Decisions CT....
I got the offer for the job I've been interviewing for earlier this morning. Its a pay grade increase of 2 levels, and a hefty raise. The offer is within $500 of the number I had in my head. Since its the first offer, do I reject out of principle or since its close to what I was hoping for, should I accept? It'd be a less stressful job with more prestige.
Some questions to help your thinking on this. You know your situation with them a whole lot better than someone in the internet peanut gallery. Most of the answers you probably shouldn't share openly either, I just present for your consideration.
How open (based on what you know about the new place) are they to negotiation? How much will it upset them if you ask for anything more - would it jeopardize the job offer? I doesn't sound like this is a situation where you want to put the offer in jeopardy over $500.
Do they know what you are currently making? What % increase is their offer? What additional % does the $500 represent? With the comment about the "two levels" of pay grade, what is the $500 more you would like with respect to the next level on the pay chart? Is it a reasonable reach to ask for a third level?
I wouldn't ask for just the $500. That's less than $10 per week.
As a comparator, the federal General Salary ("white collar" jobs) has 10 steps within each grade level. Grade is usually not negotiable, but the step within grade is. Each step is around 3% of the grade base,so a negotiation on salary is in the ~3% increments. Steps are earned every 2-3 years for time in grade.
Example GS-11: Step 1 = $51,298. Step 10 = $66,688; each step is 1,710, or 3.3% of the step 1 salary.