Re: FWD: How Do You NOT Mention Salary First?

[Tracy Boyington <tracy_boyington -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG>]

> I've tried such responses as, "What am I worth to your company?"
> or, "What ballpark are you playing in?" They respond with,
> "I don't know what our budget is for this (then how will they know
> if I am in the same region they are?) until I talk to the Head
> Budgeteer."

Oooh. Bad sign. They are really interviewing without having a *clue*
what they can pay?

> The latest one is a company that won't entertain further discussion
> or make an offer until I fill out their application form, and they
> won't look at the application until I put a number in the box.

Ewwww. Another bad sign. This sounds like a company I would not want to
work for (and when someone who has worked for state agencies most of her
adult life thinks a company sounds too anal retentive, you should take
heed! ;-)

> What do you do when pressed for a number? How do I handle this without
> screwing myself out of a good salary? Or out of an offer?

Well, the way to handle it without screwing yourself out of a good
salary is to decide how much you want and tell them. Yes, you may lose
an offer this way, but if they were going to offer less than you would
accept, isn't it a moot point? And yes, there's always the possibility
that you'll announce you want $60,000 and they were willing to pay
$80,000, but that's less likely to happen if you do your homework (using
the sources others have mentioned).

Tracy
--
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Tracy Boyington         mailto:tracy_boyington -at- okvotech -dot- org
Oklahoma Dept. of Vocational & Technical Education
Curriculum & Instructional Materials Center
Stillwater, Oklahoma    http://www.okvotech.org/cimc/
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