STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

gingembre1 · Kate Spade

Quick! Need help with minimum salary requirement question

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

Hm I would give a broad 10 K range - if you imply that you are open to discussion or willing to settle for less, in my opinion it gives them the green light to go for less. In my experience, EVERY job offer I've ever gotten bases the starting pay on my last job plus maybe 10-15% raise if any at all. I've never been dealt with "this is what the job pays, period."

Use salary.com to figure out what the going rate is for your job, in your area, and with your skills.

-- Edited by XtinaStyles at 13:45, 2009-02-23

HeatherLynn · Gucci

I would do a range as well, but maybe start with adding 5% to your current salary (assuming it is the same field) and do a range up to maybe a 15% increase. I would definitely include a statement about how salary requirements are negotiable though.

I hate when they ask that! I would rather them offer me something and then negotiate from there.

Hermes

I have never thought it was fair to base an salary offer on a previous or current salary. In advertising/marketing, you can end up taking positions that pay high or low. I also think there should be a "price" on the position - x amount = x work, but we all know that varies based on a variety of factors, i.e. size of company, position, gender...

When you sell a house, you sell it for what the market is bearing, not a percentage growth based on purchase price. It's the market value that determines the price. I think it should be the same for salary. Companies should put out there what they're willing to pay, IMO.

Like others have said, I would research the salary for that position in your city. You could give a range on the high end of what you find. They'll negotiate you down, regardless of whether or not the salary is high or low on the range they've predetermined for the position, so it's good to start the negotiation high, but not too high where you disqualify yourself.

Suasoria · Chanel

I would put your current salary as your minimum and go up from there.

gingembre1 · Kate Spade

Thank you for all the input! I sent it off...I have a feeling my starting point is higher than what they're looking for, but a girl has needs. And I'm also not at a point where I should be accepting an entry-level salary, or even close to entry-level. It is a career change, but several of the things they're looking for are rather specialized and particular, so I don't feel they should expect to be able to pay someone worth hiring less than what I asked for.

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

D wrote:
I have never thought it was fair to base an salary offer on a previous or current salary.

ITA. My last job was a slight step up salary-wise for me, yet I learned that the girl whose job I took earned a full 25K more than me (very similar skills and working experience, and education).

Perhaps this is a "big city" thing - when interviewing around here, I always get the feeling like if you don't like it, they'll find 500 other applicants who do.

-- Edited by XtinaStyles at 15:21, 2009-02-23

Kelly · Hermes

XtinaStyles wrote:

Use salary.com to figure out what the going rate is for your job, in your area, and with your skills.

I just used this because I was interested, not because I have the same problem as gingembre, but do most people find it accurate? I was interested to see that I'm in the bottom quarter of salary for my field, experience, etc. and I was surprised to see that, because I figured I was doing OK. Now I'm second guessing my income!

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

I think the way it works is it uses everyone who registers their information (like you just did) and surveys you against them.

The only way I would think it'd be inaccurate is if people maybe inflated their salary on the site?

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

Kelly wrote:

XtinaStyles wrote:

Use salary.com to figure out what the going rate is for your job, in your area, and with your skills.

I just used this because I was interested, not because I have the same problem as gingembre, but do most people find it accurate? I was interested to see that I'm in the bottom quarter of salary for my field, experience, etc. and I was surprised to see that, because I figured I was doing OK. Now I'm second guessing my income!

My experience has been that salary.com is either really accurate or way off the mark. It is very important to click the "more" at the end of the job description so that you know that you are reading about the same job title that salary.com is describing. Click attachment to see.

I wrote an article about what your options are when a salary requirement or salary history is requested. There are, of course, pros and cons to each option. www.cpcc.edu/career/studentsgrads/guide

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

I've used salary.com for 2 diff jobs, the first I was in the lower quarter and now I'm in the upper 3/4 percentile...

I was feeling underpaid until I came upon a bunch of resumes and salary requirements for the job that I'm currently holding and realized that most people were asking for significantly less than my salary.

Great article pollyjean23. I bookmarked the pdf to use for reference!

Suasoria · Chanel

I found their data to be based on much larger companies than I have ever worked for.

By the way the site says...

All of Salary.com's data is proprietary and is based on employer-reported data. It does not contain data from individual site users, placement agencies, job postings, nor any other sources that would traditionally be characterized as "unreliable" by compensation or human resource professionals.