RE: Strategy when dealing with HR depts.

[Chuck Martin <CMartin -at- serena -dot- com>]

Unless this is an entry level position, 65k is already too low for the Bay
Area, even up in Santa Rosa. HR people are there to speak for the company,
and their sole goal is to get you to work for as cheap as they can get you
for.

If you're good at what you do, tell them that a lower salary isn't
acceptable. If they don't know your worth in this market, then it's their
loss. And if the key people want you but find out that HR isn't willing to
pay what you're worth, then either the key people will step in and make sure
you're gotten at an appropriate salary, or the key people will realize that
they're getting underpaid and take a hike elsewhere themselves.

Just to provide an extreme example of the current market, I'm told that a
contractor was recently hired at a high-profile SiliValley company for a
very specialized, highly technical position, at a rate of $135/hour.

Don't "live with" less than you're worth. You won't be happy doing so, and
you'll never get what you're worth once you're in the door.

--
"I don't entirely understand it but it is true: Highly skilled carpenters
don't get insulted when told they are not architects, but highly skilled
programmers do get insulted when they are told they are not UI designers."
     - anonymous programmer quoted in "GUI Bloopers"
       by Jeff Johnson

Chuck Martin, Sr. Technical Writer
cmartin -at- serena -dot- com 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Perry_Moore -at- themoneystore -dot- com
> [mailto:Perry_Moore -at- themoneystore -dot- com]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 7:33 AM
> Subject: Strategy when dealing with HR depts.
> 
> I recently had an interview for 4 hours (4 people, 1 hr each) 
> and was taken out
> to lunch. The key people expressed very positive words about 
> hiring me as a TW,
> this was a week ago. When I met with the HR person, his first 
> comment was that
> my requested salary (65k) was too high, so I indicated that 
> 60K would be fine.
> On the following Monday, I contacted him, and he indicated 
> that he had to talk
> with the key person(who said very positive things about 
> me)and would get back to
> me. Now it is Wednesday, and nothing.
> 

> Should I lower my salary request lower ( I can live with this 
> since the job
> would cancel my current 2 hr commute)? Should I request that 
> a decision be made
> by Friday( since another company as since inquired about my 
> availability)?
> 
> Do most major firms in telecommunications offer a job in 
> written form by mail,
> instead of by telephone?  It seems that if they were still 
> interested, an offer
> would have come by now, offering what they would be willing 
> to pay etc.
> 
> Any advice out there?
> 
> Perry in Santa Rosa, CA.
> 


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