31–37 of 37 posts
If they had made you a fair offer the first time around they wouldn't have to worry.
Great advice. It took me years to learn it on my own. One thing I would like to add is there are times you have to clam up completely and refuse to give out even a range. At one of the companies I worked for, they had a weird policy of not hiring people if their new salary would exceed their old salary by more than 20%. Now, I can understand some of the reasoning behind it, but I personally find it detestable. The be…
I got screwed by a policy like that years ago when I moved from the DoD back into the private sector. I was honest (and naive) when filling out the HR paperwork and listed my low gov't salary. Come to find out later they knocked 15K off the salary.
Great advice. It took me years to learn it on my own. One thing I would like to add is there are times you have to clam up completely and refuse to give out even a range. At one of the companies I worked for, they had a weird policy of not hiring people if their new salary would exceed their old salary by more than 20%. Now, I can understand some of the reasoning behind it, but I personally find it detestable. The be…
Can you explain some of the reasoning behind that policy, because I don't understand it.
I would go so far to say that if you use this technique and find a recruiter doesn't want to deal with that, you've just found a great recruiter filter mechanism. Move on to someone else who actually adds value. Recruiters annoy the heck of out of me as a contractor: They claim all kinds of value when in fact they have but one thing to add: they know someone looking for a job. They add no other value to the equation…
I would go so far to say that if you use this technique and find a recruiter doesn't want to deal with that, you've just found a great recruiter filter mechanism. Move on to someone else who actually adds value. Recruiters annoy the heck of out of me as a contractor: They claim all kinds of value when in fact they have but one thing to add: they know someone looking for a job. They add no other value to the equation…
My first instinct while reading your last sentence is "oh no, now we're going to get spammed by crappy recruiters". Then it occurred to me that if a tech recruiter is actively participating in Hacker News they are probably at least a step above the crowd.
I mean, I usually have more than one offer. For me, I've always been open about what I currently make, and about how much it'd take to get me away from that. I'm also open about any other offers on my plate.
I interview often enough that I figure that if I am lowballed, I'll get another offer that is better enough to move fairly quickly. If you want me long term, eh, maybe you shouldn't have lowballed me in the first place?
Key here, I think, is to keep interviewing even when you aren't really looking to move. it's the only way to have an honest view of how much you are worth, and I think it's good practice, anyhow.
(of course, for the last year and a half I haven't been working for other people, and I haven't quite figured out contractor negotiations.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
a) What I said ;-) b/c) My point is that if you give a range, companies will tend to offer towards the lower end of that range. It doesn't matter how many years experience you have or what you change the range dates to. If you are going to give a range, you are essentially giving a low end that you will accept. Many companies will take advantage of that.
It is not my experience that given a range and a time period that most companies will offer towards the low end. When an employer makes you an offer, they want you to accept. They go to a lot of work to approve that piece of paper, they want to save money but they don't want to have you decline. They ESPECIALLY don't want to give you a low offer and lose you to another employer who outbids them. If you say that in th…