Counter offer email generator, by Resume Worded ★4.9 on Trustpilot · 5M+ job seekers

Counter the job offer, without putting it at risk

First offers usually leave room, and the person who sent yours expects the question. What decides whether countering helps or hurts is the shape of the ask: thanks, a clear signal you want the job, exactly one specific ask, and one reason a stranger can weigh. Tell the generator your leverage and it writes that email, with the ask in one sentence you could read aloud without flinching.

Free. One ask, one reason, and a signal you are ready to accept.

Counter offer email generator

Example · Senior product manager offer

Their offer$128,000

Market: $138k to $150k

offer

your counter: $142k

THE REPLY

I am excited about this role, and I want to make it work. Would you be open to a base of $142,000? Roles with this scope are currently landing between $138,000 and $145,000.

one ask, one reason, no apology

Write your counter email

The counter is a commitment signal, not a standoff. Every line of it says: settle this one number and I am yours.

The framework

Four moves, one email

Every counter offer email that works makes the same four moves in the same order. The order matters because the reader is scanning for one thing: is this person still in, or are they drifting away? Answer that before you ask for anything and the ask gets read as a detail to solve, not a threat to manage.

Move one: gratitude, specific and brief. One sentence thanking them for the offer and the process. Not flattery; an acknowledgment that people spent weeks on you.

Move two: enthusiasm, stated plainly. "I am excited about this role, and I want to make it work." This sentence does more negotiating than the number does. A counter that reads as commitment gets worked on; a counter that reads as shopping gets matched to the minimum or left to expire.

Move three: one specific ask, phrased as a question. "Would you be open to a base of $142,000?" One number, asked once. Two numbers in the same email means the second one is your price. A list of asks means none of them is the decision.

Move four: one reason a stranger can weigh. Market data for the role, a competing offer named without ultimatums, or the specific skill they told you they need. The reason is what your contact forwards to whoever approves the budget; give them a sentence that survives the forward.

The four moves in order. The close signals that agreement means a fast yes.

The close is the quiet fifth move: "If we can settle this, I am ready to accept this week." It converts your counter from an open negotiation into a single decision with a finish line, which is exactly how the person reading it wants to see the problem.

The whole package

What is negotiable beyond salary

Base salary is the hardest number to move because it lives inside a band, sets a precedent for internal equity, and compounds every year they employ you. The rest of the package comes out of different budgets with different owners, which is why a base that will not move another dollar can still coexist with a signing bonus approved the same afternoon. If your counter on base gets a "that is the ceiling", these are the asks that still have room.

Signing bonus

One-time money that sets no precedent and touches no salary band, which is why it is often the easiest yes in the whole package. The standard use: closing the gap between their base ceiling and your number.

Room to moveHigh

Start date

Costs the company almost nothing and buys you a real break between jobs. Nobody performs well in week one after zero days off in five years. Ask for the date you want, plainly.

Room to moveHigh

Professional development

A certification, a conference, a course budget. Small asks that managers can usually approve without escalating, and the skills stay yours when you leave.

Room to moveGood

Vacation days

PTO usually sits in bands like salary does, but an extra week is a common close for candidates the company wants, especially where base is genuinely capped.

Room to moveModerate

Remote days

Policy-bound at large companies, manager-decided at small ones. If the posting said hybrid, the exact split is usually softer than the policy language suggests.

Room to moveModerate

Title

Free for them, compounding for you: the title on this offer is the baseline for your next negotiation, at this company and the one after it. Worth one sentence if the offered title undersells the scope.

Room to moveCase by case

Two rules keep this from becoming a shopping list. Bring non-salary asks into the same email as the salary ask, framed as the alternative path ("if the base has a ceiling, I am open to closing part of the gap with..."), so the whole negotiation stays one decision. And pick at most two. The generator above does both automatically with whatever you select.

The honest exceptions

When not to counter

Most offers can take a polite counter. These three situations are the real exceptions, and knowing them is worth more than any template.

The three real exceptions. Everything else can usually carry one respectful, evidence-based ask.

You named a number and they met it. If you told the recruiter $95,000 during screening and the offer says $95,000, the negotiation already happened and you set the anchor. Countering now tells them your word moves, which costs more than the extra money is worth. The fix belongs earlier in the process: give a range, not a point, and put your real target at its bottom.

The pay structure is genuinely fixed. Government pay grades, union scales, and companies that publish hard bands and offer you the top of one. When the base truly cannot move, the counter changes shape instead of disappearing: start date, vacation, development budget. The recruiter will usually tell you which levers exist if you ask directly.

