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How do you handle the salary expectation question in an interview?
The company does not indicate how much they are offering. Often, the application form asks for the your employment history - why you left, pay. I don't like to put the reason or the pay. The less they know the better. For my case, the pay got lower and lower - why - I didn't work for awhile and I had very bad luck at landing a job. Just no luck at all! I started in the finance industry, was retrenched because they closed. A year later, the no. of banks and finance companies were reduced. I did try but had no luck at landing a bank job because they kept saying you only worked in a finance company. Then, I got fed up and tried to apply for admin jobs on and off for 4 years. Then finally, an educational institute hired me but said they were non-profit and paid way below market price. If I were to put this on the application form, this is not indicative of what I actually worth. I can leave it totally. Lots of people ask and I put the amount a bit higher -do you do this too? If your previous job paid too little, would you inflate the amount too?
Anyway, back to my question above. Can you say- based on the market and working experience, I expect xx to yy ? (based on a job that you have say some relevant working experience). What would you say if you don't have relevant working experience for the job - office admin (your experience - other types of admin exp) ? What type of salary range would you put?
95% of the time, the interviewer does not indicate what amount they are offering and it is very difficult to guess. If it is a big company, can I say - based on the market, working experience and size of your company, a range from x to y should be a reasonable ? How does that sound? I know that these days, the employers are looking for cheaper labour as our country has a lot of foreigners coming here and always ask for a very low pay.
4 Answers
- ?Lv 69 years agoFavourite answer
Do some research and find the average salary. A website called glassdoor dot com lets you search company salaries by positions from past and current employees. If you have no experience then go with the minimum or even slightly higher, which will show the interviwer that you are confident and value your work.
- Anonymous9 years ago
Your best bet would be research. Websites like Payscale would help. For each industry, there is also a salary benchmark. For eg. admin work in a private banking outfit would pay more than admin work in a manufacturing business.
Imagine, you did the research and have a broad idea. The best opener is "I like the job position you offer, so I'm quite happy to consider the salary you are offering". That is kind of general. Also, do 'buff' up the last salary you had been paid to their 'industry standard', that way, it is not too much.
In the admin area, you do get competition from Filipinos or Indians. But if you can speak Mandarin, it will be an advantage. Do bear in mind, if you apply for a job in which you have no experience, you're as good as starting from square one. Time to also take a deep look into your own career, you do seem lost - try this, try that. Being focused will help you better this time. Admin job as a whole, is a dying breed. It is being outsourced digitally. So, think about where else you can be instead.
- 9 years ago
I would be honest about my last job, if they ask in in an interview, but explain that partly because of the economy and partly because it was non-profit organization, you were willing to temporarily work with them at a salary that was below market value at that time. You are now seeking long term employment with a salary that more realistically fits your experience. Find out what they're willing to pay, what they have paid and try to get them to throw out the first number. Then negotiate. You should be able to get an idea from somewhere what they are willing to pay a new employee. Go online and search company's to see what market value is and guestimate what market value might be in your area. You don't want to set your salary too high, but you don't want to undervalue yourself. I always put in resume's "salary is negotiable" and don't discuss it until the interview, when they bring it up. If they don't bring it up and there is a 2nd interview it's sometimes good to wait. You have to just kind of use your intuition. It's a subject many people have trouble with on both sides of the table.
Source(s): Experience typing others resumes