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--- Scott Wahl <wahl_scott -at- yahoo -dot- ca> wrote:
> Of course, this assumes that your salary expectations
> are much _higher_ than your salary at your current (or
> previous) job.
I disagree. I took a ten percent cut to take my current position, but it was a
job I really thought would be interesting--and it has been--and I saw a lot of
potential for growth in compensation, which has also occurred. Sometimes,
making more than the range on offer can be a detriment. Many employers think
you can't afford to work for less and that you always want a bump when you
move. Now that may be true in the vast majority of cases, but if I had insisted
on making at least what I had been in a vastly inferior (to me) situation, I
would have talked myself right out of a very good situation.
> But it can work the other way, especially if you still
> have a job. If you are happy with your current salary,
> and think it fairly reflects the market, then this can
> be an excellent negotiating tool: you're not just
> telling a potential employer what you'd _like_ to
> make. You're telling them what you _are_ making, with
> the implication that you're not going to take a job
> that won't pay at least a little bit more than what
> you're making now.
I take your point. It could work to your advantage. My experience is limited, I
suppose, but I haven't found it advantageous to me to be the first to mention a
money figure yet in salary negotiations. Still, many people end up happy doing
things differently than I do. It wouldn't be wise to never say never.
=====
Tom Murrell
Lead Technical Writer
Alliance Data Systems
Columbus, Ohio mailto:tmurrell -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com
Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/
Page Last Updated 07/15/01
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