How Should I Respond to Salary Expectations Questions?

How should I respond to salary expectations questions on online applications and when recruiters ask?

I am a firm believer in the adage of, “Let them fall in love first, BEFORE you tell the what kind of ring you need.”

Smart candidates make career moves based on many factors, including:

Where a job will position them 1, 3 and 5 years down the line.
They also look at quality of life…who they are working with, selling to, commute time, etc.
Third is compensation

So, it is not realistic for either party to determine how much it would take to have a candidate accept a role without learning about the opportunity.

With that said, there is no question that compensation definitely plays a role into making a career decision, and in the effort to honor everyone’s time, it is important to establish some baselines.

When working with a recruiter, know that we always ask a candidate what it would take to get them to make a move, and most importantly, what they are currently making, broken down by guaranteed base and then total comp including all variables like commissions, bonuses, etc. We do this because we do not want to waste anyone’s time by bringing opportunities to their attention that offers less pay than they are currently making.

With that said, in many states now it is illegal to mandate that a candidate declare what their current earnings are.

So for online applications, we always encourage candidates to simply put OPEN. And during the interview process, all the way up to the offer stage, we coach candidates to defer putting a specific number on their candidacy. As a job seeker, you do not want to say too early in the game that you would not accept any role for under say $100K, base. The reason for this is there is always the potential that the hiring manager could be interviewing someone of equal experience and when queried, that guy says he would need $80K in base. Who do you think the hiring manager is going to move forward with?

Far better to push back talk of specific numbers until you have determined the career path, company culture, who you will be selling to, client support, and all the other factors that combined make a job wonderful, or a nightmare. By telling the company this, they hear that you are looking to make a long-term commitment, and are much more prone to let themselves “fall in love” without worrying about how expensive you are.

As a recruiter, I do believe it is essential to share your current compensation history with your recruiter, to honor everyone’s time. Ideally your recruiter will be savvy enough not to put a price on your head in terms of what you would need to accept a role too early in the process.

As a general rule of thumb, the first one that talks money, loses when it comes to salary negotiations. Let them decide you are the very best person for the job, start to relax, and envision you in the role. Only after they make a formal offer and put a number on the table should you evaluate it and determine if it makes sense to accept or counter.

So in a nutshell:

Tell your recruiter your current compensation history but do not paint yourself into a corner saying you will only accept a specific role for X amount of money, without evaluating the full scope of the opportunity. We do not work with candidates who are not comfortable sharing that information with us, since it wastes everyone’s time, and if they are not comfortable enough in us to share that information, the chances are slim that we will be able to work well together.

Answer OPEN when queried on job application forms your required compensation.

When asked during a live interview what your salary requirements are, defer the question to say that you want to learn as much as you can about the opportunity, career path, etc., before making that decision.

And finally, think long and hard before countering an offer. Determine if the difference in money broken down by bi-monthly paychecks and net money as opposed to gross, and decide if it is worth risking the offer to go for more money. If you are working with a good recruiter, chances are she will be able to coach you if negotiating will be dicey, or safe. There are some companies that almost expect candidates to negotiate, and others that put their very best offer on the table and it is more of a “take it or leave it” situation. If you are not working with a recruiter and are on your own, you can always ask after an offer is presented if there is any room for negotiation or if the offer is firm, and then proceed accordingly.