Negotiating job offers

We are now deep into hiring season, and lots of interviews and offers are happening.  This will be short, but I want to point out a few things to keep in mind when negotiating.  (This will be mostly for postdocs/tenure-track positions at R1 universities.)  Also, remember that this is my opinion, and there are lots of other legitimate views on negotiating.

- My view is it is unlikely you will be viewed as a "primadonna" or come in with enemies if you negotiate!  Many people do it and it does not mean you do not appreciate the offer/opportunity that you might be getting. 

- Reach out to lots of people to ask for advice negotiating.  Ask your postdoc advisor, PhD advisor, recent hires you know in your field, senior faculty in your department in other fields, etc.  Someone will give you bad advice, someone will have a clever idea you haven't thought of, etc.  It's likely people had different job market experiences than you, and so your advisor's negotiating might have been very different than what you need.

- Here are a few things that I've heard of people negotiating for (with various success): salary, startup/travel funds, teaching reductions, position for a partner, deferring the start date by a year (for another postdoc or continue current position), spending a semester at an institute like MSRI, access to university daycare, reduction of service, ability to hire a postdoc/other faculty in the area.  I'm sure I am missing a lot of other items to negotiate for.

- If you have an offer, you can ask that school for an extension before deciding.  It can be helpful if you can communicate a specific date you're waiting for (e.g. you want to wait until date X because that's when your dream job said they would be able to get back to you by).  You can also reach out to other schools you're interested in to ask where they are in the process to let them know you're interested (and sometimes letting those places know you have an offer can raise your profile a little bit more).

- While it helps to have another offer, you don't need one to negotiate!   

- I think I've mentioned this before, but you don't owe anyone anything.  Just because the chair of the department was really nice to you or your advisor's collaborator helped you to negotiate, it doesn't mean you need to accept their position.  It's your life and well-being, which is important, so do what's best for you.  It really doesn't matter if that department doesn't get their top pick.  Their lives won't be affected, and they can just go for the next candidate down or do the search next year...it's really not a big deal.

Good luck for those of you on the market!  If you have other thoughts/experiences from negotiating, light up those comments.