The Salary Expectation Dance
I recently conducted an informal survey of internal recruiters and hiring managers to see if they ask candidates to reveal their salary expectations on a first interview and if they will reveal the salary range for their open position if asked by a candidate. As I expected, many responded that they routinely ask for salary expectations on the first interview and never reveal salary ranges. The consensus among several hiring authorities that request salary information up front was “why waste any time with candidates with excessive salary expectations.”
But if hiring authorities are truly seeking to build efficiencies and authenticity into the interview process, wouldn’t it make more sense to be transparent about the salary range for an open position before the interview process begins? Wouldn’t it be more prudent to post the salary range on the job spec or job board? If you schedule interviews without knowing if you can afford the candidate, aren’t you already possibly wasting everybody’s time?
In the interview process, the hiring authority holds all the cards. He/she knows the job spec, the salary range, the budget, and how the position impacts the organization as a whole. Generally, the job seeker can’t possibly know or benchmark all this on a first interview…that is one of the reasons they are there to interview.
But since we are living in a world where hiring authorities are asking for salary expectations up front, your best strategy is to research your earning potential and understand what the market will bear. If the hiring manager asks you about your salary expectations, you can respond by saying “Based on my research of the market, salary ranges for positions similar to this one are between x and y. Is that consistent with what you are looking to offer?” You can research your market value by asking agency recruiters what similar positions are paying, making inquiries about salary ranges/surveys through professional organizations, talking with colleagues, reviewing job boards to see if you can uncover salary ranges for similar positions, or reviewing salary information on sites such as salary.com.
Article by, Barbara Safani and courtesy of CareerHub.com. The Career Hub blog connects job seekers with experts in career counseling, resume writing, personal branding and recruiting.
