There was a discussion asked in the Maker’s slack channel regarding providing an expected salary:
Anyone have any advice on how to fill in the “Expected Salary” field of a job application? Of note:
- I have just graduated from Makers
- I have three years of previous professional experience, but not as a dev
- The job title is “Junior DevOps Engineer”
- I would really like to say something like “negotiable” but don’t know if that’s bad form
- If I need to put a number, can I put a range?
It was interesting to see the various responses to this question. Some were saying to not provide a salary range or expected salary.
Here are some of the responses:
avoid answering that question as much as you can, and if you have to, a range is fine
Yes, there is no obligation to answer that question. If it’s a required field I’d use their own tricks against them and go with “competitive”
fwiw, from being on the interviewer side, and having talked to recruitment about it, usually it’s to make sure there isn’t a massive expectation gap
for more aggressive recruiters it is also so that they have the upper hand in negotiation
One person did write a pretty good response which I think it’s worth mentioning in its own section.
A Great Response
I wouldn’t avoid the question - put an exact number
Why? The employer will have a salary range in mind. why place yourself at the bottom end or below before you’ve even started the process with them?
“You could also put yourself at the top end? You should always know the band before so you can’t really go below, unless you really dont rate yourself
My point is that by not answering the question you’re effectively saying that you’re open to anything within their band, and when negotiating you haven’t got a leg to stand on if they offer you the bottom end.
It’s roughly the same as giving an expected salary range like 30-40k - it’s usually interpreted as ‘I think i’m worth 30k but 40k would be nice’.If you’d be happy with the bottom end then, however the conversation would be very different than if you just ask for 40k, which says ‘I know what i’m worth and what I want’. It gives you leverage when negotiating and prevents them wasting your time.
The important thing here is not to overreach, find the number that you would be happy with and say yes to , then maybe add a few more £££. If it feels like too much then it probably is, if you genuinely think you can get more then you probably can.
Lastly, don’t think that giving a number will mean they wont negotiate still, you can still ask or be offered more or less after you go through the hiring process - it just gives you something to anchor to really”
My Response To This
Agreed. When negotiating, you’re going to need to see where you stand in the process. Providing a range will just give the employer an idea of how much you’re willing to take at a minimum.
Lets say as an example, the company wants to make an offer, your range is [£30k - £40k] and you tell the company a fixed number of £40k. If the company accepts, you win. If the company provides a counter offer of slightly lower, say £38k then you still win. In this scenario, you might even counter that and meet them halfway with £39k. Win Win!!
No employer will be offering higher than they need to, I wouldn’t think. Unless it’s part of their strategy to increase the chances of you accepting their offer.
My actual response to the discussion
Here was my contribution to the question:
“Whatever ‘expected salary’ you provide will be likely be used as an indicator for what skill level you think you’re at, also the company will look at this and match it with what they think based on your interview performance or first impressions.
Assuming they want to make you an offer, here is what I believe will be the various scenarios:
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If you give a salary expectation where its similar to what they think and is within their budget, they’ll likely make you the offer around a similar range or slightly higher to increase the chances of you accepting
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If you give a low salary expectation and its within their budget, they will either make you an offer of the same amount (thus saving some money) or they will make it slightly higher to increase the chances of you accepting.
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If you give a reasonably high salary expectation and it is within their budget while also more than they think you’re worth, they may make you an offer anyway with the probationary period in place to monitor your performance.
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If you give an outrageously high salary expectation, they may or may not take you seriously and possibly retract the offer altogether if not make a counter offer.
The point is, make a high offer but be realistic based on your experience level. Also be prepared to back up your offer with reasons why you feel its a fair offer.”
Summary
Might as well aim high but realistic to your experience level. There is no harm in being up-front about what your salary expectations are. And there is no harm in negotiating or renegotiating a salary if an offer is made, its all part of the game. But bear in mind that it needs to be a win-win situation for everyone to be happy.
A good salary isn’t necessarily all you should be thinking about, there are many other things to consider when negotiating:
- Are you currently in employment? If not, then you have less negotiating power
- Do you have other offers on the table you can use as leverage?
- What was your previous salary and would you accept lower?
- What is the work/life balance like at the company?
- What else can you bring to the company?
- How is the commute to work?
- What else does the company offer in terms of benefits?
- Does the company already have a short-list of candidates they’ve already to made offers to? (You wouldn’t know the answer to this but better to assume they have)
Think about what else you might be gaining. Such as a stable job, a good working environment? Will you be working in a good team? Have a good manager? Working on a cool project? Are there any learning opportunities? etc.
These things should be considered when thinking about the offer, sometimes its not necessarily a bad thing to accept a lower salary but then also receiving a lot of other benefits as a result.
I personally would much rather choose a position with a sensible or fair salary that has great benefits instead of a position where it pays extremely well but everything else from work/life balance to who you’re working with is terrible.