There’s something uniquely challenging about negotiating your salary for your first job out of college. Once you’ve worked a couple of years and feel more established, it’s much easier to stand your ground and say, «I won’t take your paltry offer!» When you’re fresh out of college, you are so desperate for a job that you’ll basically take anything that’s offered to you, especially if not much has been offered to you yet. 

Even if you’re not asking for much, recruiters can easily make young professionals feel like they’re asking for far too much. From the way some of them talk, you’d think that anyone asking for more than $40K a year is a Rich Uncle Pennybags-type figure. One recent grad was asked about his preferred salary during his interview for a 60-hour-a-week position. The former finance major said «$60K,» and that was a wholly unacceptable answer for the sneaky recruiter.