The offer already beats the top of your researched range and you have nothing new to add. A counter needs a reason. If the number is above the market you researched, you hold no competing offer, and no scarce skill went unpriced, then the honest move is a fast, warm yes. A quick acceptance is itself a small negotiation win: it starts the relationship with the manager who went to bat for that number.

Proof of quality

Example counter offer emails, with the inputs that made them

Two outputs from this generator, unedited, with the selections that produced them. The highlighted sentence in each is the ask; everything else exists to make that sentence land.

Input: Senior Product Manager · feels below market · leverage: market data · target: $138,000 to $145,000 · also worth asking: signing bonus, remote days

Subject: Re: Senior Product Manager offer Hi [Hiring manager's name], Thank you for the offer, and for how thoughtful the whole process has been. I want to be direct: I am excited about this role, and I want to make it work. Before I sign, I would like to talk about base salary. Roles with this scope for product managers at my level are currently landing between $138,000 and $145,000, and the offer sits below that range. Would you be open to a base of $142,000? If the base has a ceiling, I am open to closing part of the gap another way, such as a one-time signing bonus or an additional remote day each week. Everything else about the offer looks right to me. If we can settle this, I am ready to accept this week. Best, [Your name]

Input: Staff Accountant · feels about right, asking once · leverage: unique skills they need · no target number · also worth asking: more PTO

Subject: Re: Staff Accountant offer Hi [Hiring manager's name], Thank you for the offer. I enjoyed meeting the team, and I want to be clear up front that I intend to make this work. Before I accept, I wanted to ask one question: is there flexibility on the base salary? You mentioned the backlog of unreconciled accounts in our second conversation, and clearing exactly that kind of backlog has been the core of my last two roles, so I believe I can be useful faster than a typical hire. If base is fixed, I would also value an additional week of vacation as an alternative. Either way, I am enthusiastic about the role and ready to accept once we have closed this out. Best, [Your name]

Notice what neither email contains: an apology, a deadline, a second number, or a paragraph of self-praise. The person with no target number asks the open question instead of inventing one, which is exactly what you should do when your research is thin.

Frequently asked questions

How do I counter a job offer politely?

Reply within a day or two of getting the written offer, and make four moves in order: thank them, say plainly that you want the role, make one specific ask phrased as a question, and give one reason they can weigh, like market data for the role or a competing offer. Close by signaling that resolving this means a fast yes. No apologies and no ultimatums; a respectful counter is a normal, expected step.

How much should I counter above the offer?

Anchor to the researched market range for the role, not to a percentage of their number. If the range for the role is $138,000 to $150,000 and the offer is $128,000, counter inside the range and be ready to say where the range came from. If the offer already sits inside the range, counter toward its top only with specific evidence. Anything above the range usually needs a competing offer to carry it.

Will I lose the offer if I counter?

An offer means they chose you and spent weeks doing it, so one respectful, evidence-based question almost never changes their decision. The counters that do damage are a different species: ultimatums, serial asks after an agreement, countering a number you yourself named, or reopening terms after accepting. Make one ask with one reason, and the worst realistic outcome is a polite no with the offer intact.

Should I negotiate by email or on a phone call?

Email has two advantages: you control every word, and the ask exists in writing from the start. A call is faster and reads warmer if the relationship with the recruiter is already good, but you lose the composed phrasing. A solid pattern is to send the email, then take the follow-up call it usually triggers. Whatever happens on a call, get the final agreed terms confirmed in writing before you resign anywhere.

How do I write a counter offer letter?

A counter offer letter is the same four-move email in a more formal wrapper: gratitude, enthusiasm, one specific ask, one reason. Almost every counter today is sent as an email rather than an attached letter, and recruiters prefer it that way because it is easy to forward to whoever approves the budget. Use a formal letter format only if the employer has been conducting the whole process on paper.

What about a counter offer from my current employer when I resign?

That is a retention counter, and it is a different decision. The money usually improves, but the reasons you started looking, the manager, the ceiling, the work itself, rarely change with the number. Decide by asking whether you would have stayed if this raise had arrived a month before you looked. If the answer is no, the raise is a delay, not a fix. Take the new role and leave warmly.

The email takes a minute. Knowing your worth takes a look in the mirror.

A counter is only as strong as the evidence behind the number. Coached's free career read starts from just your LinkedIn and maps the strengths, and the market position, this negotiation is pricing.

Get your free career read »

When they say yes: the offer acceptance email generator writes the yes that gets every agreed term in writing.

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