Salary negotiation in an interview

Question

I have an interview and they may ask about the expected salary. I'm planning to say something like "given my years of work experience plus a master degree, I would expect something around 80k".

The thing is I know that they give something in the range of 55k-60k, but I assume that if I say 80k, then this might end up to 65k or even 70k for example.

Is this strategy correct? What is your advice? Thanks!

Update:

Company is a multinational company with around 3000 employees in total

Company field is software solutions

Can you provide more about the company in question and the interviewer personality? Maybe even about the companies market value, size, etc... All of these factor into this. — mutt, Nov 01 '17 at 16:09
See also: Does the first person to mention a number in a salary negotiation lose? — Bernhard Barker, Nov 01 '17 at 18:05
It's related but I think this is the "approach" where as the other two are dealing with specific situations. Definitely some overlap but the point seems slightly different. — mutt, Nov 01 '17 at 18:26

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 01 '17 at 16:11

When you know they planned 55-60k, saying you want 80k will most likely only get you rejected.

Reason is: If you are worth 80k and the position is not, you are overqualified which will create problems in the future. Also such a drastic mismatch of expectations is likely to get you frustrated and moving on to anther job soon. All investment in you will then be lost to your employer.

Better strategy, knowing their salary range, will be getting at the top range ie. stating 60k+.

If you feel you can earn 80k elsewhere, I suggest to go looking on these other opportunities immediately - if there is nothing else especially interesting for you that would persuade you to take the lower paying job just the same.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 01 '17 at 16:12

Assuming they offer you a job, at the end of the day only you can determine if the offer is acceptable or not.

If you want $70k and they offer less, then let them know at the time of the offer, that less won't work. The only "trick" is in whether you will walk away from an offer that doesn't meet your requirements.

You don't need to play games here. Sometimes I've overstated what I was looking for, sometimes I've simply given them a number and refused to accept anything less.

Both ways can work but you have to be willing to walk away. The moment you become desperate is the moment you lose all control over the situation.

I did the interview, check the above comment. Btw, I'm not willing to walk away because I don't like my current job. — AhmedWas, Nov 04 '17 at 07:45

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 01 '17 at 16:25

I recommend a dual approach in these situations. Indicate that based on your experience/degree/and market value you believe that 80k is the appropriate salary that your skills deserve, however, also indicate that you want the best company even if it's not quite at that level and that for the right company you would negotiate in order to get a better work environment.

This puts most everything into the discussion of the interview where you can talk to them and find the "best" fit with them. If they know what you are looking for in a company and they fit it 100% then they will likely still extend an offer to you after you assure them the environment is a priority and that theirs is the best, if they think your skills are worth it, then likely they will come in closer than the bottom of their tier. If however, it's not a fit then you will both know that during the interview and they will likely not bother extending, but shoot for someone more in their price range.

The key is to focus on the company quality and work environment and match that up with your expectations (benefits included) and that naturally everyone wants more base pay, but that the environment is so very important to you. Get them to sell their work culture, environments, benefits, and not just focus on the bottom line. If it's literally just the bottom line that is the sole concern then don't bother unless you are willing to take a companies range. Then when you go in hit the top of their range and work negotiations from there. Otherwise request the amount you want and let it go how it goes.

I did the interview and the interviewer asked me about expected salary. I told him about 70k. He said that's too much, for this position we pay around 50 max 60-- with a voice tone of "We'll pay 60k and that's our max", I got the feeling right away that if I hadn't say 70k, they would definitely offer 50k or max 55k. — AhmedWas, Nov 04 '17 at 07:43

Salary negotiation in an interview

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