<prompt> Human: Hi all, looking for some advice. Today I met with the manager of a mid level sized company and received a job offer. The starting salary is significantly lower than I expected. Im currently making 64k two weeks vacation, no benefits. The offer is 48k with four weeks vacation and 50 percent health benefits along with expected commission of 6400 bringing me up to 54,500. I told him Id have to review the offer as I was expecting a higher starting salary. I asked if he was willing to negotiate and he said yes and that I could email with a number. How do I go about doing this? I feel super depressed as this is a company Ive wanted to work with for a long time but Im seriously considering not taking the position if thats all theyre paying. Id love if I could start at 53k and then have wiggle room for commission. How do I go about emailing a respectful and tactful way of saying this?Assistant: Ask for more then 53, shit youre at 64. Give the guy your numbers, let him know youre good at 58 and feel confident you can turn this into something other than a lateral move by exceeding expectations on commissions Human: I feel afraid that he would think its too ridiculously high of a counter offer. Im just baffled as I had already made him aware of what I was currently making in the initial interviewing stages so did he think Im lying about my current salary? Seems odd to have to bring up that Im making more than 10k higher already.  <response>: Its not a ridiculous counter offer, its what you need. Dont be timid to ask for whats reasonable. If they knew your requirements up front theyre not going to be weird about you asking to remain whole. Its odd to think someone would take a 30 paycut tbh. Id type the email and hit send. Let the chips fall where they will. 