Salary and hiring practicesFollow

You should always ask the salary at the end of the interview if it hasn't been mentioned. Personally, I used to tell people the wage/salary at the start because if it wasn't enough, I didn't want to waste my time. There was never a shortage of applicants.

Considered bad in what sphere? I was always encouraged to ask. Asking what the salary is at the end of the interview isn't bad. It should be your last question though.

I've never thought or heard of it as unprofessional or taboo, but that's neither here nor there since I have a solution tailored especially for you:

If you are prompted to ask any questions you may have, propose the interviewer a hypothetical. Present a situation wherein a guy named Joe does the same job you're applying for, and then ask how much compensation Joe would receive.

This way, you're not really asking directly what they're going to pay you, but you can still multiply Joe's salary by seventy percent and get your number.

I'm pretty sure that the last time I interviewed, I told them, "One of my greatest strengths is that I think outside the box".

Salaries are pretty much always listed in job adverts here. It's a key part of the job description. Even for people like us, you know, profound, ethical, not-driven-purely-by-money liberals.

At the end of the interview, you could always ask why the salary isn't listed in the job advert. It's not too direct, it's a fair question, and it should give you some kind of an answer.

I like asking questions like "How long does one typically stay with the organization and what is the most common reason for leaving?" to determine that sort of thing, haha.

*Most* jobs do list a salary range, at the least, but the ones that do not tend to bug me so much that I don't even apply for them most of the time.

Nexa

Did you tell them the box in this instance is a coffin?

Re: asking/telling about salaries. Some firms prefer to let HR handle all of the benefits details, including salary.

In my experience, this is maybe not a red flag bur an orange flag at least. It means that there's a range of salaries covering that position or similar positions in the company, and you stand a pretty good chance of being screwed if you're not careful.

If the salary isn't listed up front I'd refuse the first offer, assuming I had the luxury (money in the bank, other offers on the table). At that point just tell them you need more compensation for your skill and time.

If you don't have enough personality or good enough skill set that the last impression is you asking about money, you were screwed anyway.

In Australia, all job ads come with the salary and benefits listed.

What gets negotiated later is if you want things tweaked, like leaving early regularly and making up the time elsewhere, or if you want day-care paid by the employer instead of a company car.

What IS variable is how much you'll be on at the end of perhaps 6 months or a year. If they really like you, you could be up for a MAJOR salary increase, perhaps 50%, depending on the industry you are working for. After that, you'll be going up in smaller increments, unless you get a major promotion.

Basically they are going to pay any newbie peanuts until you've proved your worth. unless you've been specifically head-hunted. If you are in a job where supply far outstrips demand, you are going to stay on peanuts, of course.

And of course where demand far outsrips supply you can start on a really great wage reguardless that they don't know your worth, and you aren't going to get such a big step up in pay after the first 6 months/year.


Government budgets are of course more constrained.

Edited, Jun 25th 2008 11:23am by Aripyanfar

Yeah. That's what I've always assumed/heard as well. And it's not a public service vs corp thing either. In most corp settings, the people interviewing you have *nothing* to do with the salary you may eventually get. Heck. I don't know what the other guys in my own working group make. How on earth would I know how much they're going to offer some new guy I'm interviewing?

You don't ask salary details during the interview. You ask that stuff during the offer process. If they make an offer, it'll include a salary. You accept it or not. The interview process is purely to determine if the applicant is worth hiring, not to establish pay levels.



Well. You should have some idea what the industry standard pay range is for the job you are applying for. Guess it depends on the field you're in. In the engineering world, pay is pretty straightforward. I can imagine it can get a bit more nebulous in other areas though. But you should be able to guess and be pretty close most of the time.

Well, yes, but the "industry standard" is kind of a problem because it ranges wildly across the area that I'm looking at and I'd accept a position making half as much in one part of the state as another due to the crazy fluctuations in cost of living.

Nexa

Harvard doesn't pay enough to live that close to the city. Also: surprisingly unimpressive education benefits.

Nexa

Sons of ******** There are so many reasons to hate Harvard and how stingy they are despite their massive endowment. So many reasons.

Easy, now. They churn out an exceptionally high number of very talented civil liberties lawyers, not to mention social theorists.