Career Negotiations Podcast

Oracle Salary Negotiation - How to Negotiate Oracle Compensation

• Brandon Bramley

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➡️ *My free Salary Negotiation Guide:* https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/salary-negotiation-guide

Do you know how to negotiate Oracle salary? In this episode, I cover Oracle compensation packages, my proven step-by-step Oracle salary negotiation strategies, and some common mistakes to avoid during an Oracle offer negotiation.

That way you have negotiation advice that is based on hundreds of salary negotiations and actually work with Oracle offers.

SALARY NEGOTIATION TOOLS MENTIONED

Oracle SALARY NEGOTIATION RESOURCES

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WHO AM I

I'm Brandon, the Founder and Lead Negotiator at The Salary Negotiator®. As a former corporate negotiator, I now help employees increase their compensation. Through hundreds of salary negotiations, I've helped career professionals secure over $200 million in additional compensation. My expertise is backed by more than 150 five-star reviews from career professionals on Google and Trustpilot.

How To Tell If It’s Competitive

Brandon

Oracle provides competitive compensation in person employees, but how do you know if your job offer is competitive before you accept it? In this episode, my goal is to cover everything you're gonna need to confidently navigate an Oracle salary negotiation. I'm first gonna cover the compensation structure at Oracle so you know exactly more about Oracle's base salary, their equity package, and sign-up bonuses in their job offers. That way you know exactly what to expect when you do land that role. Then I'm gonna walk you through my five recommended steps for negotiating an Oracle job offer that are actually proven through real Oracle salary negotiations that I've led from my clients. That way you're gonna be able to filter out some of the bad advice out there and use salary negotiation strategies that are actually gonna work with Oracle. And I'm gonna close out the episode by highlighting three common mistakes that you need to avoid in your Oracle salary negotiation. That way you don't risk the opportunity and you actually secure competitive compensation. So let's get right into it. Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel. If you're new here, my name is Brandon Bramley and I'm the founder and lead negotiator at thesalarynegotier.com. I provide professional job offer negotiation coaching, salary negotiation courses, and tools to help professionals like you navigate the negotiation process and secure competitive compensation. I'm not just one of those career coaches or recruiters out there giving generic salary negotiation advice. There's already a ton of bad advice floating around online. Instead, I personally led hundreds of salary negotiations across various roles, helping my clients secure hundreds of millions more in compensation. So my background is actually in strategic negotiations, and my goal is to debunk some of the bad advice out there and give you proven salary negotiation strategies that are actually gonna help you earn more. So if you are a career professional looking to earn competitive pay, subscribe here for some of my actual tips. And when you're ready to take your negotiations to the next level, feel free to visit me at thesalarynegotier.com for coaching courses and tools that are help you gonna negotiate the best possible offer.

Oracle Total Compensation Components

Brandon

Now, before we dive into how to negotiate an Oracle job offer, let's first talk about the compensation components at Oracle. Because it's really important to understand the differences between your base salary and your total compensation. Way too many people focus on only the base salary at Oracle, but that's really just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to their compensation. When considering a move there, you need to really look at your whole picture, which is your total monetary take-home pay, also known as your total compensation. And at Oracle, it's gonna include your base salary, an equity grant, and a sign-on bonus. So let's go ahead and dive deeper into those three compensation components in your Oracle job offer. First, there's gonna be your Oracle base salary. Okay, this is consistent guaranteed pay that you'll see in every paycheck. It's really only gonna change with promotions or merit increases since it's a set rate. So it's a pretty standard comp component. So I'm really not gonna spend too much time on what an Oracle base salary is, since you should all receive a base salary in any role.

