Question of the Month: August 2006

“What’s the best way to answer those frustrating salary questions that employers ask right up front these days?”

This is a great, great, great, great question.  Why?  Because frankly, we think a lack of understanding about this single, simple issue leads a lot of candidates (hopefully, though, not too many of our clients) to instantly “gong” themselves out of the interview process and miss out on quality opportunities.

The reason for this?  To put it bluntly, it’s because we’re arrogant enough to maintain that almost every book, article, and published resource that candidates turn to for advice on the “salary question” facet of interviewing is just dead wrong.  While many career counselors and professional negotiation experts still maintain that a job hunter should never name their number first, or give any kind of meaningful answer to this question up front, we believe this strategy almost always dooms a candidate to failure.  In today’s world, where the hiring process has sped up exponentially — and recruiters and HR types are just as busy as the rest of us — inquiring about a candidate’s salary needs up front is a legitimate area of discussion and a critical step that allows these “screeners” to do their job, which is to avoid wasting anybody’s time (including yours) with multiple interviews when the financial expectations of both sides aren’t a match.

For many years, we’ve felt like a lone voice in the wilderness on this topic, but we’ve stuck by our guns consistently — and been heartened as of late to see articles popping up that support our viewpoint, like the outstanding “Your HR Guy” blog entry you’ll find here.

So now that we’ve tried to talk you out of the “I’m not comfortable discussing salary up front — can we address this issue later?” response, you’re probably wondering what we DO recommend that candidates say when this question inevitably comes up.  It’s actually pretty straightforward.  Start by acknowledging that this is a legitimate question to discuss and then give the interviewer a broad ball park, possibly even as big as $20-30K in range, that encompasses what you consider to be the “going rate” for the type of job you’re interviewing for — after you make allowances for all of the different variables (e.g. benefits, commute, bonus, upside potential, etc.) that could potentially factor into the total compensation package and scope of the opportunity.  If you don’t know what this number should be, do some research around it immediately.  Knowing “what you’re worth” in today’s market is as much your responsibility as the employer’s, and without this data under your belt, you’ll be a competitive disadvantage.

Secondly, once you’ve thrown out your “ball park” figure with appropriate disclaimers, move on to stress that salary is just one ingredient in the overall mix of things that you’re looking for in your next position, and that you’d like to be considered flexible in this area.  If possible, too, for the sake of credibility, you might even disclose some of the specific variables that you consider highly attractive and important in a job opportunity, such as paid tuition reimbursement or a commute of less than 30 minutes.

Finally, after you’ve stated your range and closely monitored their reaction, it’s time to check back and see how similar your idea of “fair market value” is to their own.  Just ask them a simple feedback question such as “Is this range similar to what you had in mind?” or “Are we in the same ball park?” and see how they respond.  If you’re relatively close, the conversation should move on to more important issues, such as whether you’re actually the right fit for the job.  If you and the hiring manager are clearly NOT of like mind on the salary issue, however, you can address the discrepancy right then and there by either continuing to stress your flexibility, or in some cases, by withdrawing your candidacy with a statement such as: “Gosh, are you really finding qualified candidates able to complete this level of work for that pay range?  If so, I’d hire them myself!  It’s probably therefore best that we not move forward, unless you’re able to offer any further flexibility on your end with regard to this issue…”

Again, after this initial sniff test around salary, many nuances enter into the negotiating process that are far too complex and situation-specific to address in a simple newsletter article.  But in terms of handling the opening salvo, when the employer first inquires about your salary needs, you’ll find that the basic three-step approach above will maximize your odds of overcoming this first tricky issue — and will set you up in the best possible way to negotiate a great package down the road, when you receive the offer!

Hardball Negotiating Tactics? You Might Strike Out…

Ultra-aggressive negotiation tactics may be appropriate for the corporate boardroom, or a used car lot, but if you bring this mentality to the job offer negotiation process, you could be in deep trouble!

While a painful lesson to learn, many job seekers make the mistake of pushing too hard during the job offer negotiation process and either costing themselves quality job opportunities or setting themselves up for a really rough ride in their new position.  The reason for this?  There are several distinct dynamics that take place in job offer scenarios that make them dramatically different from other types of business negotiations.  For starters, job offer negotiations are fundamentally win/win in nature, not win/lose.  Both sides want the deal to work and both sides must also feel that they have been treated fairly and respectfully by the end of the process.  Additionally, both parties involved will likely be working in close proximity to one another for the foreseeable future, unlike that poor salesman you outmaneuvered in the furniture showroom!  So while it’s certainly appropriate to make counteroffer proposals and be assertive about getting your needs met, the moment you’re perceived as trying to “squeeze” the other side or play them off against other employers, the rapport starts to crumble — and you’ll likely do permanent damage to the relationship you’ve taken such care to build throughout the interview process.

So what is the right strategy for approaching a job offer negotiation?  Unfortunately, there’s no single textbook answer to this question, since there are dozens of situational elements to consider and it’s important to look carefully at the leverage and context involved before deciding on your ultimate course of action.  Obtaining objective feedback around this issue can therefore be very useful in planning your strategy, whether from a trusted colleague or your Career Horizons coach.  At the end of the day, however, we promise you one thing — you will always come out ahead of the game if you walk into the negotiation process from a collaborative, rather than combative, standpoint.  Play hardball, and you’ll either lose the offer entirely, or end up getting the job but wondering for years why your boss doesn’t trust you and why you’re always last in line for raises, bonuses, and promotional opportunities!

