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I have a couple of job interviews coming up and i"m wondering about how is the best way to handle the salary, should I get offered a job. I'm not applying for an entry level job, so I'm assuming that salary might have some room for negotiation.
I'm applying to work in the same industry that I have worked. Although it's the same industry, it's a different department, with different technical skills. So While I have the general knowledge, and industry experience, I will need to learn new skills.
My last salary was in the mid 60s, in a leadership position. The position i"m applying for, is not a leadership role, and is a frontline role.
I know that for my personal situation, if I get offered something in the mid 50's, that will suffice for me in terms of living day to day to start out. So when speaking to HR, that was my expected salary. I said 'somewhere in the 50's. After I told her, she said that the position salary ranges from 49's to high 68s.
At that point, I start to kick myself and wonder if I should have asked HR for something closer to my previous salary....since I have the time, experience, leadership skills, etc (just not the technical skills).
Assuming everything goes well, how is the best way to have the discussion?
I can see 2 scenarios happening:
1. They can offer me a job below the 50's, which I can't accept, and I need to negotiate.
2. They offer me an 'acceptable' salary, but I know that I deserve more, and since realizing their range, I want to ask for something closer to my previous salary.
Do I say "Thank you for the offer, but I was thinking more along the lines of xxx based on my experience and potential contribution.."? Do I give them the exact amount that I want, or do I give them a ballpark figure again? how aggressive should I be in terms of describing point by point why I deserve more? I don't want to sound too aggressive, because, technically, if all else fails, I still want to accept the acceptable salary.
This is a large multinational corporate company, so I don't know if there is a standard process to these situations. Once I ask for a higher salary, am I risking myself to lose the job offer, or will they usually just stick to what they can offer
For the future, whenever you can, ask politely what would be the proposal of the company so that you can react on it.
Rule #1 is to never re-discuss the salary if it's the one you agreed to initially. There will never be a discussion again before usual annual salary increases (if any) and your pay will never raise dramatically unless a particular situation applies to you.
If you can afford it, when it comes to salary discussion, politely say the sentence you prepared. Since you already mentioned the ballpark, this time you will have to give them the minimum salary that will make you move.
The sine qua non condition on this is that you have to be at least one of their top candidates so don't discuss salary and focus on convincing them on that matter. Salary discussion can come last. It's like closing a deal, no need to talk money first if the end product (you) are not going to be convincing.
Large multinational companies often have salary ranges and if the candidate rejects the salary and the manager is senior enough, they can try to increase the offer if they like you. It depends on the importance of the position. Obviously for entry-level jobs, things will go by the book only.
You point to your leadership skills as a reason for getting higher pay, but this is not a management position you've applied for, so that isn't relevant.
I doubt the offer will be $49K, and I'm thinking it's probably going to be in the range of $58 - $62K. Be happy if that's what it is, because you don't have the added element of staff to worry about.
If it's lower than $58, I would say, "I understand the range is $49 - $68K for this job and I wonder if there is room to negotiate for a salary that's a little closer to what I was making previously (or what I'm currently making). If they ask what you have in mind, just say, "$58.5 would be mid-range, and since I'm experienced, I wondered if we could get closer to that figure." Depending on how close they were to $58.5, you might say "how close we could get to $60K."
I know it's awkward sometimes to have these discussions, but take deep breaths, write the phrases down that you feel comfortable saying so they're handy, and be confident without being aggressive.
There is always the risk the offer will be rescinded for any number of arbitrary reasons. However, I think you should just ask for what you want because a company that would rescind an offer just because you asked for a bit more isn't a company worth working for in the long run.
kind of funny but whenever a candidate says "I'd like compensation in the range of 55k-65k" the company interprets this to say "the candidate wants $55k" and whenever the company says "The range for this position is $45k-$68k" the candidate hears "they can offer $68k"
I would take this one step at a time. If they ask again, I would tell them what you are were making and say that you'd like something at around the level that you were recently making. You don't have to play hardball as this is a sensitive stage of negotiation and coming off like a jerk can make them take the offer off the table but explain what you were recently making and something in that ballpark would be great. You can even say "but I really love this job and don't want money to get in the way within reason..."
I knew one girl who got a job at a tech company. She negotiated pretty hard on salary and got a deal done but it left the company with a bad taste in their mouth. In the few weeks after signing the offer letter but before starting, she started asking a lot of detailed questions and making more demands (vacation, maternity leave, annual bonuses, salary reviews, etc.) to the point where the company got fed up and fired her before she started...
Companies will work with you on compensation if they want you. $10k isn't a huge amount of money for a company to give you to get you in the door.
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