you hoped he would not: "I am really excited about the role and the team. I just want to make sure the comp reflects the level." Then the numbers land. $240K base. Three-year equity acceleration. $30K signing bonus. You offered $185K with standard equity. Your approved range tops out at $200K. There is no signing bonus precedent at your company. The hiring manager said, word for word, "we cannot lose this person." The role has been open for four months. Three other finalists were rejected. The product launch in Q2 depends on this hire. Jason is not bluffing — he has market data from Levels.fyi, peer benchmarks, and the confidence of someone who knows he was the unanimous first choice after five rounds of interviews. Saying no risks losing a critical hire. Saying yes risks detonating your compensation framework. Every engineer, product manager, and designer in your company will eventually hear what you paid Jason Reeves.
Why This Conversation Goes Wrong
You immediately say "let me see what I can do" and fold. Caving to the first ask tells Jason two things: your initial offer was not genuine, and pushing gets results. He will push again at his first performance review. Worse, you just set a precedent that undermines every comp decision your HR team will make this year.
You stonewall with "that is our policy." Jason explicitly said he evaluates whether companies negotiate in good faith. "That is our policy" is not a conversation — it is a wall. He reads it as a signal that this company does not value the people it hires. You lose the candidate and confirm his suspicion in the same sentence.
You negotiate every line item with equal intensity. Fighting over base, equity, and signing bonus as three separate battles exhausts both sides. Jason has priorities — he cares most about equity acceleration. If you spend 20 minutes grinding on base salary before discovering that, you wasted the goodwill that could have closed the deal.
The Priority Exchange
Offer negotiations fail when both sides defend positions instead of trading priorities. The Priority Exchange method uncovers what the candidate values most, what you have the most flexibility on, and where a creative swap can bridge a gap that no straight-line compromise can.
Acknowledge and validate before countering
"Jason, I hear you — and I want to be upfront about where we have room and where we do not. Your ask is above our approved range, and I want to work through this with you rather than just saying no." This opening says three things: I respect your ask, I am being honest about limits, and I am committed to finding a solution. Jason relaxes because he is dealing with a human, not a policy.
Ask the priority question directly
"If I could meaningfully improve one part of this offer, which would matter most to you?" This is the most important question in the entire conversation. Most recruiters never ask it. They guess, or they negotiate each component sequentially, which is slower and reveals less. Jason will tell you the equity structure matters most. Now you know where to spend your flexibility.
Move where you can, explain where you cannot
"I can move base to $200K, which is the top of our approved band. I cannot go higher without board approval, and I want to be honest about that. On equity, I have more room." Transparency about constraints builds trust. Jason does not need you to say yes to everything. He needs you to be real about what is possible.
Propose the creative swap
"What if we accelerated your vesting to a 3-year schedule with a one-year cliff, and added a $15K performance equity milestone at your first anniversary? That gets you to a total equity package that is materially better than what you asked for, and it aligns your upside with the company trajectory." You just solved Jason's real priority (equity velocity) with a structure he did not think to ask for.
Name the trade-off as a partnership signal
"I am asking you to come in at $200K on base instead of $240K. In exchange, we are giving you equity that could be worth multiples of that gap if we hit our numbers. I think that is a bet worth making — and I think you do too." This frames the final package as a shared investment, not a concession.
The moment that changes everything
Jason is not testing your budget. He is testing your character.
Jason has been through five rounds of interviews and six weeks of evaluation. He is exhausted. He invested real time and emotional energy into this process, and now the offer feels like it does not reflect the level of interest everyone expressed. When he asks for $240K, he is not being greedy. He is asking: "Do you actually want me as much as you said you did?" The number is a proxy for respect. If you immediately fold, he wonders what else is hollow. If you stonewall, he wonders why he spent six weeks talking to people who do not have authority. But if you are transparent about constraints, creative about solutions, and genuine about wanting to make it work — Jason walks away feeling like this company solves problems the same way it will ask him to solve problems: honestly and collaboratively. The $40K base salary gap is not the obstacle. The feeling gap is. Jason needs to believe that the team who recruited him is the same team he will work with every day. Your behavior in this negotiation is his preview of the company culture.
What to Say (and What Not To)
Instead of
"That is above our budget."
Try this
"I want to be transparent — $200K is the top of our approved band. I cannot go higher without board approval. But I have meaningful room on equity, and I think we can build a package that works."
Instead of
"We do not offer signing bonuses."
Try this
"We have not done signing bonuses before, which makes it a harder sell internally. Can I redirect that energy into equity acceleration, which I think is worth significantly more?"
Instead of
"This is a competitive offer."
Try this
"I know this is not exactly what you asked for. Walk me through what is most important and let me show you where I can make this meaningfully better."
Instead of
"Take it or leave it."
Try this
"I have moved on every lever I have. I want this to work. What would make you feel good about saying yes?"
The Bigger Picture
Glassdoor research across 600,000 interviews found that 73% of employers expect candidates to negotiate offers, yet only 39% of candidates actually do. The recruiters and hiring managers who handle negotiation well report 28% higher offer acceptance rates — not because they pay more, but because the negotiation process itself communicates organizational values.
Compensation analytics firm Carta found that candidates who received accelerated equity vesting had 31% longer average tenure than those with standard 4-year vesting. Faster equity maturation creates psychological ownership earlier, which reduces early-stage attrition and aligns the candidate with company outcomes from day one.
A Talent Board study of 100,000 candidate experiences found that the single strongest predictor of whether a candidate accepted an offer was not the comp number but "perceived transparency during the negotiation process." Candidates who rated their recruiter as "transparent about constraints" accepted offers 44% more often than those who rated recruiters as "evasive or scripted."
Practice This Conversation
10 minutes · AI voice roleplay with Jason Reeves
Reading about this is step one. Practicing it changes everything. Sonitura lets you rehearse this exact conversation with Jason Reeves, a realistic AI senior product manager with 8 years of experience, currently at a late-stage unicorn who reacts to your words in real time. It takes 10 minutes. When Jason names a number that breaks your range, you will already know how to find the creative space between.
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