Hi Nie!

Here’s a new one: What do you do when you get multiple offers from the same company?

A worked with a client got a job offer looked like this:

We would like to offer you the following compensation options, which demonstrate our desire to work with you and our commitment to building our company:

• $100,000 salary and 10,000 stock options
• $120,000 salary and 5,000 stock options

Please let me know which compensation option you prefer.

A choice of yeses

This is a sales technique called offering a "choice of yeses"—designed to get you to say "yes" to one or the other offer rather than negotiating or pushing back—and this was the first time I had seen it used this explicitly in a job offer. I’m sure it won't be the last.

Most of the time, the company will have a slight preference that you choose the higher-equity option, but they ultimately just want you to choose instead of negotiating.

How to negotiate when they make you multiple offers

This company is not public, so the stock options are basically monopoly money—they could be valuable one day, or they could be worthless. My preference in these situations is to maximize base salary, so that's where you should focus your negotiation.

Here's what I recommend:

• Select the option with the higher base salary component.
• Acknowledge that the equity seems reasonable.
• Counter offer on the base salary.

Here's what an excerpt from that counter offer email might look like:

You offered $120,000 salary and 500 stock options, and 500 stock options seems reasonable to me, though I would be more comfortable if we could settle on $135,000 base salary. I feel that amount reflects the importance and expectations of the position for [Company name]’s business, and my qualifications and experience as they relate to this particular position.

Then you'll turn the discussion from a "choice of yeses" to a more straightforward negotiation where you can use the strategies in my comprehensive salary negotiation guide to get the best result possible.

Have a good week!

Josh