I’ve been talking with a few hiring managers and a few senior candidates. The hiring managers are afraid to look at some senior people because they’re concerned the senior people will want salaries that are higher than the companies want to pay. The senior people are concerned that they can’t get interviews because the hiring managers might not want to pay a higher salary.But people will take jobs for many more reasons than just a salary number. Senior people who have already sent their kids through school may be willing to settle for a reasonable salary and more time off. People always want health care. Some people want to know they have a job, and won’t have to keep looking. (See Penelope Trunk’s take on living with risk at How to deal with getting fired (from Yahoo).Don’t assume you know what the candidate wants or needs. Don’t assume you know what the hiring manager is willing to pay. Remember that everything is negotiable. (See Negotiating for Salary.
In my recent consulting (workshops and assessments), several technical staff and their managers have told me they’re not sure they are being paid what they’re worth. I ask “How do you know?”
They tell me all the ways they’re working for the organization and how much that benefits their managers. I ask the next question, “Did you tell your manager?”
When you’re looking to hire someone, you can’t have the conversation about what someone has done for you at your company now; instead, you have the conversation about what the person has done for their current and some previous companies during the interview.
Everyone provides some benefit. That benefit is what the position is worth. If you think you’re not making enough, articulate your benefits to your current employer. Assign a dollar (currency) value to your work. Don’t like the number? What would you have to do bring more value?
If you’re looking for a new job, know what you’re worth. And if you’re a hiring manager, think hard about the skills that would bring the worth you desire to your organization. Go back to your hiring strategy and job description. Do they describe the value you want from a candidate? If not, your job description is not working for you. Change it.
Companies don’t pay people because they are warm-hearted. They pay employees to provide value. The more value, the more pay. (We hope. Sometimes, that’s the more expected value, the more pay.) If you’re a candidate, define your value. If you’re a hiring manager define the value you want to receive. Now you’ll have a much better understanding of what you should pay. And, you’ll know what the decision is worth.
In his comment, Justice points to the other side of when to ask salary questions. Too early, and you have the problem outlined in When to Ask About Salary. Too late, and you have Justice’s problem.
The way you manage the salary question–which is admittedly the start of the salary negotiation–is in the phone screen. You have a chance to build rapport and to see if this person is worth pursuing. You haven’t led this person on, thinking there’s a potential offer when you finally realize the candidate and salary don’t match. And you’re not asking the question out of the blue, when the candidate doesn’t know you, and has no rapport with you.
That’s why I like the hiring manager to conduct all the phone screens. If you have an HR phone screen or a technical person phone screen, don’t ask the salary question until the hiring manager talks to the candidate.
Treat your candidates with respect, and they are then advocates for you and your organization. Asking about salary early–but in the phone screen–is one excellent way to build respect.
Imagine this scenario. You have a number of openings, some for senior positions. Maybe you even work for a large company that’s highly attractive for potential candidates. To manage the phone screens and interviews, you send out a pre-interview set of questions. There’s a variety of questions, and the last one is about salary.Stop right there. Do not ask the salary question. Ok, maybe you can ask it of someone with up to 5-8 years of experience. Do not ask the question of an almost-senior person, and certainly not a senior-level person.Here’s why. The senior candidate has compensation in many forms: money and stock are just two obvious forms. More senior people may have more freedom to set strategy, both for their domain and for the business itself. They may have learning opportunities that are not obviously covered in compensation. They might have specific time off or the option to take more vacation. Maybe they get to fly business class for flights of a certain duration. (I do; I wouldn’t consider a job that made me fly coach over an ocean.) But senior people are not going to make these demands at the beginning of a salary negotiation. They want to discuss the context of the job with you, before they start asking.If you ask the salary question before you’ve built rapport in a phone screen or in an interview, you’re telling the potential candidate, “We want to save money on your position.” Of course you do. But do you want to save money before you know what the candidate has to offer?Be smart. Save the salary question for a real-time conversation with a technical hiring manager or a technical person. Too often, the HR folks don’t know the value of all the compensation pieces; just the cost.Salary is a complex issue the more senior the candidate. Don’t make it an elimination question for a senior person, unless you really do mean to eliminate people based on salary. And, if you need to make it an elimination question, why are you looking for someone senior?
Diane Danielson in Ask and ye shall receive … a bad review points us to this post, Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling.Well, if that isn’t a slap in the face, I don’t know what is. If you negotiate for a salary that fits for you, you’re “not nice.” If you don’t negotiate, you can lose big over the course of your career.(My opinion: Techies of all stripes tend to have a difficult time negotiating for salary, no matter what their gender.)Ladies and gentlemen: ALWAYS negotiate for the salary you think you are worth. You may have to negotiate for these things:
More vacation time for the same salary (paid vacation time).
An earlier review time (3 months or 6 months) if you’re taking a lower salary than you think you deserve.
More stock, and/or a shorter vesting period.
If the difference is small, other perks such as a guaranteed book allowance, some number of conferences per year.
No one else is in charge of your career except for you. (Yes, in Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management, Esther and I talk about how both the manager and the employee have responsibilities for career development. Your manager will rarely fight to get you more money (except in the obvious cases of discrimination).To negotiate effectively, be prepared:
What is the job worth the company?
How easy is it for the company to fill the position?
What is the job worth to you?
How easy is it for you to find a new job?
Read Getting to Yes and know your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). But don’t just accept an offer without negotiating because you want to be nice. Know if that offer reflects what the job is worth and whether it meets your needs.
I received an email recently from an engineer who was considering a job at a non-profit. They offered him a much lower salary than he was expecting, because they were a “non-profit.” Some people are slimeballs, even if they work at non-profits.
A non-profit has revenue. A non-profit pays salaries and benefits to its employees. What distinguishes a non-profit from a profit-making company is just this: A non-profit does not distribute gains to its shareholders. That’s it. The gains go to the employees, the cause(s), the salaries of the top execs, etc. But not to shareholders. The best-run non-profits have most of their gains go to the cause, not the employees, including the execs.
So if anyone tells you they can’t pay you a reasonable salary because they’re a non-profit, ask to see the salaries of the executive team. I bet those people are paid “reasonably” for their positions. And if they are, so should you.
Lowballing anyone on salary is a no-win/no-win position. Savvy candidates won’t take a lower-than-expected salary (unless you’re negotiation on things other than money). Employees who realize they’re underpaid quickly go somewhere else. And then they’ll tell anyone who’ll listen how unfair that employer is.
The bottom line is: know your worth as a candidate. If you’re a hiring manager, know what this position is worth to you and what people would expect for this position. Then negotiate on salary fairly and reasonably, so you have a win-win.
, Esther and I talk about how both the manager and the employee have responsibilities for career development. Your manager will rarely fight to get you more money (except in the obvious cases of discrimination).To negotiate effectively, be prepared: