Negotiating above hiring range...
I just interviewed recently for a position with one of the top 100 companies in their respective field (hospitals), and when considering whether to apply for a position did some background on the salary range. Median salary for the position I found was $45-49,000. 25th percentile was in the $40-42,000 range. After the interview I was given the impression an offer would be forthcoming, and was given the internal posting where the market reference was listed at $25,000, and the high range listed at $29,000. Position looking for minimum of associates degree in health field with 3+ years experience or LPN with 4+ years experience. I have a BS in healthcare field, with experience. What should I ask for given this apparently huge discrepency in salary ranges?? You can negotiate whatever you think it is fair to be given to you, taking into account your education level and the experience level, as well as other things like strong references and past activity (projects and so on) Portion of post does not conform with Monster TOU
Be aware that online salary sites, such as salary.com, tend to overinflate salaries by quite a lot. If that's where you got your information, it's almost disregardable! If it's salary.com, reality might be closer to the 25th percentile. The one online site I've seen that seems to bear some resemblance to reality is the one at America's Job Bank. Lots of people here (me included) can tell you just what happens when you try to base a salary negotiation on what salary.com says! The only "research" that is probably truly relevant is what similar jobs in your specific geographical area pay. If you are going to base your salary request in part on external data (which you don't tell the employer), you have to have relevant data. Also, you have to know what you need to make in order to pay your expenses. If $29,000 is not enough, then figure what is enough. And, from your persepective, what are you being paid now, if you're working? What were you making, if you're not currently employed? If you tell us the specific position, maybe somebody on this board in the same field can give you insight.
I am a recent college graduate, with some experience in the field I amlooking to get into. The company is making a strong committmentto this department, and are hiring several others along with mehopefully. I guess that having a bachelor of science degree +some experience, and being told I was a strong candidate, I was lookingat an offer more towards the 25th percentile, which was in the$40-42,000 range which is approximately the range I had been in forother positions I had been interviewed for. The field I amlooking into is clinical research, so any help on if this range isrealistic would be most helpfull. Well, there's nothing you can do until an actual offer of employment is made. If the actual salary offer is as low as you suspect, about all you can do is politely ask if the offer is negotiable and see what they say. If it's not and you can't pay the bills on that lever of income, you'll probably have to pass. Anne Marie is correct, however, that you really shouldn't rely on any external salary data as a true indicator of what jobs like this one should pay. Most people tend to feel that salary survey's tend to run higher than real world salaries. On the other hand, if the salary offer is negotiable, I think you can counter with a realistic salary range in which you need to be to stay afloat financially, so let's suppose you're offered $29K, there's no way you can counter by saying you were expecting an offer in the $40K to $42K range! That's just not going to happen and there are at least a hundred reasons why it's not going to happen. Nevertheless - if you're asked what salary range you have in mind, I think you need to be prepared to not only propose a realistic salary range but also prepared to state what you can bring to the job that will make the JOB more valuable to the employer based on your experience, training, past job performance, skills, and education. In other words, be prepared to show how your qualifications are a great match for the requirements of the job. You might be able to say that you were anticipating an offer in the $30K to $35K range, but expecting to be in the low $40Ks is probably unreasonable. Hope this helps. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert | |
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