Recruiters ask for current and expected compensation because it makes your history the reference point for everything that follows. The stronger reference is the band for the level you are being hired into. Research that band, state a number for the role, and if pressed on current salary, answer briefly and return to the level.
Base salary often sits inside a fixed band for a given level, while joining bonus, equity refresh and start date frequently carry more room. Ask which components are flexible before you counter anything. A candidate who counters only on base is often refusing the exact parts of the offer that the recruiter was authorised to increase.
Two offers with the same headline number can differ substantially once vesting schedules, cliff periods, the payout history of the variable component and buyback terms are read properly. Ask for the vesting schedule in writing, ask how the bonus target has actually paid out, and compare what you will realistically hold at twelve and twenty-four months.
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Give a number for the role rather than a percentage over your current salary. State the range you are targeting for that level, say it is based on the market for the scope of the role, and ask what band they have budgeted. If you name a multiple of your current package, you have anchored the whole negotiation to your previous employer's pay scale.
Decide it against the reason you started looking. If that reason was scope, technology or growth, money rarely resolves it and the same conversation returns within a year. If the reason was purely compensation and the counter genuinely closes the gap, accepting can be rational. Understand that a declined resignation usually changes how you are regarded in planning discussions.
Convert the equity into an annual figure using the vesting schedule, then discount it for risk. Listed-company stock has a market price and a clear schedule; private company equity depends on a future liquidity event and should be valued conservatively. Compare cash against cash first, then treat equity as the upside that separates two otherwise similar offers.
A single professional counter, made once and with a reason attached to it, is normal and expected. Offers are almost never withdrawn over a reasonable counter. What does cause damage is repeated renegotiation after agreement, or using another offer as a threat rather than as information. Ask once, be specific about the component, and accept the answer.
