Money Talks
SO MANY young people ask me how to handle questions relating to salary. Indeed, this question seems more on their minds than any related with getting the job! Even the all-time major confuser "Tell me about yourself... " palls in comparison to the one about how much salary one expects.
First timers have it a little easier since they can quote, if compelled, the industry norm plus fifteen percent, and settle perhaps on the norm or norm plus five percent depending on the company. It is wise for everybody - freshers and the experienced- to understand that there is a difference between what you want and the industry norm.
Also, experienced people should know the difference between what they were getting earlier and what they can get in the conditions presently prevailing. Look at the number of qualified doctors involved in medical transcription. A doctor was once a service provider who had a certain unique and rare skill learned over five years and alleviated suffering. Now that skill is neither rare nor is it unique. Besides being learned over four years today, there are too many doctors so a natural `hit' on the income happens.
Similarly with engineers, there are so many available that several hundred thousands languish in call centres or recruitment offices. Experienced people should realise that what they were getting need not have a bearing on what their new employer wants to pay them. Mainly because the talent pool has expanded to oceanic proportions and talent swarms like minnows in a whale's maw. A clear acceptence of this truth will give you the confidence to handle your salary negotiation with skill and to good effect.
Experienced people will be asked how much they were being paid at previous jobs. Quoting a higer figure than you were actually getting can get you into trouble and is likely to get you rejected out of hand if it was far above the industry norm.
If you are offered employment despite this, you will be asked for your salary slips and if they find a discrepancy, they are likely to rescind your appointment without a second thought.
The reason that recruiters ask for previously drawn salaries, is because they want to benchmark their offer and to see right away if they can afford you. If they cannot, they will make haste to end the interview but will not give you an answer either way so that you are left on tenterhooks, often suspecting the worst. A week or ten days later, they will ring back and offer you the job but quoting a discounted salary that you might, in your desperation and relief, accept.
Do not fall into this trap. Politely say that you are considering an offer from a competing company - which you do not have to name - and tell the caller that you have to answer them in a week.
This will provide ample time for the first company to get their act together and either make you a fair and reasonable offer, or say no.
Freshers and experienced people alike should have no hesitation in quoting a figure with which they are comfortable - but neither should be the first to bring up the topic. The amount should be mentioned only when asked by the recruiter.
Sometimes it is wiser to give a company that is not willing to consider a higher start a total miss if not a mere wide berth. Watch for the reaction when you make your quote, their faces usually give them away but if they are very experienced recruiters, look for more subtle body language like a slight withdrawal of interest and attention.
Never make the mistake of mentioning your previously drawn salary(ies) on your CV, They may hire you for the wrong reasons! Then again they may reject you for the wrong reasons too, since lowly compensated people are perceived as being less than employable or inept in some way.
When specifically asked, and trust me, they will ask; respond with a salary range rather than a specific figure. If you were in the lowest grade for example, you would do well to mention an ambivalent figure between the total entry figure and the figure just prior to the next grade regardless of what you were getting in that scale.
There usually is not much room for negotiation as far as freshers are concerned, but experienced people could have the chance to do so. A hint: Never reject an offer out of hand. Ask the recruiter how they arrived at the figure they are offering, and tell them that the offer is so much below what you expected that you would have to reconsider your other options which were more aligned with industry norms.
Salary is a sticky subject and I will return to it at a more appropriate time, but with these rules of the proverbial thumb, you ought not to be flustered when the question is spun at you when it is your turn to go and bat on a very uneven playing field.
P.P.SHARPE
faqs@cnkonline.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Opportunities
