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.

Labels: phone screen, salary negotiation

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 11:38 AM | link |

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?

Labels: interview, salary negotiation

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 8:11 AM | link |

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.

Labels: salary negotiation

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 12:39 PM | link |