Hey, everybody, it's Andy back for another
week to help you build a career you love. Today, we're going to talk about the best
answer to what's your expected salary? Tell me. Who doesn't love getting this question right
out of the gate when they get into an interviewing process? I know it's a rough one. I get this question every week during my live
office hours. I get countless comments on my blog and on
the YouTube channel about this. I know it's frustrating. I know it makes you nervous, and I know a
lot of people out there worry about actually giving a number, and you should. You should worry about it. Today, what we're going to do is I'm going
to give you the exact script, so you can worry no more. I'm going to tell you why you should use this
script. I'm going to tell you the mistakes people
make, and why your thinking is likely wrong on how to approach this. Let's talk about this a little bit with some
of the new laws that are coming into effect. I know, in a number of countries, now also
in the United States, there are a number of states and cities, who prevent employers from
asking you what you earn, so what your current compensation is. While I'm sure that that will continue to
grow in the number of countries, and states and cities will adopt that law, one thing
that I don't think will go away is employers asking you what your expected salary is. Hey, how much do you want to earn? Here's what I advise. Number one, first thing, is under no circumstances
do I ever want you to actually give them a number. Why? Well, number one, first thing about this is
it's uneducated. You do not know what it's like to work there,
what you'll get to do, who you get to do it with, the training and development opportunities,
the vacation, the benefits, the benefit costs, all of those things. It's very difficult for you to hit the nail
on the head by giving them a number, especially this early in the process. The second thing is I don't want you to worry. There is not a recruiter in the world who
determines whether you get hired or what you get paid. The hiring officials do that, I mean, unless
the recruiter is the hiring official or the HR person is the hiring official. I don't want you to worry about that, because
they're not ultimately going to determine what you're going to get paid, even if they
give you a guideline as to what the position pays. I don't want you to worry about that upfront. The other thing is I don't want you to actually
give a number, because you might either aim too low, in which case you're setting their
expectations that your expectations are low, even though they might be willing to pay you
more, or you price yourself out because you went too high. The one thing that the recruiter can do in
the beginning of the process is knock you out, but the recruiter won't knock you out
if they really like your background and you don't provide a number. You might be thinking, well, maybe I can give
them a range. Well, that might be nice, but if I'm the hiring
official and you give me a range and you say, �Andy, I'd like to earn between $80,000
and $100,000,� what do you think I heard? I heard $80,000. What were you thinking? $100,000. You're still giving them a low number, probably
lower than they would be willing to pay, so ranges aren't really great either, because
those are still uneducated. They're likely to anchor on your low number,
when you mentally are thinking about your high number. Ranges don't work much, either. What I would rather you do is, when you are
approached with that question, I'd like you to say, �While compensation is important
to me, I really want to look at the entire value of working at your company: what I get
to do, who I get to do it with, the training opportunities, the career advancement opportunities,
the benefits, the vacation, and all of the other things that go along with working at
your organization. I'm excited to learn about those in the interviewing
process, and toward the end I would be able to give you a much better idea of what it
is that I would expect in terms of my salary, based on all those other factors. At the moment, to give you any kind of estimate
would be uneducated on my part. I look forward to investigating those areas,
and I look forward to starting the interview process.�
You might be thinking, well, that's evasive, and they're going to be upset if I don't actually
give them a number. What's actually going to happen if you don't
give them a number is you're going to effectively position yourself to earn a lot of points
throughout the process and make a more educated decision at the end. What's going to happen transactionally at
that moment, which most people do not realize, is if you've got the goods, if your resume's
in order, you are right for this position, and they are ultimately going to want to hire
you. That recruiter, if you don't provide an expected
salary, if it's a big deal to the recruiter or it's a big deal to the hiring official,
that recruiter will turn to the hiring official and say, �I like this person's background. They really didn't want to advise on what
it was that they expected in the way of compensation,� and the hiring official's going to say, �Get
them in here so we can interview her.� That's what they'll say. The reason I know that is I was a hiring official
for many, many years. I would always tell the recruiters, �Don't
ask what their expected salary is. It's silly for you to ask that, because they'll
give you an uneducated answer,� but some of the recruiters insisted on asking the question,
because they wanted to have an idea of whether or not they should get you into the process. Every time that the smart candidate didn't
provide the number, the recruiter would turn to me and say, �Andy, what do we do?�
I would say, �That person looks fantastic on paper. Get her here, so we can interview her.�
I don't want you to worry about that. It's really ... You think that they're going
to play hardball with you, but they're not. It's better to just talk about how you want
to look at the entire opportunity, and that compensation is one part. All right, if you'd like more about this particular
subject, I go into a number of different areas throughout the interviewing process in one
of my live office hours, called �Why You Don't Get Paid What You Deserve.� Check
that out. There's much more information about how to
handle this, as you submit your application, in your first call with your boss, and as
you tee up the opportunity to get that offer from the employer, and what to do and how
to position yourself to get paid what you deserve. If you liked this, click the thumbs up. Make sure you are subscribed to my YouTube
channel, so you can get these weekly videos and also be alerted when I go live on Thursdays. Every week, I go live on my YouTube channel
on Thursdays. I don't want you to miss that, if you've got
some questions for me. It gives us a chance to engage on a deeper
level, helps me know you better and coach you better. Make sure you're subscribed. Until next week, have a great one.
