Job Placement - Know the Probable Salary Range in Advance

Approaching an interview without being prepared for discussions of pay is not wise. Although you will have to do a bit of research, knowing what an employer is likely to pay is essential in salary negotiations.

The trick is to think in terms of a wide range in salary, rather than a particular number. Keep in mind that larger organizations tend to pay more than smaller ones, and various areas of the country differ greatly in pay scales. Find out the general range that jobs of this sort are likely to pay in your area. That information is relatively easy to obtain; all it may take is asking those who work in similar jobs, finding the information online, or visiting the library. See "Sources of Information on Pay for Major Jobs" at the end of this chapter for tips on finding this information.

Bracket the Salary Range

Even if you have a good idea of how much a job might pay, you can easily get trapped into making a very costly mistake. Suppose that the employer is expecting to pay someone about $25,000 a year. Your research indicates that most jobs of this type pay between $22,000 and $29,000 a year. Let's also assume that you have run into an interviewer who insists on you revealing your pay expectations in the first interview.

You want to be a clever negotiator, so you say you were hoping for $30,000. You figure that stating that number will make the interviewer think you are not an easy target and will encourage him or her to make a higher offer later. Wrong. In many cases, saying this amount will probably eliminate you from consideration.

If you say you would take $22,000, one of two things could happen:

1. You could get hired at $22,000 a year, probably making that response the most expensive two seconds in your entire life.

2. The employer could look for someone else, because you must be worth only $22,000, and he or she wants someone who is worth more.

Once again, questions about pay during the early phases of the interviewing process are designed to help the employer either eliminate you from consideration or save money at your expense. You could get lucky and name the salary they had in mind, but the stakes are too high for me to recommend that approach. Your best bet is to be informed! See "Sources of Information on Pay for Major Jobs" later in this chapter for tips on figuring out the correct salary range for the position.

In my example, you figured that the probable range for the salary would be from $22,000 to $29,000. That is a wide range, but you could cover it by saying

"I was looking for a salary in the mid- to upper twenties." This response avoids mentioning a specific salary, and it covers a wide range.

If you were an employer and someone responded this way, how might you react? Most employers take a moment to consider the response and, after doing so, often conclude that your range is the same one that they are considering. The particular number the firm has in mind just happens to be $25,000, and your response "brackets" that figure. The impasse is over, and you can both get on with the interview. You win, and they don't lose.

You can use the same strategy for any salary bracket you may be considering. For example, if you want $28,000 a year and their range is $25,000 to $33,000, you could say "A salary in the mid-twenties to low thirties." The same bracketing techniques can be used with any salary figure.

Talking in terms of a salary range that extends a bit above what the employer was likely to consider often results in one of two positive outcomes:

1. If you are offered the job, you are likely to be offered more than the employer may have originally been willing to consider.

2. It gives you the option of negotiating your salary when it matters most-when the employer has offered you a job.