I have never been in a salary negotiation in which I was bargained down hard, which may mean I'm a terrible person to ask for negotiation advice.
But not entirely, because the "assume the counterparty is a dick" technique is actually kind of pointlessly lossy, even if it works out in aggregate over the market. It's been a long time since I negotiated a salary, but in a few recent contracting scenarios I've just set a price that I knew was fair, stuck to it, and when necessary explained to the prospect why it was fair.
People are either willing to listen to reason or they're not worth dealing with.
From my experience a good bargainer will always win more then you, but he will often also help you in ways you didn't imagine were possible. Because he is good at finding what is really important to people and how to get things done. If he wants something from you, he will also give you solutions to some of the harder problems you have in exchange. So I don't think a strong bargainer is a dick.
Of course there are people who bargain to trick you. And even normally fair and strong bargainers will sometimes use their powers more to their advantages then they should. But in my eyes it's not the common situation. Between sticking-to-the-first-number and tricking-each-other-out-of-money there is a big range of good and bad bargaining which actually solves the good purpose of finding each others priorities, a good range for the value bargained, and a result both parties can agree to.
But not entirely, because the "assume the counterparty is a dick" technique is actually kind of pointlessly lossy, even if it works out in aggregate over the market. It's been a long time since I negotiated a salary, but in a few recent contracting scenarios I've just set a price that I knew was fair, stuck to it, and when necessary explained to the prospect why it was fair.
People are either willing to listen to reason or they're not worth dealing with.