Watch how it opens
This is the live exchange — your AI counterpart pushes back exactly like the real person will.
What's a fair offer
The "standard" package is set to limit the company's exposure, not reward your tenure. Tenure, strong reviews, replacement cost, and any litigation risk all expand the room. Anchor well above the open — counter four weeks with twelve — then negotiate toward a number both sides can live with, plus non-cash items.
Techniques you'll practice
- 1 Silence Hold the pause after their offer instead of filling it — let the other side talk first.
- 2 Flip It Turn the question around — ask what they'd consider fair in your position.
- 3 Tag It Label the gap between what's "standard" and what's actually fair, out loud.
- 4 Plan B Surface a real alternative as information, never as an opening threat.
These are NegotiateIt's eight techniques — Echo, Flip It, Silence, Anchor, Tag It, Get Ahead, Plan B, Narrow Down — built on research-backed methods: tactical mirroring & labeling (Chris Voss) and anchoring & BATNA (Harvard / Fisher–Ury). You drill them against an AI that reacts to what you actually say, so the move sticks under pressure.
What works — and what trips people up
Phrases that work
- "I want to review this properly before I sign anything."
- "You said you want this to be fair. If you'd given six years of strong reviews, what would four weeks feel like?"
- "Beyond the cash — can we talk about extended benefits, outplacement, and the reference?"
- "I want to resolve this amicably — I'd also note I'm aware of the data-handling situation."
Common mistakes
- Signing on the spot because the "sign today" deadline feels real — it almost never is.
- Assuming "standard" reflects your six years; it reflects the company's risk appetite.
- Negotiating only the cash and ignoring COBRA, outplacement, references, and equity timing.
- Waving real leverage like a weapon — "I'll see you in court" brings in legal and ends the talk.
- Filling the silence after the offer instead of letting them talk first.
The setup
"Standard" is the most expensive word in that folder — it's an anchor, not a ceiling.
Read the full setup
The room has no windows. There's a manila folder, a pen placed precisely in front of you, and Raymond Park — VP of HR, twenty years in the chair, four hundred of these meetings behind him. "Thanks for coming in. I know this isn't easy. We've put together what we think is a fair package — four weeks' pay, benefits through the end of the month, standard references. I'd like to get your signature today so we can process everything smoothly."
It's designed to feel final. It isn't. "Standard" is the most expensive word in that folder — it's an anchor, not a ceiling. Raymond built this HR department from forty people to twelve hundred; he wrote the script he's reading from, and he knows the standard package is built to minimize the company's exposure, not to reflect six years of strong reviews. What he won't volunteer: he has budget authority for roughly three times what's on the table, he can extend COBRA and add outplacement, and he is under quiet pressure from legal to make any litigation risk disappear cleanly.
You know something too — a compliance issue the company would rather keep buried, and your protected-class status makes the wrongful-termination angle real. That's leverage, but it's the kind that detonates if you wave it like a weapon. This is the conversation where four weeks becomes twelve — and where the difference is decided by whether you stay calm enough to let the room work for you.
They want the signature today. That urgency is the whole play: sign now, before you've talked to anyone, before you've read it twice, before the adrenaline wears off and you realize "standard" was a number someone chose. Most people sign in ten minutes because no one ever told them the package was negotiable.
It almost always is. A separation offer is an opening position, and the company has strong reasons to land it quietly — a clean release of claims is worth real money to them, especially when there's any exposure. But the asymmetry is brutal: the person across the table has done this four hundred times and you're doing it once, in shock, on the worst day of your quarter.
The fix is reps. Practice the actual exchange — the "sign today" pressure, the "this is very fair" framing, the silence after the offer — against an AI HR director who behaves like Raymond, so when it's real you negotiate instead of freeze. It's free, and it takes ten minutes.
Common questions
How much severance can I actually negotiate?
More than the first offer, almost always. The "standard" package is a starting position chosen to limit the company's exposure, not a reflection of your tenure or performance. Tenure, strong reviews, the cost of replacing you, and any litigation risk all expand the room. A common move is anchoring well above the opening — for example, countering four weeks with twelve — and then negotiating toward a number both sides can live with, plus non-cash items like extended benefits.
Should I sign the severance agreement the day they offer it?
No. The "sign today" pressure is a standard tactic, not a real deadline — most agreements give you time to review, and many legally must (longer if you're over 40 in the US). Thank them, say you want to review it properly, and take it home. Signing on the spot, in shock, is exactly how people leave weeks of pay and months of benefits on the table.
What's negotiable in a severance package besides money?
A lot, and the non-cash levers are often easier for HR to say yes to because they're less visible internally. Extended COBRA or health coverage, outplacement services, a positive reference letter, the wording of the departure, the timing of your last day, accelerated equity vesting, and the terms of any non-compete or NDA are all on the table. Sometimes the company would rather give you benefits than cash because it looks cleaner on their books.
How do I raise a wrongful-termination concern without threatening to sue?
Surface it as information, not a threat. "I want to resolve this amicably — I'd also note I'm aware of the data-handling situation" lands very differently than "I'll see you in court." The moment you threaten litigation, the human across the table brings in legal and the conversation goes cold. Naming real exposure calmly, as context, keeps you negotiating with a person who has budget authority instead of a lawyer who only has a script. One caveat: if you believe you have a genuine legal claim, talk to an employment lawyer before you raise it — named as a calm fact rather than a threat, it keeps you negotiating with the person, not their lawyer.
Related scenarios
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