Ask-A-Recruiter: Discussing Salary Requirements During Job Interviews

Contributed by Kunjal Tanna, Team Leader of the Huxley Associates New York Global Markets.

I am a trained lawyer who has been laid off from a bank during the economic shake-up. I had been with the bank for 10 years and during this time I have amassed a salary of almost $200k and an additional 10 days of vacation. I would like some advice on how I should handle the salary questions that will be asked at interview, I don’t want to sell myself short but I also don’t want to price myself out of the market. I would also appreciate some guidance on how to negotiate my vacation package.

Firstly, I think it’s important to state that, while most companies are seeking to secure people as cheaply as possible because of the market conditions, they are still willing to offer a fair remuneration package. Yes, we have seen an increase in candidates on the market who are competing for fewer roles, but that shouldn’t mean that you should feel you have to undersell yourself if you are a strong candidate. You have to be honest about your previous earnings and it is also important to bear in mind that a company is not going to hire you for a role that you are over qualified for.

I would say that it is best to avoid bringing up your salary expectations during interview and only discuss this if you are really pushed to do so. Your prospective employer wants to know that you are competent and are there because you believe in the company and the role on offer. If the salary question is unavoidable then I always advise my candidates in this situation to present a salary range that they are willing to accept rather than a definite figure. This should start at lower than you are currently on, increasing to more than you are looking for – for example, in this situation I would suggest that a good range would be from $150k to $220k. This will give you a better chance of getting to the interview stage if there are a group of candidates that the company is considering and it will also give you a bit more negotiating power.

In terms of the vacation you have accumulated, whereas you would be in a stronger position to if you were going from one job into another, I think that you are well within your rights to try and negotiate for some, if not all, of this. If a company wants you then they will treat you fairly and will accept that you would probably have accrued these days if you had been working for them for 10 years.

While companies are trying to get people cheaply, many of them are doing so by being creative with the package they are offering. Overall, the best advice I can give is that you make a decision about which parts of your remuneration package you can’t be flexible on and which parts you can before you apply for a position.