What are your salary expectations?
Have you ever gotten this question in an interview?
Most job seekers say their salary expectations right out the gate, and it actually does them
a disservice.
In this video, I'm going to walk you through exactly how to answer this question about
what your salary expectations are and this exact structure and formula that I'm gonna
share with you is what my clients have used to land hundreds of thousands of dollars in
salary increases, including relocation expenses, signing bonuses, and more.
If you're ready to dive in, click that subscribe button and let's get straight to it.
My name is Cindy Makita-Dodd.
Welcome back to my channel.
If you are returning, and if you are new, welcome, I'm a career strategist and coach,
and I help driven job seekers, not only land their dream jobs, but reach their full potential.
And today I want to show you how to get the maximum salary available when you apply for
a role and the way that you do this is by effectively answering the question - What
are your salary expectations?
The first thing we want to know is why do employers ask this question in the first place?
Well, first an employer wants to know that your compensation expectations align with
what they have budgeted for the role so you have to understand that every company has
an allotted budget for what they're willing to pay somebody to fill that open position
so in other words, they want to see whether or not they can afford to hire you and it
all boils down to the budget that they have allocated for this role.
So how can you answer this question so that you can get the max salary and not shortchange
yourself or undervalue yourself as a job seeker.
Well, first and foremost, you do not want to share your desired salary right out the
gate and most job seekers get the lower end of the budget because they do not do this
correctly.
The best way ladies and gentlemen is to let the employer tell you what they have budgeted
for the role, because what happens sometimes and oftentimes is that if you just tell the
employer what you have in mind in terms of expected salary, maybe it's much lower than
what they have budgeted for the role so you actually end up with a lower salary than what
they had in mind, or maybe if you throw out a number that is way above their budget, it
might put you at a disservice because the company might think that they cannot afford
you thus eliminating you from the running as a candidate.
Okay Cindy, so I won't say my expected salary right out the gate.
What do I say instead?
Here's the exact answer that you can use to answer the "what is your salary expectation"
question?
Definitely!
I'm open to discussing what you believe to be a fair salary for the position and hearing
a bit more about the day-to-day responsibilities of the role so I can give you a better answer.
Responding in this way allows the employer to put their number on the table and it then
opens up the opportunity to negotiate.
One of the golden rules in negotiating and actually negotiating in a win-win situation
is to allow the other party to put down a number first.
So in this case, knowing what the company has budgeted for the role puts you in a great
position to see their low-end and their high-end or range within the salary expectation and
then you can see where you fit-in.
Using this answer demonstrates that first, you want to know what the company has in mind,
but even more than that, you want to understand exactly what this role entails before you
put a number down on what your expected salary is.
So in a perfect world, you give that answer when you are asked, what is your expected
salary and the company lets you know what they have budgeted.
On the other hand however, not every employer is going to just accept that answer.
Some of them are really going to prompt you and probe you to give them even a range of
what you have in mind.
So here is the last result if you are truly prompted to provide a salary expectation.
If you are pressured to give a number, you can give a range instead.
So I'd say something like this, "Based on my research, the average salary for this role
in X location, given my X years of experience, is between this salary and this salary.
What did you have in mind for this role?"
So here we are giving a range instead of just one number so it allows the employer to see
where my range fits in with their range and again, we are asking them what they have in
mind for the role as well.
Of course it is super important that you do your research.
What are the average salary ranges for the position in the location that you are in with
your number of years of experience.
This will give you a holistic view on what you should actually expect for this role with
the specific salary that you have in mind.
And so to recap, how do you answer the, what is your expected salary question and interview.
First off, do not go straight out and give a number that you have in mind.
The best response is to let the employer know that you want to understand the full scope
of the responsibilities for the role, and also hear what they have budgeted for this
position.
As a last result, if you are truly prompted to give a number and the employer probes,
then you want to give a salary range and remember you want on the low-end and on the high-end,
what you would be comfortable with accepting for this position, given your location, your
years of experience, as well as the industry that you are in.
And of course you have to be confident because when you give a response like that, you need
to know the value that you can bring to the table and be confident in your worth.
So don't be afraid to utilize these strategies in your next interview.
I hope that you found this useful.
If you did, please give it a thumbs up.
It helps so much comment below any questions that you have regarding interview preparation,
but more importantly, how to negotiate your salary.
Consider subscribing to my channel for more videos like these on how to not only land
your next best opportunity, but how to reach your full potential.
I will see you very soon.
Bye for now.