Salary Requirement QuestionA recruiter has asked me to respond online to the following question: --What are your salary requirements? The job is for a Sr. Communications Specialist Position with a major, international corporation. I would wager more than 20,000 employees. They are lokking for someone with 7 plus years experience. Communications specialist positions of this type are rare, espcially in the city it is being offerd in. So it is a recruiters market, nevertheless, the company, I belive, will pay a professional to do a professional job. I beleive the job is worth between $65,000 and $75,000, but who really knows what they are looking for? Is it appropriate to respond with "mid to high five figures" One easy way to make sure you stay in the game, at least in terms of meeting your income needs, is to propose a salary range that' s at least 10% to 15% more than you' re earning now. Obviously, you' re not going to take the job for less than you' re earning now, so why not propose a salary range that would initially justify making the switch? If I were you, I' d respond by writing something like, "My minimum salary requirements are negotiable within the $X to $Y salary range, contingent upon the scope of the benefit package and the actual requirements of the job." I agree unless you can find some hard salary data. Can you look in other cities and use a cost of living factor to adjust for your city? Using "mid- to high-five figures" to me is way too vague and if you said it to me I would ask you to be more specific. You should have hard numbers in mind. The figures I came up with are based on data, but I don' t want to price myself under. My current slary is $51,000 annual. 10 percent more is $56,000. I am concerned that asking for $56,000 to $75,000, negotiable depending on benefits, is too much of a range. What do you think? OK. If I were you, I' d say my anticipated salary is negotiable within the $56K to $60K range. $60K is more than 15%, but it' s close enough to round up from $58,650, which would be 15%. At most, you might be able to stretch the high end of your anticipated range to $66K, but not more than that. What it really amounts to is is asking yourself if you' d be pleased with $56K and happy with $60K, if so, then propose that range. If you really won' t be happy unless can go from a present salary of $51K to a future salary around $60K then I' d be inclined to propose the $56K to $66K. The point is to select a salary range within which you stay in the running for the job and still justifies the move. It' s your call, obviously, but the normal range is AT LEAST 10% and 15% more to justify switching jobs. You can go higher, but a range that' s more than $10K is probably too broad. You said, "You can go higher, but a range that' s more than $10K is probably too broad." Does that also hold true if you are significantly underpaid to begin with? I know EVERYBODY feels they are underpaid, but I' m talking about a situation where the market supports that conclusion. I wonder the same thing. I know for a fact that I am underpaid. One of the reasons I am trying to get out from where I work now. I have talked to people in my field and I see job postings and I am about $15K under where I should be. There is no way I am going to ask for 10 to 15% more than I am making now. In just about any area other than where I am at now, I could not even survive on my current salary. Perhaps I wasn' t clear enough. Here' s the point, lets suppose you' re earning $40K and, for whatever reason, you believe your underpaid significantly. You could say that your anticipated salary range is $60K to $70K or $50K to $60K or any range that' s reasonable, I' m talking about the SPREAD between the bottom of your anticipated salary range and the top of that range. In my opinion, the spread shouldn' t be more than $10K. Put in the negative, I don' t think you want to propose a salary range to a prospective employer that has a spread of $20K. You don' t want to say, in other words, "My anticipated salary is negotiable within the $60K to $80K." That' s too indefinite and suggests that you really have no idea of a realistic salary range for either the job to be done or the value you can bring to the job. Make sense? Lets assume that you' re earning $15K less than you should be based on your experience, training, skills, past job performance, and education. Let' s also assume, just for the sake of discussion, that you' re earning around $50K. Your anticipated salary range could then be $65K to $75K, still a "spread" of only $10K. Nevertheless, that doesn' t change the general rule that it makes no sense to switch jobs for a salary that' s AT LEAST 10% to 15% more than you' re earning now - notice I did not write, "that it makes no sense to switch jobs for NO MORE than 10% to 15%." Big difference! | |
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