Salary expectations

triggerthat

triggerthat

triggerthat

Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2005
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6,901
Location
London
Hi,
I spoke to an internal recruiter about my salary expectations and I feel like I've completely undersold myself I have an interview next week and I'm not sure how to get out of the underselling part. Any recommendations?
 
When the question of salary comes up I used to overstate my salary then if they counter offered I always came out better off. If they offered less then they feel they've got a good deal and you're better off than you where.
 
No you don't. Nobody has made an offer or anything, it's all still at the discussion stage. Say you've had more time to review the job description and spoken to some industry colleagues etc.

If you can't get the salary upped then try and get the benefits upped.

And in the future either let them tell you how much they had in mind for the role, or come in high.
 
triggerthat said:
I need a justification.
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Some possible excuses:

1) You've got greedy.

2) You've just developed an expensive drug habit.

3) This is just your normal behaviour as you are prone to extreme mood swings.

4) Frankly they are lucky to have you and you will be demanding a further pay rise shortly.

If that doesn't work and you don't want to fess up that your first figure was simply too low, then you could give a bit of flannel that you were talking net take home pay rather than gross first time around which should enable you to increase it by 20% or so depending on what level the salary is at.
 
Say you've been approached by an external recruiter for a similar role which is paying £Your current salary + 10% (or however much you want) and that during the conversation they indicated that you're currently being slightly underpaid.
 
Recruiters will ask you what you're expecting salary wise so they can work out if there's any point shortlisting you and sending your details to the employer.

They might not even have passed on the number you gave other than "this person is suitable". Treat any salary talk in the interview as a clean slate.

Edit: Just read it's an internal recruiter. I still think your offer will reflect what they are paying for the same role, they won't underpay you because you slipped up early on, it's cheaper to give you the extra cash than have to recruit again after you leave in 8 months.
 
the_r_sole said:
was speaking to the recruiter part of the interview?
Would have thought that the interview is the place to discuss the salary/bonus etc?
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The recruiter would have passed on the candidates salary expectations to the firm looking to hire, which could have swayed them to arrange an interview.
 
I think what you need to do is work out what you think you want, and ignore any other noise.

If you find out someone else bids for the job at £5k per year more, so what. There is always someone who will be paid more than you.

I'd imagine your only option is to say you've been approached for a comparable role on more money, and would seek to match that offer. Risk is they say no, and you then er, don't have the initial offer.
 
If they like you and you get an offer you're going to have to give them some plausible sounding patter about how you feel this role is worth x etc... Most employers leave a bit back for negotiations so its not unexpected that you'd ask for more once you've received their first offer. Reality is salaries are rarely distributed fairly within an organisation and one of your best times for getting the pay you want is when starting a new role... if you accept lower and have a similar conversation a year or 6 months in then its easier for them to reject it - ask for more when you join as your future rises over the next couple of years could well be nominal - inflation+a small bit extra unless you get promoted.

I'm not sure what part the internal recruiter plays and whether they have any incentives to keep costs low... An external recruiter is simply incentivised to close the deal and so generally won't want to risk blowing the thing by pushing too hard for extra pay which may be of minimal benefit to himself personally. An internal recruiter might work even less in your favour.
 
I always add half onto my current salary, and go in with that. For me to move it has to be worth my while.

You can justify it by checking out similar positions within the market etc
 
Mynight said:
When the question of salary comes up I used to overstate my salary then if they counter offered I always came out better off. If they offered less then they feel they've got a good deal and you're better off than you where.
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This.

Never done me any harm throughout my career.
 
Dunks said:
The recruiter would have passed on the candidates salary expectations to the firm looking to hire, which could have swayed them to arrange an interview.
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yeah, just wondered how it works with an internal recruiter - seems a bit harsh to have this approach with existing employees
 
This was an internal HR person (I applied online). I'd imagine she wanted to check where I am pitching at before inviting me for an interview. No point in inviting someone in if they are too expensive.
 
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