Salary Range Questions are Traps
Posted by Robert on Apr 6, 2008
Interviews can go well or it can go to hell.
It’s about how you answer certain tough questions. One of the toughest one is: “What’s your salary range?” Why? If you answer with a higher rate than the job can offer, then basically the interviewer will think you’re too high. If you answer lower, than the interviewer will fall silent and you might have been shortchanged.
How do you answer this then? The first one who gives the number loses. Here are some ways to sidestep these traps:
What salary range are you looking for?
“Let’s talk about the job requirements and expectations first, so I can get a sense of what you need.” That’s a soft answer to a soft way of asking the question.
I need to know what salary you want in order to make you an offer. Can you tell me a range?
“I’d appreciate it if you could make me an offer based on whatever you have budgeted for this position and we can go from there.” This is a pretty direct response, so using words like ‘appreciate’ focuses on drawing out the interviewer’s better qualities instead of his tougher side.
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