What Are Your Salary Requirements? Setting up the Negiotiation...

You are somewhere in the interview process - the initial phone screen, a first interview, a final interview, whatever..... And the question comes - "What are your Salary Requirements?", or it's first cousins - "What kind of money do you need?" or my personal favorite, "What's it gonna take?"....  For investments, you could turn to Jim Cramer... For personal finance, you could turn to Dave Ramsey (pictured at right)... For the job search, turn to the Career Capitalist....

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A question easily asked, but hard to answer.  Before you get your 30-Second message in place, you need to know what your personal reality is from a compensation standpoint.  Get in touch with your money side and identify which one of these scenarios is you...

1.  You won't take a job below a specific minimum salary.  Period...

2.  You are unsure about what salary you can command in the marketplace, and with this in mind, don't want to establish a minimum that would eliminate you.

3.  You have a pretty good understanding of what the position might pay, which is acceptable to you.  With this in mind, you aim to generate an offer as high up in the range as possible should you reach the offer stage.

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OK - so you know which scenario is you.  Now that you have that figured out, the question comes -  "What are your Salary Requirements?"...   The ball is in your court, and the first thing you should do is attempt to extract some information.  After all, the potential employer has asked you to talk compensation, so you should feel secure about talking money,  With this in mind, the Capitalist recommends you use the following type of conversation tree when answering the question...

Interviewer Question - "What are your Salary Requirements?"

You - "I would be looking for a salary that's in line with what you traditionally pay associates in this position with skills and experience similar to mine.  Can you tell me with associates with my skills and experience earn in this role?  Is there an established range for this position?"

Interviewer - Will respond one of four ways - 1) With actual information on what others similar to you have earned (if they are smart they will do that in the format of a range), or 2) Will say "I don't know", or 3) "That wasn't my question" (or a variation of this response), or 4) "That's none of your #$&# business" (Just joking, this rarely happens.  If it does, you probably want to move on....)

You - Respond in one of three ways, as outlined below based on your scenario...

1.  You won't take a job below a specific minimum salary.  Once given the info by the interviewer, you provide your minimum as a range (with your minimum the low end of the range), but adjust your minimum upward if the interviewer gives you data that suggests the offer would likely be more than your original minimum (this allows you not to low-ball yourself).  "I'm looking for a salary somewhere between 51K and 61K, depending on the overall opportunity provided by the position and working for your company".   

2.  You are unsure about what salary you can command in the marketplace.  If the interviewer gives you salary data on the job, you should provide a range similar to scenario #1 above with the normal salary provided as the low end of your range. That tells the interviewer they can afford you, but they might have to negotiate a little bit.  If they give you range information, you should provide a range back similar to scenario #1, but the low-end of your range should be the midpoint of the range they quoted you.  Once again, this tells them they can afford you but they may need to negotiate.  If they provide you with no information, provide a range, but make it wider than the scenario provided above, and let the interviewer know that as you learn more about the position, you should be able to narrow that down...

3.  You have a pretty good understanding of what the position should pay - This is a scenario similar to #2, but you have better market data than is present in scenario #2.   Follow the guidance listed in scenario #1.  If the interviewer doesn't provide any data, use your gut to establish a minimum you feel is fair based on your research, but be careful not to eliminate yourself from consideration.

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So that's the conversation tree I recommend.  The key with this is skill practice with these talking points and being prepared for this conversation at any time in the hiring process with any employer.  You need to have your 30-second speech ready for your specific scenario, and have a specific response ready whether the interviewer gives you specific salary data, or if they choose not to.    Have fun and be in control!!

 

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