MGMT3721 Job Terms Negotiation – Candidate Brief (T3 2023)
Lee Young
You are Lee Young, a graduating student with a BSc/BCom (Honours) from UNSW, excelling in
pharmacology and earning First Class Honours. While science is your true passion, you pursued a
commerce degree in International Business, but you are determined to complete a PhD with you
Honors UNSW supervisor/professor. However, you are wary of the uncertainties the current academic
job market, so you explored research opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry and interned last
summer at Purezza Pharmaceuticals (PP) under Alex Reclutamento in Business Development
assisting with the European product and market launch.
During your internship, you confided in Alex about your love for research. Alex went above and
beyond to help you gain experience in PP’s research laboratories and production facility. This
experience has put way you ahead of your peers. You also really enjoyed the workplace culture – it
was a creative safe place where everyone values diversity, inclusion, and innovation. PP’s values also
align with yours as the company is commitment to addressing global challenges (SDGs) by
integrating sustainability principles into its business practices. The summer internship has
overwhelmingly convinced you that PP is the ideal company for your career aspirations and
professional growth.
PP offers satisfying career opportunities in pharmacological Research and Development (R&D) or
Bus Dev – or, perhaps, both! Alex mentioned that out of 25 interns, you were 1 of the 3 that will be
offered a fill-time position and has requested to meet with you to discuss the offer. So, you know that
they want to hire you. While you are extremely grateful for Alex’s help, you would ideally like a full-
time research-based position in R&D where you could do your PhD full-time with your UNSW thesis
supervisor on pharmaceutical production innovation for PP. On the other hand, you also find the
North-East Asian campaign exciting and would love to live abroad through an overseas posting as you
love different cultures and aim to travel as much as possible - this could be a reality if you accept the
job offer at PP working with Alex in Bus Dev.
You're seeking a career-defining opportunity that combines research education and corporate (Bus
Dev) training, progressive responsibility, job security, and diverse work experiences. Your primary
goal to work for a leading multinational pharmaceutical company that will provide you with the
following opportunities:
1. Research Career Advancement
2. International overseas postings
Your job search has also produced 2 other offers.
1. Medicait: multinational pharmaceutical business, specializing in production and sells of
generic pharmaceuticals into Australia and New Zealand. It is a small, local venture capital-
funded company that partners with local university research team to develop patents. Being a
small company, they will not be able to sponsor your PhD.
2. GNP: Going North Products (GNP) aligns with your research aspirations, collaborating with
a university on promising projects. However, it lacks a strong business development presence
and managerial growth opportunities which means no overseas postings.
PP offers large-scale multinational research capabilities, extensive collaborations, and a strong global
presence. PP’s offer is for a grad recruit position which could lead to an overseas posting (especially if
you speak to Alex about going with them), but the offer does not mention anything about PhD
sponsorship which is disappointing. Medicait, on the other hand, provides immediate prospects for a
PhD Sponsorship but limited scope for business development and overseas posting opportunities.
Medicate is offering higher starting salary ($67,000), a signing bonus ($2,000), and a clear upward
mobility path. GNP offers a competitive salary with substantial share options, although these come
with higher risk due to the venture capital nature of the company, but you are considering using their
offer as leverage to improve packages from PP or Medicait.
As you prepare for your conversation (negotiation) with Alex, you are pondering the issues involved
and planning your strategy. Here is your current thinking:
Department/Title: Your primary concern with PP's offer is the generic graduate recruit
position rather than a more prestigious business, scientific management, or research role. You
believe that an upgraded, more prestigious role would align better with your career
aspirations, especially with what you can offer to the company. Alternatively, you're open to
the possibility of a precise role on the R&D side. Alternatively, you'd prefer a more science-
oriented job title, such as "Trainee Assistant" or even "Clinical Trials Administrator.” If an
improved job title isn't feasible, you'd consider negotiating for additional salary to bring the
offer closer to Medicait’s.
However, you're aware that Alex is aware of your career interests, and there may be valid
reasons for the initial offer. You're weighing whether bringing up this issue could potentially
strain your relationship with Alex and affect other negotiation points or if it's worth
leveraging Medicait's offer as a trainee assistant product manager in business development to
prompt a change in PP's offer.
Salary: Typical annual salaries for graduate recruits range from $42,000 to $57,000, with
potential bonuses of up to $5,000 for top honours graduates. The PP offer currently stands at
$62,000 with annual incremental increases. You're open to a trade-off of up to $10,000 in your
starting salary in exchange for PP funding your PhD.
PhD Stipend: You are very disappointed that the offer does not include a PhD sponsorship,
but you believe that you and Alex have a strong enough relationship that you might be able to
persuade her to include it in the offer. You will definitely need to concede on other things to
get PP to sponsor you.
One idea you had was working for Alex in Bus Dev on the North-East Asia campaign and
doing the PhD part-time. Then after you finish the PhD you might be able to secure an
overseas posting for your work on the campaign. You want both (to do a PhD and to work on
the campaign), but you aren’t sure how to make that happen.
Annual Bonuses (Year-end): Another option you're exploring is the possibility of a
guaranteed year-end bonus, which PP has mentioned in its job offer. Typically, year-end
performance bonuses in pharmaceutical firms range from 5% to 15% of annual base salary.
Sign-on Bonus: You know that sign-on bonuses are very uncommon for pharmaceutical grad
recruits and that there is little to no chance PP will over one. Yet, you're contemplating
whether or not to negotiate for a $2,500 sign-on bonus due to double degree, experience,
expertise, and relationship with your UNSW research supervisor.
Start Date: The start date is not a major concern for you, but it’s crucial for PP due to Alex’s
urgent need to expand her section into the North-East Asia region. You briefly mentioned
potential travel plans with your fiancé in Europe, including Millan, after your studies end in
November, but these plans remain uncertain. This detail could potentially be used as leverage
in negotiations.
In summary, PP is the obvious first choice with Medicait being your second. Medicait’s offer is
certainly a very acceptable alternative if you are prepared to forgo PhD funding. Still, you feel you
there needs to be some improvements in the terms of employment offered before you are willing to
choose PP over Medicait.