Multiple colleagues in graduate career coaching offered a counterintuitive suggestion: become comfortable with silence. You do not have to take it as cue to revise your offer down. Instead, you can hold firm, politely restate your case for the compensation you deserve and choose your next move without giving any ground. “Silence itself can be used as a tactic,” a colleague reminded me. Sometimes it’s strategic, she added, to “just sit with it and give the other person the chance to take their time to answer, since the ball is in their court. Simply, silence is not a reason that you should be giving ground. Even though one can feel the pressure to fill the air with talk, don t. Silence in negotiation shows confidence. Silence and listening and showing openness to listening is powerful.” (In this excellent podcast episode, Cheeky Scientist CEO Isaiah Hankel walks through a number of negotiation scripts designed to counter many other conversational tactics hiring managers may