RSU Vesting Schedule And Tradeoffs

Brandon

But second, the big thing at Oracle is you will receive equity. Okay, your initial Oracle equity package is gonna come in the form of RSUs, which are restricted stock units. These are gonna represent ownership in an Oracle, and these RSUs are subject to a staggered four-year Oracle vesting schedule. Okay, this is a little bit different than other companies. This means Oracle Equity is gonna vest over a four-year period in staggered annual increments, meaning you're gonna receive 40% of your RSUs in your first year, 30% in your second year, 20% in year three, and the final 10% in year four. So it is front loaded in your first year, which is a big one compared to some companies that have an annual equal vesting schedule. So the one thing to note about this is you really don't get the value of your Oracle equity up front, but you do share in the value fluctuations over that period. So if the Oracle stock price goes up, you actually go ahead and get the upside with that equity just like any other shareholder. However, the flip side is if the Oracle stock price drops, your equity value is gonna decrease as well. So there are risks with having equity. And it's also important to know that if you ever leave Oracle before your RSU is best, then you're actually gonna forfeit that unvested portion and lose out on it. All right, so that's where the form of golden handkifts come from. Um, and the other thing to know is Oracle does offer annual equity refreshes, which are essentially additional RSU grants at Oracle every year, that you're gonna get more Oracle stock. The only issue is these are gonna fluctuate and they're not guaranteed. So we don't include them in our total compensation calculations, but it's worth asking your Oracle recruiter to see how much these Oracle stock refreshes are every year to see what it might look like in your individual role. So keep that in mind. And the last item I want to chat through is your Oracle signup bonus. Okay, this is a one-time cash payment that's typically paid out 30 days after you start, and it's often designed to offset any lost incentives or equity from your previous company or just an incentive to join the new role. So Oracle signup bonuses aren't always included in every offer or your initial Oracle offer, so they're gonna require negotiation. But luckily, I've had great success in securing them for my clients that I help them with on Oracle negotiations. So know that you should be able to secure one. One thing though that I do want to call out and what I didn't talk through, right, is there is no Oracle performance bonus. Okay, this might be a typical perk that you've seen in other companies or you have currently, but Oracle unfortunately doesn't have an annual compensation component, all right? Outside of the equity and outside of the base salary. So keep that in mind that this is an item that is missing when you are evaluating other roles. It doesn't mean that they have lower total compensation, it's just one of those components that they don't include. So these three main Oracle salary components, your base salary, your equity, and your sign-in bonus, are gonna make up your total compensation at Oracle. To help you visualize this, we have a total compensation calculator on our site. It's gonna let you input your base salary, your equity gain, and your sign-in bonus. Then it shows you our estimated compensation over four years, both in total and on an annual basis. You can find our free total compensation calculator at thesalarynegotier.com if you want to walk through it and start putting your offer in there so you can actually calculate what your total compensation is. But I'll go ahead and link to it in the episode notes below as well so you can use this free tool. All right,

The Five-Step Oracle Negotiation

Brandon

now that we've covered how Oracle's compensation structure works, let's discuss the Oracle salary negotiation steps. These are the strategies that I've actually used to successfully negotiate many Oracle job offers, and I'm gonna recommend you all follow them to navigate your Oracle salary negotiation once you actually have an offer in hand, not beforehand. Okay, so once you have that Oracle job offer, the first step to negotiating is to make sure you fully understand the compensation components and the benefits in your Oracle offer package. The biggest takeaway from this is that understanding your Oracle total compensation is very important. That way you know exactly how to value the Oracle offer and what to negotiate, including your base salary, your equity, and your sign-up bonus. The second step is what I call doing your due diligence and asking strategic questions. This is where you're actually gonna review the Oracle offer and come back with a list of questions for the recruiter. This not only helps you clarify any questions that you might have about the offer, but it's actually gonna allow you to strategically ask questions that are gonna build negotiation leverage. You can call out items that might not be as competitive as your current company or what Oracle's competitors offer. And if you need some ideas, you can always grab our list of strategic questions from me on our templates page or in our course. But don't stick skip this step. Even if you think you understand the offer, this step is very important to building negotiation leverage. And I cannot highlight it enough because it shows you're doing your research and your due diligence before you send a counter offer. Okay, it's also gonna help you get any freebies that Oracle might use as traders later, trade-offs later on in the negotiation. Third step is to do your Oracle compensation research and find the base salary and the total compensation ranges for the specific role, location, and level at Oracle. That's because we want to take a database approach and use multiple services to actually ask for realistic compensation. So we can see where your offer sits on the base salary range and the total compensation range and how much more to ask for. Because unfortunately, Oracle, like most other companies, tries to hire their employees at the lower to mid end of the pay bands. But I'm always gonna suggest that you push towards the top end of the Oracle pay range for your specific role. Just remember that this is public reported data, so it's not always accurate, and you're always gonna want to use multiple resources because there might be stock appreciation from previous employees that have uploaded their data or they might have not uploaded their compensation correctly. So make sure you do that and average across multiple offers or multiple comp inputs. And if you go ahead and use some of our tools on our site, um, especially our compensation research comparison tool on our templates page or in our course, it'll actually help you organize that Oracle data so you know how to average across that and build that into a counter offer if needed. Once you have your Oracle compensation research done though, and you've gotten the answers to your questions, you're now ready to submit a counter offer. Okay, so this is where we're gonna take a database approach and craft an Oracle counter offer to send to the recruiting team. We're gonna present the top end of the range you're targeting based off your research and call out any items that weren't competitive on your due diligence questions. I'm gonna highly suggest with Oracle that you do this in email because it gives the recruiter everything you need to advocate for you, and they can simply send your points to the comp team instead of hoping that they're gonna note your comments on a call, because recruiters at Oracle are trained to negotiate, and if you try to counter verbally, they're gonna steer you in a different direction and cut you off. Okay, so be prepared for that. And if you need a counter offer for your email draft, feel free to grab that on our page as well. But the biggest thing to be prepared for in the final step after you send an Oracle counter offer is there is going to be recruiter pushback. Okay, this is a standard part of the process, so you need to be prepared on how to handle that pushback from the Oracle recruiter because they are, as I mentioned, deterred to go ahead and prevent you from negotiating and try to get you to accept the initial offer. But it's a very normal process, and essentially what you want to do is let them know that you understand their concerns, but nicely reiterate yours and ask them to take it back to the compensation team to another look. It might take overcoming these objections a few different times, but when they do actually agree to take it back, nine times out of ten, they come back with a better offer. Um, this is the harder part of the process because you do want to navigate it professionally. So if you want our objection handlers, you can download all of them from our templates page or find them in our course if you want those scripts on exactly how to win how to navigate it when you encounter this pushback. But from here, as long as you navigate those steps perfectly, they're either gonna come back with a better offer that fits your needs, or it might be lower than your ass. And at that point, you can decide if you want to go ahead and send a second Oracle counter offer or if you're ready to go ahead and accept the up-ended offer and start the new role. Um, and the biggest thing I can call out is hey, salary negotiation is not like how you negotiate at a car dealership or in a business meeting. Okay, there's not a lot of back and forth, and you usually don't want to send more than two counters. So you don't want to come off as aggressive and jeopardize relationships, so always keep that in

