Comments on: Discussing Money at Work - Part 1: Salary negotiation in a job interview

By: Sales Negotiating

Sales Negotiating — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:23:13 +0000

That was a great post. I will have to bookmark this site so I can read it later.

By: not necessarily true

not necessarily true — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:14:55 +0000

HAH! Tried it.
In my experience this part of the interview goes something like this:

Interviewer: “What are your salary expectations?”
Me: “The market (yada yada…)”
Interviewer: “Well, I can get a (neighbor, college student, friend, whatever) for $25,000 to do the job.”

ABSURD you say? You’re right! The market value on my job is about $60k.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:58:08 +0000

“The market currently values my skills at $75,000 per annum”
Surely, as the company is the market, they should know your worth (approximately). It just seems like this is a pretty see-through manipulation. Wouldnt they get comments like this, of people over-shooting their salary out of hope (or greed), all the time?
I dont speak with experiance, though. Still havent come across this situaion in my life, yet.
And Ive been constantly linked to a (seemingly) big American site, that gives the average salary of a job-title + time spent in sector. Cant remember the name, but wouldnt something like this defeat the tactic above?

By: Ron@TheWisdomJournal

Ron@TheWisdomJournal — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:01:44 +0000

When it comes to salary negotiations, there is a definite sequence of events. Most good negotiators will try to blindside you by getting out of that sequence. I’ve watched one interviewer go through a lot of work related questions and then after a short silence, ask “Just so we don’t waste our time, what salary range would meet your basic needs?” Interviewees are usually fumbling around trying to determine what “basic needs” are and how much they cost.

Your steps are quite good. If someone has done their homework, they should have a rough idea of what the company plans to pay anyway.

The best tip is to read a book on salary negotiating BEFORE you get to that point. It’s all in the preparation.

By: pratt

pratt — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:25:11 +0000

Great advice, Jay. I actually recently found myself in that same situation. I have often heard that when it comes to the salary game, the first person to say a number loses. What do you think?

By: Arga

Arga — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:33:16 +0000

Thanks for the superb post. It will definitely come in handy for me in the future.

By: Toby Wilkins

Toby Wilkins — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:30:13 +0000

Another great post. you say that you cant put a price on a person, but salary’s will depend on the skill that this person holds and so I would be unsure on what salary to aim at.

By: Keir

Keir — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:52:22 +0000

Great post - I’d previously used this technique:

Interviewer: What is your salary expectation?
Me: Well I’m currently on (my salary + 10-20%) £30k, and I would like to move up the ladder a little so to speak

It’s a similar technique as you described but yours is more graceful. Will definitely use in future. Thanks.

By: Karthick

Karthick — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:22:58 +0000

Great post Jay. Really looking forward to the next one too! Will keep this in mind for negotiation :).

By: Jay Morrissey » Discussing Money at Work: An Introduction

Jay Morrissey » Discussing Money at Work: An Introduction — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:44:46 +0000

[…] said, the first part of this series is Discussing Money at Work - Part 1: Salary negotiation in a job interview. Thank you for reading. I look forward to your advice and feedback in the comments sections of the […]