When is the right time to talk about salary when interviewing?
One thing that many job seekers want to do when interviewing is ask about salary. You want to know how much the company can afford and if it is within your same price range or mind frame. The issue you may run into is that many interviewers will find it rude if you bring it up during the interview. Other times they may flat out ask you which can put you on the spot. Here are some things that you can do to try and determine if the position may have the correct pay range for you.
Look at the job description.
Many times job descriptions will have a small line about salary range. If it isn’t anywhere close to what you are looking for, you may want to not bother with that job. If your pay range is only slightly higher than what they listed, you may decide to go for it anyways, and if you are an excellent fit in their eyes they may be willing to pay a bit extra.
Look to see what the employer is asking you to submit with your resume.
A lot of resume submissions require you to submit your resume, a cover letter and salary requirements. Even if the job sounds like an amazing fit, the company may not have the funds to be able to afford you. By being honest and submitting what you are looking for you’ll be doing yourself a favor and not wasting a day interviewing for a job you would not accept.
Look at the job title, the size of the company and use an average salary range for the area you live in.
One thing that I like to do is to look at what other people with that same job title are making. There are many tools you can find online that will ask you for a job title, zip code and company size and then give you the average salary range. This will help you to determine what other people in your area with the same job title are making. You will also have some expectations for what you can expect the company to come at you with and what might be reasonable for you to ask for.
When should you ask about salary?
This is a tricky question. As a general best practice when interviewing, it is not polite to ask about salary during the interview. You should wait until either the interviewer brings is up or until an offer is made. The goal of the interview is to show the company why you are a good fit skill wise and socially. If they like you they may make an offer and that’s when you can say what your salary requirements are and come to an agreement. The important thing during the interview is that you make a great impression, just like they need to. Once they decide to extend an offer, that’s when you can talk about how much you are looking to make. One other thing to think about is that even if they cannot afford you salary wise, there are other benefits they can throw in like time off or work from home days.
Interviewing can be a tricky thing. Asking the wrong question can put you at the bottom of the list of candidates just like not talking about certain things can leave you in the dark on if the company is actually a good fit for you. Salary and benefits are a tricky thing to talk about. As a rule of thumb you should hold off on asking about salary until an offer is made or until the interviewer brings it up. The purpose of the interview is to show why you are both a good fit for each other and not to haggle of salaries. Salary and pay can be discussed if you both decide to work with each other and you should wait to ask about it until the offer is made. Thank you for reading and if you would like to add anything, please feel free to leave a comment below.