What does a strong counter email to a recruiter contain after a written offer arrives?

## Why the counter is a document, not a moment In most hiring processes a recruiter cannot approve an increase alone. They carry the ask to a hiring manager, a compensation partner, or an approval step of some kind — practice varies by employer, but the shape is common. That single fact drives almost every rule below: **you are writing for a reader you will never meet.** Your ask has to survive being forwarded. A phone call is excellent for tone, for hearing what is flexible, and for keeping the relationship human. It is poor at travelling. What gets forwarded is the recruiter's memory of what you said. So a good pattern is: take the call, thank them, ask clarifying questions, say you will come back with your thinking, then send the counter in writing. If the conversation happens live, follow it with a short written confirmation of exactly what you asked for. ## The three parts ### One specific ask Name the thing. A single base figure you can defend, or a single named change. Specificity does two jobs: it gives the recruiter something to request rather than something to interpret, and it tells them what closes you, which is the only piece of information they actually need. The failure mode here is the vague counter — `it's a little below what I was hoping for, is there any flexibility?` It carries no number, no reason and no priority, so the recruiter must guess all three, and guessing is expensive for them, so they guess small. If you truly have more than one ask, **rank them explicitly** and say which one matters most. An unranked list of five wishes reads as a shopping trip; the approver cannot tell which yes would produce a signature, so the safe move on their side is a token improvement to the cheapest item. ### One justification The justification exists so the recruiter can argue on your behalf in a room you are not in. It should be short, specific and repeatable: the level and scope the role was described at during the loop, the benchmarks you gathered for that level and location, and the responsibilities that came up in the interviews. What does not work as justification: your rent, a generic multiplier applied to their number, or an assertion that the offer is `low` with nothing attached. Personal need is not a lever the approver can act on, and arithmetic performed on the employer's own figure concedes that their figure was the right starting point. ### One warm line End with enthusiasm that is real. The recruiter's risk is that they spend political capital on an increase and the candidate declines anyway. A sentence that says the role is the one you want, and that this ask is what would let you sign, converts your email from a threat into an approval request. One more piece of warmth that costs nothing: acknowledge the work they did to get the offer approved in the first place. Negotiation is not adversarial theatre; you are asking a person to advocate for you. ## Worked example: a platform role A candidate has a written offer for a platform engineering role. The recruiter described the base as sitting mid-band for the level. The counter email is roughly six sentences long: - A thank-you and a plain statement that the candidate wants the role. - The ask: one specific base figure, named once. - The justification: the scope discussed in the loop — owning the internal build and deploy tooling for several teams — and the benchmarks the candidate gathered for that level and location. - The closing: `Given the level and the market data I have, I was targeting the upper part of the band — can we get there?` followed by a line saying they are ready to sign on that basis. That email can be forwarded verbatim, and it survives the forwarding. ## Tone and length Short beats long. Every extra paragraph gives the reader another thing to disagree with, and length reads as anxiety. Avoid apologising for asking, avoid explaining at length how difficult the decision is, and avoid framing the ask as an ultimatum unless you are genuinely willing to walk — a threat you would not honour is the one negotiating move that is hard to take back. Also, get the timing right. Ask for the offer in writing before you counter, so you are negotiating against the real terms rather than a remembered summary, and ask when they need an answer so you know how much room you have to think.