7. If employer is not willing to go along with that approach, then quote a range. Say that you’re looking for something in 80s or 90s, but exact figure depends on position, benefits and other factors.

8. Take care of fringe benefits. They can make a very important difference to your overall financial position and quality of life. Look at things like medical insurance, relocation expenses, stock options, paid parking, health club membership, etc.

9. Do your homework before you go in to negotiate a job offer. Know what salaries are typical for your position. Also, do your math correctly. You might find that earning an extra $10,000 might put you into a higher tax bracket resulting in lower take-home pay. Look at additional expenses new job would involve -- relocation, more expensive commute, etc. Do this preparation beforehand; it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to think through everything while in thick of negotiations.

10. When trying to negotiate a higher salary, state your current salary grossed up for all bonuses, commissions, benefits that you receive. Don’t limit yourself to just your pre-tax salary.

11. Be flexible. Negotiations are about give and take. You might have to concede some points to gain something that’s valuable to you personally. This is another way of saying ‘play fair’.

12. Stick to truth. Exaggerating your qualifications, work experience, current salary, etc, is risky -- it is quite likely that employer will find out and then job offer may be retracted. You may even be fired from your job if they find out after you join them.

You are now ready to scrutinize job offer(s). Your objective -- to make sure you have enough quality information on hand. Refer to pre-interview research you would have done on company. Your personal network can be a very valuable source of inputs -- so ask several people what they think of organization.

Do a search on ‘net and see what you can turn up on company, senior management personnel and even your supervisor. Call up company and ask questions. If they truly want you, then they’ll be willing to share information.

Talk to person who last held position. If he or she has moved on to another organization, call them up and have a short, informal chat.

Once you’re reasonably convinced you have adequate information that’s reliable, it’s time to match job offer to your priorities. Pull out sheet on which you’ve written down your criteria.

For each criterion, review information you gathered and see how well job stacks up against that criterion. As you do this exercise, you may find that you either increase or decrease importance for some criteria. That’s fine.

If offer matches well with factors that are most important to you and many others, then you can seriously consider accepting offer. Else, try negotiating to get more of what you want. If that’s not possible, keep looking till you get a job offer that’s a reasonably close fit with your interests.

Follow these simple steps and you’ll find yourself making better job and career choices.