Practice exercise: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/youre-hired/episode-9
Before accepting the job offer Sarah meets Marcia to try to negotiate on a few areas of her contract.
Transcript
Marcia Boardman: Hi! Welcome to WebWare.
Sarah Timms: Thanks, nice to see you again.
Marcia Boardman: You too. So, you said you wanted to come in and have a chat before you started...
Sarah Timms: Yeah, I just wanted to have a look round and ask a few more questions, if I can...
Marcia Boardman: Sure, fire away!
Sarah Timms: Well, I was delighted to receive the job offer...
Marcia Boardman: Good -- we were delighted to offer it to you...
Sarah Timms: But before I sign the contract there were one or two specifics I wanted to talk about.
Marcia Boardman: OK... 'specifics'?
Sarah Timms: Well... there is a pay scale, instead of a fixed salary...
Marcia Boardman: Yes, as a new employee you'd be at the lower end of the pay scale.
Sarah Timms: But taking my experience into account...
Marcia Boardman: Well, you haven't had that much experience -- we see you as an investment...
Sarah Timms: But that salary would only be a little more than I'm making now. So, instead of asking for a higher level on the pay scale, I thought this could be compensated by adding certain bonuses - for instance if I make certain sales targets, or even break them, I would be looking for a good cash payment, or stock options in the company.
Marcia Boardman: Well, that is something we sometimes offer senior members of staff, but to show good faith I'll provisionally offer you the bonus scheme -- but I'll have to okay it with Philip first.
Sarah Timms: That's fine. I also see there are 25 days holiday.
Marcia Boardman: Yes. That's standard.
Sarah Timms: It's not very much for a high pressure job though...
Marcia Boardman: I can't offer you any more holiday.
Sarah Timms: No, but I was wondering if we could delay my start date, so instead of starting a week from now, as we discussed, I could start in a month's time?
Marcia Boardman: You're a tough negotiator, Sarah!
Sarah Timms: That's one of the reasons you hired me!
Marcia Boardman: Yes, of course. OK, I think we can do that -- I'll look forward to seeing you in a month, and earning those bonuses!
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