Penelope Trunk has a nice post this week on her Brazen Careerist blog on a difficult issue all job interviewees face: Discussing your potential salary, should you take the job. Her basic message, which I agree with, is to stand your ground and avoid being the first to offer a figure. I can’t help but agree, and offer the following additional techniques for handling this question from potential employers.
Early in the interview process, interviewers have little knowledge of a candidate’s experience and talents. Candidates want to delay stating a salary number until the company has a strong interest in making an offer. Giving a salary number too early in the process can only hurt an applicant’s chances.
So, here are some techniques for responding to the salary question.
1) First, say you would rather not give them a specific number; Second, communicate that you’re interested in the position, and; Third, tell them that all you'd like them to do is make you the best offer they feel comfortable with. Putting it all together, it can sound like this:
"Regarding salary, I'd rather not give you a specific number right now. I'm very interested in this position, and I expect that you'll make me the best offer you're comfortable with at the right time."
2) Say that you’re happy to discuss salary at a time when there is strong interest in your background. It could sound like this:
"I'd be happy to discuss my salary expectations after we have both decided that there is strong mutual interest in possibly hiring me."
3) Ask them what the salary range is for the position. When they give you the salary range, you can say that your salary expectations are in line with the higher end of the range, assuming this is true.
4) State the following:
"When considering a position, several factors are important to me. Salary is only one factor, but not the most important. More important factors include quality of the position, growth opportunities, quality of the people I work with, company culture, and location."
5) If you’re faced with a question such as, “What's your current salary?”, answer this way:
Say, “I am (was) paid well and in line with job market conditions.”
- Communicate that you'd be happy to discuss your specific salary later in the hiring process.
- State that you can also provide salary verification documentation.
- Say you're interested in the opportunity and you'd like them to make the best offer they're comfortable with.
Putting it all together, it can sound like this:
Interviewer: "What is your current (most recent) salary?"
You: “Regarding my most recent salary, I was compensated very well and in line with job market conditions. I'd welcome the chance to discuss my compensation later in the process when we've decided I'm the right person for this opportunity. I'd also welcome the chance to provide salary verification. When we've decided I’m the right person for the job, I’d like you to make the best offer you're comfortable with.”
Remember, as Penelope states in her post, the first person to give a number is at a disadvantage. You want to discuss salary only when the hiring manager is absolutely convinced the company can't live without you. It is at this point when you have negotiating leverage, but not until then.
Craft a response that feels comfortable for you and practice saying it.
Michael,
Good points. However, several employers ask this question as the first step of their process so they can weed out prospective candidates that are looking for something salary-wise that is over what they're going to pay.
It's hard to know if this is their intent in that case, and if you tell them you'd rather discuss salary later on in the process, you may not get that call back because you didn't answer their question.
I can see where, in some cases, you're possibly looking at a catch-22 when it comes to that question of salary.
Hi Zoe,
You raise an important point. Employers normally phone screen applicants before inviting them for face-to-face interviews. During the phone screen most companies ask for your current salary or salary requirements. Earlier this week a close friend faced the identical situation. When asked for her current salary she responded by saying the following:
“I realize you need to make sure my salary expectations are aligned with the company's salary range. Please tell me the salary range then I can let you know if my salary requirements are within your range.”
The phone screener told her the range and my friend replied by saying:
“Great. My salary expectations are within your range. What would you like to know first about my skills for this position?”
The phone interview proceeded smoothly after she handled the salary questions and she was subsequently invited for a face-to-face interview.
O.k. I agree with the comments posted thus far.
However, in my particular case the salary question has come up as a part of the pre-interview process,. The prospective employer has asked me to fill-out an on-line application prior to my interview. I am sure they expect the application prior to my arrival, and not filling it out could show the appearance of not be able to follow through with an assignment.
The dilemma here is that the on-line application will not even allow a blank space or to write-in "Negotiable", it just spits it back out as rejected.
Now what do I do? If I ask too low, I may be low-balled, if I ask too high then I may not even be considered past the interview.
Hi Chris, This is a difficult situation. When you absolutely have to enter a number in an online form try the following to identify a reasonable salary. Go to www.salary.com and research the average compensation for your discipline in your location. They have a team of compensation analysts who research salaries and they sell the compensation data to corporations, who use it to set salary ranges.