Mistakes That Shrink Your Offer

Brandon

mind. Okay, and the last thing I want to cover before we go is a few Oracle salary negotiation mistakes before you decide to negotiate an Oracle job offer. Okay, because there are a few out there and mistakes do happen. The main item I'm always gonna recommend you get, especially if you're in the interview process still, is do not share your salary expectations or your current pay with the Oracle recruiting team. It's only gonna work against you, okay? If you think about it, if you throw out a number that's lower than what Oracle could offer, or accidentally just share your base salary, you're gonna get either a less competitive pay at the lower end of their comp ban, or since it's a tech company, they can even download you, okay, which is very common at Oracle and other comp teams. So don't share that data. And it's private since it's your current comp data, okay? And on the flip side, I know a lot of you are thinking like, hey, I'll just anchor high and throw out a big number. And that is a silly strategy, and I see it all the time. Okay, if they can't afford that or they think you're grasping on straws, they're either one gonna go in a different route and never give you the offer because they can't afford you, or they're gonna think you unrealistic and not want to negotiate at all. So at the end of the day, don't share this information because the recruiter knows exactly how much they should pay for the role, and you should always turn this question back on them to see if they're willing to give you better insight on what the base salary is and what the total compensation range might be for that role before you do your research. My second tip, or my big mistake to avoid, is make sure that you're realistic about what you should actually ask for in your Oracle counteroffer. All the time I see people throwing out money that's way too much, and they're either gonna get laughed at and it comes out of aggressive, or is this one case where you could get the offer rescinded? Okay, you always want to take a database approach by actually understanding what Oracle is gonna pay for that role, both on a base salary basis and a total compensation basis, and only ask towards the top end of the pay range. Okay, that way you're not coming off as too aggressive and you're not asking for unrealistic numbers that might get them to not negotiate or realize if they're hiring the right person or up, right? And my final item is you shouldn't be worried about an Oracle salary negotiation as long as you're following the right strategy. I get it, you're gonna feel nervous because you just wrapped up the interviews and you don't want to mess anything up, but there's no reason you would risk the Oracle offer if you're following solid strategies. So if you do it right, you should secure a better Oracle offer package before starting the new role and have a much better pay over the course of your career. But that's pretty much it,

Next Steps And Where To Get Help

Brandon

okay? That wraps up this episode on Oracle offer negotiation. And I really hope this breakdown of Oracle's comp structure, our proven Oracle salary negotiation strategies and negotiation mistakes to avoid with your Oracle is gonna help you feel much more confident in these discussions. But honestly, if you're serious about getting the best possible offer with Oracle or any company, I highly suggest you don't go in the salary negotiation alone. Head over to thesalarynegotiator.com to either work with me directly as your salary negotiation coach or check out my salary negotiation courses and tools. You'll find all the links in the episode notes below. And if you found this episode helpful, make sure to subscribe, leave a comment for me, and share it with someone who might use this advice in their career. Thanks for tuning in and happy negotiating, everyone.

Brandon

 SALARY NEGOTIATION TOOLS MENTIONED • Salary Negotiation Coaching: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/ • Salary Negotiation Courses: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/courses • Salary Negotiation Scripts & Templates: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/salary-negotiation-templates • How to Negotiate a Job Offer Course: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/job-offer-negotiation-course • Salary Calculator: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/total-compensation-calculator ORACLE SALARY NEGOTIATION RESOURCES • Oracle Salary Negotiation Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/resource-center/oracle-salary-negotiation • Software Engineer Salary & Levels: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/software-engineer-salary • Best Salary Negotiation Resources: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/best-salary-negotiation-resources • Job Offer Comparison Tool: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/job-offer-comparison-tool • Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE1qEQfLs7A

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Brandon Bramley

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