A company sent me a job offer by email after a job interview,
We would like to offer you the position with basic salary of $[number].
Do let us know your feedback and concern by today.
I've replied at the end of day and want to negotiate the basic salary,
Thank you for offering me the [position] position. I’m excited about [company] and the contribution I can make here.
However, the base salary is lower than I expected and I hope there is room to negotiate here. I understand there is gym membership and health insurance coming with the compensation package, however I still feel it is low given that my extensive work experience, plus with higher living cost around the office area than [current hometown].
I’m very interested in [company] and I would happily accept if you could match with my expected salary. I understand that not everything can be accomplished, but I’m willing to be flexible and find a good solution. I’m confident that I can make valuable contributions to the company, and I hope we can come to a mutual agreement.
And this is their reply after two days,
Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately your expected salary is beyond our hiring budget.
We will have to keep you for future reference.
What do they mean by "We will have to keep you for future reference"? Do they want to withdraw the job offer? If not, what should I reply? I still want to accept their job offer even if the salary is not negotiable.
Best Answer
You've got the meaning of the sentence reasonably accurate - they made an offer, you made a counter-offer, they rejected your counter-offer. They're politely telling you they'll keep your information, but that may just be due to legal requirements. In all likelihood, it will end up in the circular file (a euphemism for the garbage can).
In either case, what you should do from this point is not really a question for ELL, but rather The Workplace.