Salary Negotiation for New Job

Nyvo

Nyvo

Nyvo

Associate
Joined
12 Aug 2004
Posts
284
Location
London
Hi all,

I applied for a new job the week before last, the next day had a very nice chat with the head of recruitment where I was asked what my salary expectations were. I gave a figure which would be about a 20% increase on what I'm currently earning.

Since then I've had an interview, and been asked back for a final interview this week.

In the meantime I also discovered that a friend of mine has in the past, and still does work closely with this company and knows everyone I have spoken to, met and will be meeting throughout the process. She also told me that they're desperate to get people in with my experience and told me what salary I should be asking and aiming for...

Now, the figure I gave, and the figure she gave differ by £15k which is obviously a massive difference.

Would it be wrong of me to ask for more than my original expectation if I was to be offered the position? And if I did ask for more, how would be the best way to go about it?

Cheers!
 
Just say that whenever you look to progress you have a ballpark figure of +20% on what you currently earn to make it worthwhile.

However, after doing your research you believe the role is worth £x and you'd like them to offer that. It's not your fault if that role is valued at an extra 20% or 2000%.
 
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if you get the offer of a job, contact them and say that another company has offered you a similar position and that while you'd much rather work for company A, company B is paying 15k more. Then ask would they be willing to negotiate on salary.
 
this is a bit tricky as they have nailed you down to a figure early on then carried on interviewing you with that in mind, it is a bit awkward to change this though it isn't like you're blindly fishing for more, you've got some inside info...

you may be able to find an excuse of sorts, maybe something will present itself to you - perhaps you'll note something about holiday allowance, hours worked, travel requirements, medical insurance or lack of or perhaps the requirements to sign a non-compete contract... basically anything they're offering that is inferior to your current package that you'd not have known about at the time you gave the expected salary figure to them.

you can then go back to them with a reasonable excuse/reason to change the figure you're asking for - without a reason/justification then it just looks bad, they asked you for your expectations, you gave them and then you ask for more... it definitely needs to be justified

Some of those listed excuses alone are potentially a bit weak/clutching at straws, you'd need a few of them together tbh.... but also what could also be valid, given that you were asked for a figure at the start of the process, is if the role means taking on significantly more responsibility - if certain factors about the role only became clearer later on in the interview process then these could act as your justification in stating that you now think the role deserves more


lastly the suggestion above might work - (would be better still if you actually did get another interview lined up with another company), but it is risky, if you claim to have another offer for substantially more and they decide they're not willing to pay that much you'd look rather dodgy then turning around and stating you'd accept the much lower offer from them anyway
 
Cynical as it may seem, I have found that the main reason companies ask this question is in the hope that the candidate will say a number that is lower than what they are prepared to pay. It's an annoying trend and hardly any jobs in the private sector advertise salaries these days. It's often early in the process and when you are on the spot, and that isn't usually a coincidence!

That said with the knowledge you now have, would you really want to take the role knowing that there was that sort of difference potentially on the table? There is potential there for that to eat away at you and the best time to get a big bump is when moving to a new job.

If you have inside info that they are desperate to get people in then personally I would not be rushing to accept the offer - which may well be not a penny more than you asked for (warning sign they are not paying you your worth given the knowledge you now have)

Personally I prefer not to answer the question directly and pitch it as "I have X experience, feel I can get up to speed quickly etc etc so what sort of salary range is potentially on offer?" and then work from there. This of course depends how much you want/need the job, but that is obviously for a future time

Just an 'other side of the coin' view - but having been there it's not terribly easy to turn around once you'e set that expectation, so do keep that in mind. It may be something you need to chalk up to experience for next time, and still be happy with a 20% raise and the knowledge that there is scope for growth come pay review time when you have proven yourself - that extra 15k will likely raise the bar higher in terms of their expectations of you.

Good luck!
 
Hi all,

Thanks to every one that replied, I 've only had chance to skim them so far, but I just wanted to update that I had my final interview on Friday last week... and I had a call from them about half an hour ago offering me the position. They've offered me £2k more than what I said I was looking for, but they've also offered me it as a Junior role as theres a couple of areas that the job entails that they feel I need to improve in. They're going to provide full training and review the position and salary in 6 months. Eeek.
 
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