Human resource management

Job Offer Negotiations

The Applicant

You are considering a job offer from a highly respected consulting firm and have requested a meeting with the person who would become your future boss, a partner at the firm, to negotiate the terms of the offer. The proceedings have come to a point at which you must make a decision to accept or reject the offer during this meeting or at the end of the day at the latest. You are quickly approaching the conclusion of your MBA degree and would like to make a decision as to where you will be working afterwards.

The Recruiter

You are a partner at a multinational consulting firm. During the recent financial crisis, the demand for strategy consulting services decreased significantly and a hiring freeze swept your firm, paired with isolated lay-offs. However, the past three years have been favorable to the industry. Your firm has performed particularly well during this period, and the resulting promotions and firm retention has left your firm in need of human capital. You are looking to hire another consultant to alleviate some of the overwhelming workload.

A student assigned as “the Applicant” and a student assigned as “the Recruiter” shall negotiate an employment contract within the parameters defined in the respective case studies.  The areas that need to be negotiated are: Base Salary, Signing Bonus, Performance Bonus, Pension, Health Coverage, Paid Vacation, Moving Expenses and Start Date.

In order to complete this project, students will need to purchase the case at Harvard Business Publishing by following this link:   https://hbsp.harvard.edu/import/743068

Students must present a one-page paper that lists the negotiated terms.  Additionally, each student must submit a paper, describing each of the following:

1. What were the easiest terms to negotiate?  Why do you believe they were easier to negotiate, and did it surprise you that these terms would be among the easiest terms?


2. What were the hardest terms to negotiate?  Why do you believe they were harder to negotiate, and did it surprise you that these terms would be among the hardest terms?


3. Describe the negotiation process that took place.  For example, but not limited to, how many sessions, how long were the sessions, how did the parties separate the topics to be negotiated.


4. What strengths and weaknesses did you observe about yourself in the negotiating process.