Phone Interview!

[netskyblue]

I applied for a job on Tuesday in a different industry, but similar capacity to the job I hold now, and they called me on Thursday to schedule a phone interview.  (Yay!)  When I applied for the job online, they required me to fill out a box with minimum salary requirement, and check yes or no to "Negotiable."  I currently make $39,500 (with excellent health insurance, almost fully paid, and a large 401k contribution by my employer).  I entered $42,000 and said yes to negotiable, since the job posting gave no indication of salary.  I picked that number as a minimum because there's no way they could induce me to accept the job for LESS than that.  And depending on benefits, I still might not.

The job was for "Buyer I" but said the candidate might be able to be hired at the "Buyer II" level, depending on qualifications.  I mean to ask what qualifications separate the I from the II, as I've never worked in an environment that had hiring levels like this.

Assuming I do well enough to GET a job offer, how do I get the best possible compensation package?  I've never negotiated salary for a new job.  I'm 8 years into my first "real job" and I was so young & desperate when I got it, I took what they offered.  If they should say something like, "We see you listed a salary requirement of 42k and we're prepared to offer that."...?  Where do I go from there, assuming the benefits offered are not incomparable to what I'm expecting?  I wouldn't feel at all weird about asking for more and justifying myself if the benefits package is less than I'm used to.  I'd LIKE 50k AND comparable benefits but I don't know how to ask for more from the get-go.

I have asked for, and received a (well-deserved) raise before, it's just that I don't know how to proceed now that they've got a number from me.

[LibrarIan]

I think the first step would be to see if you can find out more about what other people in that position make. I never apply for a job without first finding this information out. If salary is not listed on the job description, I immediately email HR and copy whoever the head of the department is to ask for a pay scale for the position. If they don't reply/refuse to give this information, I move on. Taking a blind stab could result in them overlooking you or accepting you when they would've paid more. Get the deetz, then we'll talk turkey.

[netskyblue]

Really?  That's something you can do?  I've never had any experience with a corporate environment, I've only ever worked directly for owners.  At my current job, even discussing salary with a co-worker is a firing offense!

[Brian Fellows]

In salary negotiations, assuming you're confident that you're someone they should hire (sounds like you should), you typically want to give them a number HIGHER than what you'll accept, then they can negotiate that down.

You got painted into a corner because they asked the MINIMUM acceptable.  Well, if that's your minimum and you say it's negotiable, all you're saying is "Even though I'm claiming this is the least I'll work for, I'm willing to negotiate for even lower."  The right move would have been to put something higher than the min you'd accept if you're willing to negotiate, OR put in the least you'll accept (and still, you'd probably want to put this higher) and say it's non-negotiable (IE, I will absolutely not work for less than $42,000).

It's important to find out the payscale as was said above.  If you're applying for a position that typically pays between $35-50K, don't list $60K as your minimum (unless you're a super badass and overqualify by a lot).  But I would never give a company my honest lowest I'd work for.  And yes, especially at a larger company, you should be able to ask whoever made the job posting what the salary range is.  Don't expect a hardset boundary - they may say they're looking to pay someone $40-50k, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't pay a top candidate more.  Get an offer before you start trying to negotiate, but there's nothing wrong with touching base before you even apply to see what range they're looking at.

[mxt0133]

When you get to the point of actually talking about salary then you know they are interested.  At that point you say I will seriously consider your best offer.  If they press for an actual number, you can tell them that you have to consider a lot of things and don't have an exact figure until you know what the total compensation package is, salary, bonus, benefits, paid time off.  If they press for a range, you can deflect again with something like you don't really have a range because you haven't had the time to consider and that it depends on how interested you are in the position, room for growth, blah, blah.

As soon as you give a number, then they have the advantage and will just go lower from there.  You can set expectations that based on your research that this position on the market pays X and will consider it from there.

[frugaliknowit]

You've already entered a figure on the application.  Hopefully, that will not carry much weight.

Do everything you can to avoid painting yourself into a corner.  Get them to name a figure before you do.

[nereo]

Really?  That's something you can do?  I've never had any experience with a corporate environment, I've only ever worked directly for owners.  At my current job, even discussing salary with a co-worker is a firing offense!

Except in some very rare circumstances, it is illegal for an employer to fire a worker for discussing their salary with other employees.  See the National Labor Relations Act: http://www.nlrb.gov/resources/national-labor-relations-act
I would register an anonymous complaint with HR.

[erae]

netskyblue,  I would check out this link for information on how to handle salary negotiation, especially when the potential employer has pushed you to name a number first: http://www.askamanager.org/category/salary

I agree with LibrarIan that finding out the market rate for the position is helpful, but doing what LibrarIan suggests sounds aggressive to me, and like something that could get you flagged as a difficult candidate.  There are indirect ways to try and figure out the salary, like glassdoor.com.  Just make sure you're

[netskyblue]

Really?  That's something you can do?  I've never had any experience with a corporate environment, I've only ever worked directly for owners.  At my current job, even discussing salary with a co-worker is a firing offense!

Except in some very rare circumstances, it is illegal for an employer to fire a worker for discussing their salary with other employees.  See the National Labor Relations Act: http://www.nlrb.gov/resources/national-labor-relations-act
I would register an anonymous complaint with HR.

Well.. it's in our handbook.  There is no HR, there's the owner, and about 70 employees.

[nereo]

Really?  That's something you can do?  I've never had any experience with a corporate environment, I've only ever worked directly for owners.  At my current job, even discussing salary with a co-worker is a firing offense!

Except in some very rare circumstances, it is illegal for an employer to fire a worker for discussing their salary with other employees.  See the National Labor Relations Act: http://www.nlrb.gov/resources/national-labor-relations-act
I would register an anonymous complaint with HR.

Well.. it's in our handbook.  There is no HR, there's the owner, and about 70 employees.

Employers try to dissuade their employees from discussing salaries or from unionizing because it prevents them from getting better working conditions.. That doesn't make it legal (unless you are government).
If you don't have an HR department I'd try to find some way of quietly letting the other employees know that they can discuss salaries amongst one-another.  Maybe print out some of the numerous articles about NLRA.  Make sure the owner gets a copy.  Such strong-arming of employees really irritates me.

[mozar]

From a different perspective I always give my salary. I know what the range is for various positions in my field. I also use recruiters a lot. For my last job they knew what I made and I asked my recruiter to ask for 5k more. She did, it took them a year to give it to me in increments. The best thing to do is have several job offers and have them compete for you. In your situation i think since you are currenlty employed is say that you are making this much but you are not willing to leave your great job for less than 50k. Employers are used to this. Would you be getting more responsibility too? You can bring that up. Thats how most people get raises by going to an employer who will pay more. If you have been at your job for 8 years you are underpaid.