Evaluating Offers: Three Keys

Once again, December turned out to be a banner month for local hiring, and we were thrilled to have our Christmas shopping constantly interrupted by clients needing last-minute assistance in evaluating and negotiating potential job offers.  It’s one of the favorite aspects of our work, for obvious reasons, and we also salute these people for their willingness to reach out for help with this critical step, given that many candidates lose a great deal of objectivity in the “heat of the moment” — causing them to overlook critical job considerations or leave large sums of money on the table by failing to negotiate properly.

And while we always shy away from offering generic advice on job offer evaluation, given the highly subjective and situational nature of this step of the process, we’d like to share three hard-earned lessons we’ve learned that might help you distinguish a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from a potential dud:

1. Treat the relationship with your boss as the most critical factor. While it’s tempting to put compensation or the specific responsibilities of the job first in line, our experience has been that no single factor has a greater effect on a person’s career satisfaction than how well they get along with their boss or supervisor.  Do you feel you’ve gotten a good sense of the person’s management style?  Have they treated you with respect throughout the process?  Have they been punctual to each interview?  Do they have a track record of promoting their subordinates?  Are they a mentor figure you can learn from?

2. Reflect on the courtship process. Often, the maturity, culture, and attitude of any given organization is closely reflected by the way they treat candidates throughout the hiring process.  A company that seems to have their act together and that runs their interviews like a well-oiled machine will often be enjoying — and profiting from — similar efficiencies in their other business processes.  A company that seems to be making your candidacy an afterthought, on the other hand, or that appears to treat hiring new employees as an annoying and necessary evil, may be giving you a warning sign of things to come.

3. Observe the attitude of current employees. No matter how glowing a company’s mission statement might be, or how much lip service they pay to valuing their people, there’s no company (outside of the former Soviet Union, perhaps) that can systematically compel their employees to laugh, smile, or maintain a positive attitude in the workplace.  So while the corporate recruiter or hiring manager might appear outwardly friendly, and jovial, pay close attention to the attitude and body language of the other people you encounter throughout the hiring process — including the receptionist.  If these people seem sullen, downtrodden, or less than enthusiastic about being there, BIG red flag!

While these three clues are definitely more subtle than the analytical, apples-to-apples comparisons we also help clients make between competing job offers, we felt it was important to share them, since they truly represent some of the best “windows into the corporate soul” that job applicants today have at their disposal.  Companies, just like candidates, can be shrewd salespeople and misrepresent the potential of an opportunity to try and hook their ideal candidate.  Over the years, therefore, we’ve felt that these more organic factors have gone a long way to helping our clients see beyond the “take the money and run” attitude and find work environments offering true long-term satisfaction potential!

Evaluating a Job Offer? The Courtship Ritual Counts!

All things considered, it’s been an active summer in terms of Puget Sound hiring, and many clients of ours have been fortunate enough to receive multiple job offers — and face the challenge of trying to select the best path from among several different opportunities.  And while this situation might not elicit sympathy from those folks still questing after a single offer, the anxiety of selecting from among several different employment options can be tremendous — and “buyer’s remorse” is a very real factor that candidates often struggle with during this process.

This being said, one of the most significant factors we advise our clients to consider when making these decisions is to reflect on how they were treated throughout the hiring process.  In most cases, we believe that there is a strong correlation between how hiring and interviewing activities are conducted at a company and what one can ultimately expect in terms of organizational culture.  If the process is conducted very respectfully, the candidate is made to feel like a priority, and the majority of timelines and commitments are honored throughout the “courtship ritual”, this usually signals a company that places a high value on its employees and likely has smart, solid business practices in place.  If instead, however, the hiring process is a nightmare, fraught with annoying interviewing steps and inconsistent communication, job seekers would be wise to contemplate what this might suggest in terms of the company’s day-to-day values and business methods.  This examination becomes all the more illuminating when one considers that both candidates AND companies tend to be on their best behavior during the interviewing process!

Examples of these principles in action?  One client of ours recently went through an management-level hiring process that was completed from start to finish within a single week, and at the end of the interviewing stage, the CEO of the company personally called the candidate and asked him to come on board.  Upon accepting the offer, our client then had a very generous gift basket delivered to his home to celebrate the new relationship.  On the flip side, another individual we are working with recently decided to walk away from an opportunity right in the middle of the offer negotiation stage because the company implied they were “insulted” by his mild counteroffer — then later revealed that this was simply a negotiating ploy on their part and that they truly wanted him on board, after all!  Needless to say, he moved on (with our encouragement) to greener pastures, unimpressed by this first taste of the company’s value system, ethics, and business approach.

Got your own stories to tell about the good/bad approaches that companies take to “wooing” candidates in today’s job marketplace?  If so, we’d love you to e-mail them here.  We’re going to be speaking at an upcoming event on this very topic, so any fresh thoughts or ammunition would be welcomed!