Dealing with the Salary Elimination Question

There are two phases in a job search. First, you need to get a job offer. The second is evaluating and accepting the job offer. Realize that any conversation or questions about salary before you’ve been offered a job is not the time to negotiate salary. It is time for you to get past this question on your way to getting a job offer. Once they’ve made you an offer it is time to consider it and to negotiate salary and other benefits, compensation and perks. What were are talking about here is dealing with the Salary Elimination Question.

E: Employer

C: Interviewee or Candidate

E: What kind of salary are you looking for?

C: I’m looking for a salary in line with the responsibilities of the position.

Or you could say...

C: I really like your company and all my research leads me to believe that you offer a fair and competitive salary.

E: That’s nice. I really need to have a number; what are your salary expectations?

C: Oh, I’m looking for something in the 45K range.

E: That’s a little higher that we were expecting. Would you take less?

C: I’d consider it.

---

E: What was your last salary?

Let’s say that you were making a very high salary and due to the economy or because of a career shift you are applying for a lower paying position.

C: Oh, I’m looking for something in the 75K range.

E: That’s right in the range for the position you’ve applied for, but I still need to know your previous salary

C: I am making some allowances for the economy so I’ve reduced my salary requirements. I was earning 110 thousand in my last role. But that was a much different job.

E: Okay, thank you...

The goal here is to get through this question and not to make a big deal about it. Realize that I have refrained from two different responses. First, I didn’t use the word negotiate nor the word negotiation. Negotiate can be seen as an adversarial term. This is not the time to raise eyebrows; it is a time to build rapport. I also didn’t try to take the upper hand in the interview by asking a question like, “What does the job pay?” or “What are you expecting to pay for this position?”  This is a negotiation strategy and not appropriate at this time. Second, I also didn’t say anything that could be seen as desperate for the job. “I’m open, I’ll take anything!” is an absolute no-no! Just be cool and calm, answer the question simply and to the point.

You can also visit: xtranormal to view a movie clip on how this might work.

 

Just for Laughs!!!

Technology & Job Search

It was 1995 and I was living in San Diego, California and I got a phone call from a recruiter. Remember those days... the phone would ring and the person on the other side of the call would ask if your were open to other opportunities. This call was for a job at a start-up Internet company in Champaign, Illinois. The company was Spyglass and they were commercializing a product named Mosaic for a thing called the World Wide Web.  The company was planning an IPO and they were looking for someone with my skills and abilities.

Most people who accessed the Internet then used dial-up and AOL was the big boy on the block. Of course there weren’t jobs posted in the Web and  résumés’ were sent to prospective employers via the US Mail. There was no LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter and The Cloud was a white puffy thing in the sky.

There is only one thing that has remained the same in Job Search over the decade and a half since 1995. Back then only 20% of jobs were advertised and today... only 20% of jobs are advertised. I realize that the laws of “supply and demand” were completely reversed back in 1995 as opposed to today. Still, back then, people found jobs as a result of networking. I guess that the percentage was smaller then. In 2002, one study posted that 60.7% of jobs were found through networking. Today, I’ve heard of numbers upward of 85% and some believe that is conservative.

So has technology helped or hurt the job seeker? I would suggest that it is a lot easier to sit at your computer and search for jobs via the Internet. However, tools like LinkedIn, Twitter and a host of other social networking sites have presented a variety of ways to feel productive.

I had one client tell me that he went back and counted 1500 applications he posted over the year he was out. After attending one of my classes and changing his focus, he started networking and he has had eight interviews in the last three week. What was his hit rate responding to on-line postings? Zero! (0:1500... no wonder he hugged me when he told me this news!) Yet, like Zamir situation, using LinkedIn and similar tools can help the job seeker or anyone be more effective at networking... and getting interviews.

I discovered another tool a few months back called Xtranormal that has helped me help job seekers better prepare for networking and job search. I’ve been told that knowing what to say to people is the hardest thing about networking. So here are three examples to help... and if these avatars can do it so can you.

• How to answer the question, “Tell me about yourself?”
• How to ask for a network meeting over the phone?
• How to get new contacts by asking three questions?

Here is another way that technology has improved our lives. Cute, funny, clever maybe, but I’ll tell you one thing... back in 1995 if anyone would have told you that you could learn how to find a job from an avatar, you would have thought them goofy.

Happy Networking.