|
I'm in kind of a low-grade pickle here, hopefully someone can help out, at least with phrasing. I was contacted through LinkedIn by one of the bigger tech companies to bring my attention to a position available. It is in all honesty a very good fit and probably fits better into my "career progression" than a lot of my past roles - it's essentially a senior version of a role I'm currently performing for a huge retail company. I really want it; it's as close to a "dream job" as I've ever come so far. After I submitted my application, they gave me a candidate summary in Word format to fill in with lots of details like best time to contact me, why I want to work there, etc. However, the last 3 questions are concerned with salary: 1. What is your salary history? 2. What is your current salary? 3. What are your salary expectations? I'm currently dealing with the head office in California, but I'm a Canadian (and the office where I would be working for them is located in Canada) and I consider the first two questions to be highly unusual and none of their business. Please keep in mind that in Canada, employers are not legally entitled to this information as they are in the states - they don't ask for the equivalent of the W25 or whatever it is during onboarding here. I'm used to deflecting one salary-related question, but not three, and The Internet generally says that to deflect questions like 1 and 2, you should provide a salary range. However, I don't want to do that, either. Salary ranges for this position ARE readily available on the net, but I suspect that they are in USD for their California office, and they're also a lot higher than what I currently make. I would enjoy having that money if it's on offer, but I don't want to screw myself by quoting too high a figure. I'm also extremely underpaid and undervalued in my current position, my main reasons for leaving. I don't want them judging my skills and experience by what my current company happens to feel like coughing up. I do at least have the benefit of being able to type in an eloquent deflection rather than verbally stumbling through one. What do you all suggest??
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2015 16:22
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 12, 2024 13:54 |
|
|
No Butt Stuff posted:1. "Varied." This is great, thanks. I'm completely comfortable deflecting these types of questions, even if they press; I was just worried about deflecting it three times without looking uncooperative. Bisty Q. posted:They actually can make you give them a W2 or equivalent I'm not in the US. Employers in Canada (or at least in Ontario) are never party to information about your salary history unless you choose to disclose it. Based on your thoughts and some additional research, I'm thinking about responding thusly: 1. What is your salary history? "Due to my experience across different industries, my salary has been varied. I feel that I have been fairly compensated in all of my roles [LIE LIE TOTAL LIE], and feel confident that I would be fairly compensated at Chocolate Teapot Co., as well." [Is it bad to highlight that I have worked for several different industries? I've worked for telecomm, and most recently, retail; this would technically be ecommerce, but I work in digital communications so there's a fair amount of overlap] 2. What is your current salary? "I would prefer to keep that information personal, but I feel that the role of Chocolate Teapot Maker fits well into my career progression, and am interested in discussing the ways I can use my experience bring value to the Chocolate Teapot Co. team and its customers." ETA: Apparently some companies specify in their hiring contract and/or employee handbook that salaries are considered confidential. I don't know if that's the case for me and I have little interest in trolling said documents to find out, but would it maybe be easier to simply say "Agreements with my current employer prevent me from disclosing my salary"? 3. What are your salary expectations? "I’m sure we’ll find a number that works for both of us, but for now, I'd like to concentrate on demonstrating how my skills and experience are a great fit for this role. We can come back to this later if we decide we'd like to work together." [Last part credited to No Butt Stuff, bonus points if I actually type that on the document] Thanks for helping me agonize over this, a lot of what I do involves written communication so I like to overthink this stuff. sheneedstherapy fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Feb 21, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2015 19:04
|
|
|
Bisty Q. posted:As a hiring manager... Thanks for your input. All things considered, I think I'll combine the salary history questions as you recommend and cite confidentiality agreements as a reason not to disclose. However, I'm simply going to put 'Negotiable' under the salary expectations question. That's probably what most people put anyway, and frankly, as someone who is currently employed (however unhappily), I have the luxury of screening out the type of company that will "lose interest" simply because I refuse to lay every card I have on the table before I've even had the first phone interview. Hope this will help someone else out if they come across a similar situation!
|
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2015 16:54
|
|
|
Cippalippus posted:If it's really your dream job why not give them a honest answer? Especially regarding your salary expectations. They probably are asking it because they consider you a good fit but fear you're going to cost them too much. The reason I shy away from naming a figure is because the info I have about salaries for that role is for the Silicon Valley location, so it's hard to pin down what it would equate to in Canada in the same role. It's also really, really high; much higher than I'm making now. So my options would be: 1) Be "realistic" and choose something closer to my current salary, potentially either screwing myself out of a lot of money I could have had if I had the balls to ask for it, and/or giving such a low figure that they think this role won't fit into my career progression; or 2) Name a figure closer to the astronomical US salary figures I've seen online; I'll either get it, OR the Canadian equivalent will be significantly lower, and I'll scare them off. Hence: Negotiable. My purpose isn't to never tell them my expectations, ever; it's to deflect for now - let's bear in mind that I haven't even had the first interview yet - until a more appropriate stage of the game, at which point I will know more about the position and they are much more invested in me as a candidate. That's the key. Two interviews in, once they've decided that I'm either a strong candidate or THE candidate, they aren't going to be scared away by my naming a dodgy figure; they'll just counteroffer and hope I accept. It's only my "dream" job based on my outside perception of the role. As I learn more about the company, that could change; I need to be realistic and look out for red flags and not take a job based only on the magical picture I have of it in my mind.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2015 23:52
|
|
|
Thanks, friends. I used the responses I mentioned in my last post and have a phone interview tomorrow. I even had to ask them to reschedule their originally proposed time because I have another interview then, which was super awkward.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2015 02:08
|
|