January 29th, 2008 → 8:42 am @ Jay // 11 Comments
Your expectation of salary needs to be discussed in a job interview, that is a given. When possible, you should not bring up the rate of pay and leave this for the interviewer.
I have been on both sides of this fence many times, I have played the role of an interviewer and an interviewee throughout my professional career. The single biggest mistake I have witnessed in a job interview is when an interviewee said “Before we bother starting this interview, how much does this job pay.” Yikes!
Career aspirations, wanting to gain experience, or working for our dream company are important factors in our happiness at work. Though we must not discount the importance of pay, as ultimately we are trading our valuable time for money. In a job interview, the interviewer will likely ask you, “What is your expectation of salary?” and “Are you flexible with your expectation?”.
A smart way to word your response is to first inflate your expectation, then deflate it based on what the job is offering you. This sounds confusing, so I’ll illustrate. Let’s assume I am expecting a pay of $60,000 per annum. To the employer, I would say in a humble manner:
“The market currently values my skills at $75,000 per annum, and this is usually what I would expect as compensation. However, the work environment here really appeals to me, and I would be happy to reduce my salary expectation to $65,000 if necessary.”
You have effectively inflated your costs from $60k to $75k, and at the same time offered a discount down to $65k because you are willing to make a trade-off to join their team. By following this simple method, you have effectively shown that you are not a “greedy” person who is “all about the money”. You have demonstrated that in the right working environment, you are willing to be flexible on pay and your experience at work takes priority.
At first, this may seem manipulative on your behalf. Though you must understand the dynamics at play. The goal of the interviewer is to hire the best person for the best price. The “best person” is based on what is perceived as best. Our culture often associates “best” with most expensive, and we must not ignore the power of this perception in a job interview. By stating your inflated price, then offering a justified discount, you make yourself appear to be “the best person for the best price”. Look into the window of any successful merchant, and you will see the power of this in play.
The question “Are you flexible with your expectation?” usually follows. To this, I recommend you always answer:
“Of course. I’m sure we can come to an agreement that is suitable for both of us.”
The interviewer will rarely negotiate the final salary on the spot. Instead, the information will be discussed with others and you will receive a phone call with a final decision. Notice that even after the initial discount, we asked for $65k instead of our goal of $60k. This is to give you more breathing room if they want to negotiate in more detail.
This technique revolves around a simple and well understood theory: Make others feel like they’re getting a bargain. High perceived value, for a slightly lower price. The added benefit of this technique is that even after you have obtained the position, your perceived value by your employer is high. This makes it easier to negotiate a pay increase in your next salary and performance review.
When I first learned of this technique, I asked the question “How do I know what my market value is?” The answer is quite simple. You really cannot put a market value on people, so aim high. We have too many diverse skills in too many different areas. The trick is to learn from marketing professionals. Use the techniques of price inflation and discounting to increase your perceived value, while appearing to be a bargain.
The next article in this series is “Discussing Money at Work – Part 2: Negotiating a pay raise”. I hope you enjoyed this post. I look forward to bringing you the next article in this series. As always, please leave your feedback, suggestions or criticisms in the comments section. Every one of your comments adds significant value to each article. I am learning so much from all of you, so please keep it up.
Tags: employer, job interview, manager, money, negotiating, negotiation, office, pay increase, pay raise, salary, wealth, work
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Jay Morrissey » Discussing Money at Work: An Introduction
2 years ago
[...] said, the first part of this series is Discussing Money at Work – Part 1: Salary negotiation in a job interview. Thank you for reading. I look forward to your advice and feedback in the comments sections of the [...]
Karthick
2 years ago
Great post Jay. Really looking forward to the next one too! Will keep this in mind for negotiation
.
Keir
2 years ago
Great post – I’d previously used this technique:
Interviewer: What is your salary expectation?
Me: Well I’m currently on (my salary + 10-20%) £30k, and I would like to move up the ladder a little so to speak
It’s a similar technique as you described but yours is more graceful. Will definitely use in future. Thanks.
Toby Wilkins
2 years ago
Another great post. you say that you cant put a price on a person, but salary’s will depend on the skill that this person holds and so I would be unsure on what salary to aim at.
Arga
2 years ago
Thanks for the superb post. It will definitely come in handy for me in the future.
pratt
2 years ago
Great advice, Jay. I actually recently found myself in that same situation. I have often heard that when it comes to the salary game, the first person to say a number loses. What do you think?
Ron@TheWisdomJournal
2 years ago
When it comes to salary negotiations, there is a definite sequence of events. Most good negotiators will try to blindside you by getting out of that sequence. I’ve watched one interviewer go through a lot of work related questions and then after a short silence, ask “Just so we don’t waste our time, what salary range would meet your basic needs?” Interviewees are usually fumbling around trying to determine what “basic needs” are and how much they cost.
Your steps are quite good. If someone has done their homework, they should have a rough idea of what the company plans to pay anyway.
The best tip is to read a book on salary negotiating BEFORE you get to that point. It’s all in the preparation.
Peter
2 years ago
“The market currently values my skills at $75,000 per annum”
Surely, as the company is the market, they should know your worth (approximately). It just seems like this is a pretty see-through manipulation. Wouldnt they get comments like this, of people over-shooting their salary out of hope (or greed), all the time?
I dont speak with experiance, though. Still havent come across this situaion in my life, yet.
And Ive been constantly linked to a (seemingly) big American site, that gives the average salary of a job-title + time spent in sector. Cant remember the name, but wouldnt something like this defeat the tactic above?
not necessarily true
2 years ago
HAH! Tried it.
In my experience this part of the interview goes something like this:
Interviewer: “What are your salary expectations?”
Me: “The market (yada yada…)”
Interviewer: “Well, I can get a (neighbor, college student, friend, whatever) for $25,000 to do the job.”
ABSURD you say? You’re right! The market value on my job is about $60k.
Sales Negotiating
1 year ago
That was a great post. I will have to bookmark this site so I can read it later.
jaime francisco
1 year ago
I just found your blog (2- 3 days ago), and i find it really amazing, now im your big fan.
im sorry if there are some mistakes on my writing, im from mexico and im not use to write in english (but i understand it very well)… but im geeting better as we “speak”