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DS has been offered a job overseas as Assistant Professor. This is his first "real" job right after his Phd.
The job packet he has received wants to know his current salary and he doesn't want to give it. He has been in graduate school, is on scholarship and stipend and frankly his salary is very low and he even says it is non existent so he wants to put NA. He's afraid they will low ball him in salary because his current pay is meager.
I've told him it is a standard job info packet, they know he has been in school and that this is a completely different situation.
How should he handle this? He just found out this morning about the job offer and no salary has ever been mentioned although he knows the range.
He can write "My graduate student stipend is now $XX,XXX.XX". You can't lowball a grad student. And if they do he doesn't have to take a job.
The time-honored way to improve your salary for academic positions is to somehow get a second job offer, if you can, and then play the two positions against each other. Delaying actions are often used to obtain the second offer.
It depends some of the small companies will pull every dirty trick in the book to lowball. I had an HR person call me last week and the first question she asked was what is my current salary. I gave it and she said OK I'll talk to my manager and we'll call you back. She never did.
Most of the larger corporations want to keep you around so they won't play those kind of games. If they want to screw or lowball someone they typically hire them as a permatemp.
Just put down the information and if they try to lowball counter it and be prepared to walk away.
DS has been offered a job overseas as Assistant Professor. This is his first "real" job right after his Phd.
The job packet he has received wants to know his current salary and he doesn't want to give it. He has been in graduate school, is on scholarship and stipend and frankly his salary is very low and he even says it is non existent so he wants to put NA. He's afraid they will low ball him in salary because his current pay is meager.
I've told him it is a standard job info packet, they know he has been in school and that this is a completely different situation.
How should he handle this? He just found out this morning about the job offer and no salary has ever been mentioned although he knows the range.
If his only current "salary" has been simply a grad school stipend, simply put "N/A" and leave it at that. Given that they have made him an offer, they should know that he has been in school full-time and not working at a real job (not that grad school is not a full-time job, but you know what I mean).
I was living off of a $10k per year stipend in grad school. When I took my first job, I certainly did not present that as my current salary (nor did I list what I made delivering pizzas a few years earlier).
They know he has been in grad school and on a stipend and does not have a current salary. And they are certainly not going to even consider a stipend in terms of salary negotiations. So in this case - its not an issue, he doesn't have a salary, so N/A is appropriate.
As others have pointed out, they know he just finished grad school, so they aren't going to lowball him just because his current stipend is low - that's not a reflection on his value, just on his stage in his education. The only professors I've known who can really hold out for higher pay are ones who are consistent grant-generating machines and/or are nationally or internationally known for their work. But just out of grad school, neither of those situations will apply, so I wouldn't worry about it. I think either his stipend or N/A will work equally as well.
He hasn't had a salary before. Just put N/A. They'll probably come back with an offer in the lower half of what they want to pay him. Bump it up by 10% or so on the counter-offer (20% if your son thinks he can take his time to shop around for other jobs).
DS has been offered a job overseas as Assistant Professor. This is his first "real" job right after his Phd.
The job packet he has received wants to know his current salary and he doesn't want to give it. He has been in graduate school, is on scholarship and stipend and frankly his salary is very low and he even says it is non existent so he wants to put NA. He's afraid they will low ball him in salary because his current pay is meager.
I've told him it is a standard job info packet, they know he has been in school and that this is a completely different situation.
How should he handle this? He just found out this morning about the job offer and no salary has ever been mentioned although he knows the range.
I think he should be absolutely truthful and tell them what his salary is. You are right!
DS has been offered a job overseas as Assistant Professor. This is his first "real" job right after his Phd.
Huh? How was he offered a position without a salary being stated by the employer?
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