Posted by mooreds 5 hours ago
"A million an hour, obviously (haha). But in all seriousness, I'd expect to be compensated commensurate with the responsibilities of the role, keeping in mind that the salary number is just one aspect of a compensation package as health insurance and other benefits are important to me."
There are only two reasons HR asks this:
1. possible leverage later in the process.
2. attempting to not waste time if the candidate's expectations are way out of line with the amount the company is willing to pay.
Either way, there is no good reason to name numbers prior to the company making an offer with compensation package details.
I agree that a candidate shouldn't name numbers until after an offer.
But I think the company should give a range as early as possible. This is because of point #2 above. As an engineering manager I've had at least one heartbreaking experience where we took a candidate through the hiring cycle and then found out we and they were way out of line re: comp. Hiring sucks enough without that curveball.
That's why, for all the warts, I'm a fan of salary disclosure laws (like those in Colorado, USA). Yes, it's hard to have an accurate range, because jobs and skills are squishy. Yes, candidates anchor towards the top. Yes, it's weird for a buyer of a thing (labor) to state a price.
But companies have more power in the hiring process (there are, after all, many employees working for a company, but usually only one company an employee works for). Companies, or the hiring managers, also have a budget.
If you are a hiring manager, I'd encourage you to have your salary range shared with candidates as early as possible in the process.
Find out their range and standard benefits package as soon as possible in the process. If you still don't know after the first phone screen/chat and are not in dire need of employment, move on. It's a great filter.
Good reason for them to say what they're willing to pay before I bother reading their job advert
Site was hugged to death
I went through this a few years ago and wrote about it. https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/2565
"Talent Report™ Income and Employment Provides verification of employment plus verification of a candidate’s income." https://theworknumber.com/solutions/industries/pre-employmen...
Opt out: https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze
Do you know the data-source? Is it primarily from your self-declarations to your credit card company? Or do they have access to tax records?
"The Work Number receives data directly from employers, payroll providers, or third-party administrators that choose to use The Work Number for employment verifications. We report your data as we receive it from these sources."
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The question is baked and mandatory in most forms, and there's no "cant say" - only about 20% do not ask it, all else.. have it. And it is the easiest filter for the above 100 candidates, so.
Negotiation phase? hah. You are lucky if you get a rejection e-mail. Most don't bother with even that, regardless the importance of the role. And you never know if the number was too high, or completely irrelevant.
You have to be careful to not be led into this, as if you can follow OP's self-help advice and skip the failures. You will, in fact, fail in a different way.
Is this cynical? Yes. But it's how self-help advice works.
In job listings, I’ve seen salaries for Senior or Staff remain about the same as they were (thought usually edging a little lower), but adjusted for inflation, they are way lower.
If I were to insist on my 2021 salary with inflation adjustment, I’m often blowing past the listed range by anything from 15k to 30k.
With the market the way it is, how are y’all handling that?
2. Realizing that the rate of inflation and my achievable hourly rate (or the equivalent in salary) have little to do with each other at the personal level so your framing of the question doesn't make much sense
I played exactly this script during my first interviews, never giving the first number, etc. It worked well for me exactly one time: the very first job I had out of academia where I did actually have to negotiate a salary. All the other times it resulted in waste of time and loss of sanity.
I am now very upfront with my expectations, or at least my non-expectations: "My current salary is X and I have Y perks, and I am in a good team; I wouldn't even consider moving for less than this, regardless of how cool your team is, and if you don't beat these numbers substantially I already know that my current employer will make me a counteroffer, and then you lose time but I win regardless." (of course not literally, but the message is this).
Less interviews, less time wasted.