There are various ways of handling the salary question. It
often gets asked in online application forms and if not, you can be sure it
will come up in interviews. There are many resources to help you establish a
number or tight range. If you don’t prepare yourself you will find the question
very difficult to answer and you might price yourself out of the job, too high
or low.
The best answer to the online applications is do not
apply until after you’ve spoken to the hiring manager and generated interest. You will be much further ahead if you
don’t have to answer the salary question before you interview, so stay out of
never-never-land until you absolutely have to.
You might say it is not easy to talk to the hiring manager first. Maybe, but
you can learn how to
a) identify and to talk to the hiring manager, and
b) get passed the gatekeepers.
Think about what you might be able to find out about the
job that would help you ‘tune’ your resume to be responsive to the needs of the
hiring manager! Hey, he or she might ask you for your resume. What could be better? You would then have an important ally and you would be about 10 steps ahead of your
competition!
In interviews, it depends upon when the salary question
comes up. And you better have done your research and established a number or
fairly tight range before the interview.
In an interview the best answer is to answer
the question with a question, not an answer. This is not because you should
be evasive or confrontational about the question. It’s because it is to your see if you can get them to identify the range before you speak. Another advantage is to find out about non-salary considerations in order to intelligently
discuss it. You may not have enough knowledge of your cost of the benefits
they offer. And these can be substantial. You can’t even be sure
you want the job yet. So you need to avoid being locked into a number too early. A good negotiator will use whatever you say to their advantage if they can.
If the question comes up at a second or third interview, that’s a good
sign they are interested in you. At that point you have greater knowledge about
the company and job and have a better chance of negotiating. If you’ve prepared
yourself for the question, you’re in good hands.
There are plenty of resources available to help you. And there are a number of possible responses to the question one can learn.
There are plenty of resources available to help you. And there are a number of possible responses to the question one can learn.
To learn how to negotiate the salary question. Contact me at
kl@hoochresumes.com.