It’s probably one of the most challenging questions a candidate will get asked. “What are you salary requirements?”
The mind goes into overdrive, as you try and morph yourself into the candidate equivalent of a seasoned professional poker player.
You start to think, “If I pitch low – I’ll be more likely to get the offer. But if it’s too low then they may think I’m not up to the job. I may also be giving up some salary they were prepared to pay me. If I ask for a high number I may get it and that’d be neat, but I may price myself out of consideration”
Career journal suggests a few options to consider, and Louise at Career Hub, provides two great examples of how people can miss the original reason for changing jobs when “Money” gets introduced.
Here were some recent stats on why people move on
So what to do?
- First, you need to know what’s your absolute minimum requirement, what you would like, and the maximum your likely to get (make sure it’s realistic).
- Second find out what the likely salary range is for the position ahead of time.
- Third, remind yourself what motivated you to start looking elsewhere in the first place.
And remember don’t bring up salary during the first interview, and when an offer is made it may not hurt to ask for more.
