How to Answer Questions About Your Salary Requirements

How to Answer Questions About Your Salary Requirements This is the third in a series of six posts on salary negotiation published in partnership with PayScale.com. It’s true that you can look on PayScale to figure out the going range for a job, but you can never guess how much the company values the position for which they are interviewing you. So don’t give the first numberâ€"because if you request a salary lower than the range for the position, the interviewer will say nothing, and you’ve just lost money. You want the interviewer to tell you the range for the position, because then you can focus on getting to the high end of the range. But you can’t work to the high point if you don’t know it. When there are two good negotiators in the room, each person will try to get the other to give the first number. Each time you deflect the question, the interviewer will try again. Your goal is to outlast the interviewer until they finally tell you the salary range for the job. Here is how to respond: Question: What salary range are you looking for? Your Answer: “Let’s talk about the job requirements and expectations first, so I can get a sense of what you need.” That’s a soft answer to a soft way to ask the question. http://www.payscale.com/js/psextension-min.js?1 http://www.payscale.com/syndication/start_large_v3r.aspx?instance=1js=1v=1af=job=city=state=country=United%20Statestextcolor=333333backgroundcolor=a5d34c Accurate, real-time salaries for thousands of careers. Question: What did you make at your last job? Your Answer: “This position is not exactly the same as my last job. So let’s discuss what my responsibilities would be here and then determine a fair salary for this job.” It’s hard to argue with words like “fair” and “responsibilities”â€"you’re earning respect with this one. Question: What are you expecting to make in terms of salary? Your Answer: “I am interested in finding a job that is a good fit for me. I’m sure whatever salary you’re paying is consistent with the rest of the market.” In other words, I respect myself and I want to think I can respect this company. Question: I need to know what salary you want in order to make you an offer. Can you tell me a range? Your Answer: “I’d appreciate it if you could make me an offer based on whatever you have budgeted for this position and we can go from there.” This is a pretty direct response, so using words like “appreciate” focuses on drawing out the interviewer’s better qualities instead of her tougher side. Question: Why don’t you want to give your salary requirements? Your Answer: “I think you have a good idea of what this position is worth to your company, and that’s important information for me to know.” You can see the pattern, right? If you think you sound obnoxious or obstinate by not answering the question, think of how he feels asking the question more than once. Also, by the time the interviewer has asked two or three times, the interviewer will know that hiring you means having a tough negotiator on his teamâ€"another reason to make you a good salary offer! Penelope Trunk is co-founder of Quistic, which offers online courses to help people manage their careers. Her career advice site was named a top 10 resource by Entrepreneur magazine. And Inc magazine named Penelope “the world’s most influential guidance counselor.” Read her blog at blog.penelopetrunk.com. More from this series on Money.com: The 10 Commandments of Salary Negotiation How to Tell If Now Is a Good Time to Ask for a Raise More on salary negotiation from PayScale.com: 5 Benefits To Ask For In Your Next Salary Negotiation Practice Makes Perfect: You’re Already A Salary Negotiation Expert and Don’t Even Know It Negotiate Like a Laywer If You Want The Raise