Offer Letter

[Gene Kim-Eng]

Yes, I was referring to James' government job, though if you're
dealing with a large multinational conglomerate things are likely
to be similar.

I don't agree with the advice to not discuss salary during the
interview process.  The whole idea of asking candidates for
their salary requirements is to determine if you can bring
them in for the amount budgeted for the position.  Except
for some very small companies where there's a founder
who owns 50+% of the place personally, when most
companies sign off on a req they establish the target for
salary and have better things to do than nickel and dime a
candidate down to the last two or five grand.  In my last
couple of interviews when asked I named a sum that was
the low end of acceptable to me (and was 8-10% more
than what I was making at the time) and told them that
anything over that was a reasonable place for us to begin
negotiation, and in both cases the company's first offer
was 10% or more over it.  It's conceivable that they might
have been prepared to go another 1-2%, but I also have
better things to do than nickel or dime.  In a case where
my stated starting sum is less than what the company has
budgeted and they don't have the ability or the will to come
up, I prefer to just cut the discussion short as quickly as
possible and get on with my life.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Poshedly, Ken" <PoshedlyK at polysius.com>
To: "Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr at genek.com>; <vrfour at verizon.net>; 
<techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com>
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 5:25 AM
Subject: RE: Offer Letter


Gene,

I assume that your reply is specific to the apparently fictional
government job described by James.

But how to handle non-gov situations and those where budgets are not so
carved-in-stone?

>From what I've gleaned over the years:

* Don't bring up a possible salary figure DURING the interview process
because you'll immediately be dumped if your expectation is beyond what
the hiring manager *wants* to pay with no consideration given to your
non-financial advantages (very desirable skill set, consistently good
accomplishments at previous jobs, impeccable references, etc.).

* Don't try to negotiate a possible salary figure AFTER the interview
process because the hiring manager already has determined what you'll be
paid and your resistance is futile (again, even with your very desirable
skill set, consistently good accomplishments at previous jobs,
impeccable references, etc.).

Is one or the other more successful in your option? I know that both
approaches are used, but I just thought I'd ask.

Life's a gamble.

-- Ken in Atlanta





-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+poshedlyk=polysius.com at lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+poshedlyk=polysius.com at lists.techwr-l.com] On
Behalf Of Gene Kim-Eng
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 3:50 PM
To: vrfour at verizon.net; techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: Re: Offer Letter

Well, you could try recontacting whoever you interviewed with to
determine if there is an opportunity to revisit their classification of
your grade compared to your actual experience.  However, my guess is
that in the case you postulate it will turn out they know perfectly well
that your actual experience would make you a TW2,
3 or 4 but you got the TW1 offer because that's all the budget for the
position will cover.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message -----
From: "James Barrow" <vrfour at verizon.net>

> What happens if the compensation offered is at the TW 1 level?  Do you

> call the Department of Redundancy?  Do you draft a counter-offer that
> mentions the disparity between experience and compensation?
>
> I'm fairly certain that this wouldn't happen since we're talking about

> a government position, but what if...?

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