Salary

Real Answers to Salary Questions

October 22, 2012 By Katherine Burik

Everyone makes a salary. These are like individual dots on a chart. When you bundle all the salaries together for all the people who do the same work as you do, you get a pattern. The pattern shows that some people earn more and some people earn less doing the same job. There is an average.

All those dots create a “competitive salary range”. Your salary is probably within that range. It might be at the higher end or the lower end, depending on the size of company you worked for and your level of experience. Larger companies generally pay better and smaller companies generally pay less but have better titles.

For example, an HR Director working for a small company probably makes less money, has fewer people on his/her team and is responsible for all aspects of HR. An HR Director working for a large company who probably has a larger span of responsibility, maybe more people working for him/her, and almost certainly makes more money, probably as much as 50% more money with larger bonuses too. An HR Director in a smaller company is probably more similar to an HR Manager in a larger company. Same is true with other fields. A Controller in a smaller company is probably more similar to an Accounting Manager in a larger company, not similar to the Controller of a larger company.

I don’t make the rules. I am just reporting how it works!

Ok, now we have covered basic statistics, why is this useful or interesting to you? During your job search you will be asked to reveal what you earned at your last job. The person asking the question is trying to figure out if you will fit in their company. If you earn too much money, they will think they can’t afford you. If you earn too little money, they will think you are not strong enough to fit into their business.

You have to know how this works in order to know how to respond to questions about your salary. A few tips:

Learn about the company. Is your target company large or small compared to other companies doing similar work? If it is small, you can expect the smaller salary with larger responsibility and better title. If it is large, you can expect a smaller title and larger salary.

Research salaries. You know your own salary but since your salary is just a dot on that big salary chart, you need to know what the big salary chart looks like. The information you are looking for comes from salary surveys. My favorite resource is www.salary.com. HR people use this site to double check salary ranges and so should you.

Follow along with me on this example for an Accounting Manager in Cleveland OH.

At www.salary.com, you see a search box at the top. I enter “Accounting Manager” and enter “Cleveland, OH”. I find a list of jobs that have Accounting Manager in them along with a little job description. I like the first one so I click on the title, Accounting Manager. Take a look at that job description. Does that sound like you? If so, then take a look at the cool graphics below the description. This shows information about the people who do this job in that market (Cleveland). In this case, it shows that the people surveyed mostly have a bachelor’s degree, have more than 5 years’ experience, and work in companies that are less than 500 people. This is interesting to you because you can judge how close this survey information is to your experience.

Now, click on the green box that says, “View Salary Info”. Up pops a graph! According to the survey, the median salary of Accounting Managers in Cleveland OH is $84,953. You are also interested in the range that shows $74,765 at the low end to $94,819 at the high end. Bingo! The magic information! If you were an accounting manager in Cleveland, OH, you would now know that the salary range for your position in that town is between 75k and 95k.

When a hiring manager asks the salary you are looking for, don’t just give up the salary you earned at your last job. The smart answer for an accounting manager in Cleveland OH would be, “I am looking for a competitive salary between 75k and 95k”. This covers all sins. It answers the question with real data without tying you down. Odds are they are expecting to pay a salary somewhere in that range so you are cleared to go to the next stage of interviewing, assuming they like you and your background.

You can use www.salary.com to check any salary you want in any location you want anywhere in the world. It is a very valuable tool in any job search!

695 Opinions about the BIG $$$ Question . . .

November 25, 2010 By Marta Goertzen

What do YOU do with the salary question? In today’s job market, it’s huge. Well I found a LinkedIn group discussion with nearly 700 comments. The person who posed the question does an excellent job of articulating the issues, and firing back further questions. I think this discussion addresses the issue in such detail that it will at least give you some different perspectives on the BIG question. It’s a members-only LinkedIn group called “Career Change Central – in Partnership with IvyExec.com.” It is not restrictive, though, if you explain that you are looking for career changing information and input, or show that in your LinkedIn profile.

In the Career Change Central LinkedIn group, look for the group discussion “Interview Question – What are your salary expectations?” The discussion leader is J. Paige Freeland. My perspective on this topic has evolved slightly. This was my “Comment:”

“While I agree with the common recommendation that answering the salary question without really giving specific dollars or dollar ranges is normally to the candidate’s advantage, there are times when the recruiter insists on at least a specific range, and without it, the conversation ends.

There are two solutions. Research the industry, like companies and like jobs. Inquire through your local network of contacts who might know what the local market range for this position is with competitors. Ask people who know people in those companies if they can help you. Get as much information as you possibly can about relevant salary data.

The other solution is a more traditional research visit to your local library. Reference USA is the premier business reference guides and can be accessed with a good librarian’s assistance. Hoover’s is also a great reference although on-line it may require some investment.

If the company is publicly traded, some financial information will be available on the required SEC filing, the 14-K. For a non-profit organization, the Form 990 will have key people salary information.

With nearly 700 comments already, these research references are (I’m sure) not news. My view on this is that careful preparation for a critical question puts you in the best position to move beyond that natural interviewing process hurdle.”

The Hottest Question in Job Search . . . ‘Your Salary Expectations?’

May 8, 2010 By Marta Goertzen

‘How should I answer the ‘salary question?’ Most people looking for a new position or a work opportunity are troubled by this question, and feel they have probably botched it already – that’s why they keep asking ‘how should I answer the salary question?’

keep_your_cards_close I recently participated in a HR panel presentation for a class, “Navigating the Interview Process.” The hottest question of the two hours of Q&A from the group was ‘how should I answer the salary question?’ I suggested, ‘don’t answer it.’ The rest of the panel, all responsible for hiring within their companies, took the opposite opinion: ‘You better answer it, or the party is over with us.’

As a corporate recruiter, that salary question for me was a ‘must-get-an-answer,’ and on the rare occasion that a candidate successfully talked their away past a direct answer, it was a red flag. Sometimes it felt like I was being hoodwinked. Looking back, they wanted to talk about other things, the job, the company, what they had accomplished, how they could help us, the qualities they offered, what qualities fit best in this job, this company. In other words, they kept the conversation on point, and presented themselves with an eye for solutions and next steps rather than answering litmus test questions like ‘how much are you presently making?’ or my favorite, ‘what are your salary requirements?’

Okay, here’s a confession. Did I recommend for further consideration the candidates who talked past the salary question? Only about half the time. I needed to know, and if he or she wouldn’t give me a straight answer, I reasoned that they did not fit our culture of straight answers (I worked with CPA’s in my most recent life). However, if they really wowed me, I recommended them anyway.

In the last year or two, as I have been building a practice of coaching people seeking employment, I have come to believe that the strongest posture regarding the salary question (if you want a position that matches your capacity for contributing) is exactly what those clever candidates who didn’t answer the question directly were doing. They were building a keener interest in their candidacy, and finding out if this company (my company/me) understood their value and their capacity for handling tough questions, to their advantage. That should have impressed me, and sometimes it did – now I see the wisdom of candidates who answer without answering the money question.

I recommend that folks answer it with purposeful vagueness, ‘I’m aware of the range of what a job like this will pay in the marketplace, and I’m comfortable with that range.’ Will it cause you to be ruled out of consideration in some cases? It might. Should that concern you in a down economy where the number of opportunities seems somewhat limited? I don’t think so. Smart companies, growing companies, figure out ways to hire good people, and if you are one of those ‘good people’ you’ll play this question close to the vest, and manage the interview by addressing the hot button issues that will cause them to want to fill the job with you. Talk about the pay after they make you the offer. As was noted in an earlier blog, that’s where your leverage will be.