Counter Offer Email Generator

About the counter offer email generator

A job offer arrives, the number is lower than you hoped, and you have a day or two to respond. This free counter offer email generator takes the offer details, the market data you found, and the one or two changes you want, then drafts a short, warm email that makes a specific request and gives a reason for it.

Asking is often worth the discomfort. In a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, about two in three workers who asked for higher pay the last time they were hired got more than the first offer, yet most workers never asked. The guide below covers how to pick your number, what the email needs, what else you can negotiate, and when not to counter.

How to use it

1. 1

   Enter the offer as written

   Add the job title, base salary, and any bonus, equity, or benefits the employer listed. Use the exact figures from the offer letter.

2. 2

   Add your evidence

   Paste the market range you found, mention a competing offer, or name a skill the team needs. The draft builds its reason around whichever evidence you provide.

3. 3

   Choose your ask

   Enter a target salary or pick non-salary asks such as a signing bonus, extra PTO, remote days, or a later start date. One main ask with one fallback works better than a long list.

4. 4

   Generate, edit, and send

   Read the draft, adjust the wording until it sounds like you, and confirm every number. Send it to the person who made the offer, usually the recruiter, before the deadline they gave.

How to pick your counter number

Your counter should come from research, not from what you would like to earn. Start with pay data for the same title, level, and location. The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program publishes wage percentiles by occupation and metro area, and many job posts now list a salary range. Compare at least two sources before you settle on a range.

Then follow one rule: counter with a specific number near the top of your researched range, as long as your experience supports it. A precise figure reads as researched. A vague request for "something higher" invites a small bump.

Say a company offers $85,000 for a senior operations analyst role and your research shows $88,000 to $97,000 locally. A counter of $95,000, backed by one sentence on your forecasting experience, leaves room to land in the low $90,000s if they meet you partway.

• Offer below your range: counter near the top of the range and cite the data.
• Offer inside your range: ask for the top of the range and tie it to one skill or result the role needs.
• Offer at or above your range: negotiate non-salary terms instead, or accept.

What a good counteroffer email includes

Counteroffer emails usually go wrong by being too long or sounding like a complaint. Keep yours to about 120 to 200 words. The employer has already decided they want you, so the email only needs to make it easy to say yes to one change.

Put every request in the same email. If you counter on salary, agree, and then come back for PTO, the employer may feel the terms keep shifting. One complete counter respects their time and their approval process.

• Thanks and enthusiasm: one or two sentences confirming you want the job, so the request does not read as a bluff.
• The specific ask: a single number or term, stated plainly. "I'd like to ask for a base salary of $95,000" beats a paragraph of hedging.
• One reason: market data, a competing offer, or a skill that maps to the role. One strong reason beats three weak ones.
• An open close: offer to talk it through by phone and say you look forward to finalizing the offer.

What you can negotiate besides base salary

Some employers have fixed salary bands, especially government agencies, unionized workplaces, and large companies with strict leveling. When the base will not move, other parts of the offer often can. Ask the recruiter which parts of the package have flexibility before you write a long list of requests.

• Signing bonus: a one-time cost that is often easier to approve than a permanent increase.
• Start date: a few extra weeks to rest or wrap up a commitment usually costs the employer nothing.
• Paid time off: a few more days, or starting at the next accrual tier.
• Remote or hybrid days: worth more than they look if you would otherwise commute every day.
• Title or level: shapes your next raise and your next job search, so it can matter more than the money.
• Early pay review: a written commitment to revisit salary after six months if you hit agreed goals.

When not to send a counteroffer

Skip the counter, or keep it very small, if you already named a number and the employer met it in full. Going back for more after they agreed to your figure can cost trust before your first day. The same applies when the pay scale is published and fixed, unless you can show you were placed at the wrong step.

If the offer already beats your researched range and the role is what you want, a gracious acceptance may serve you better than a token ask. And if you would not take the job even with the increase, decline instead. Use a counter only for changes that would turn your maybe into a yes.

Examples

Frequently asked questions