Re: How To: Tactfully deal with salary questions in TW job interviews?

[Jeffrey Osier-Mixon <jefro -at- jefro -dot- net>]

I was taught never to talk about salary until after the other guy had 
offered a value.  Let them start the bidding.  Unless you are dealing 
with a total non-professional, they will have already done their 
homework on an appropriate salary range---it is part of their job, and 
they could not have funded the position req without knowing how much it 
would cost within a given range.  Certainly you should do as much 
research as you can, but you won't know their actual range unless you 
subscribe to the same salary reports that they do... and I'm sure you 
don't, considering how much they cost. 

The Labor Dept is necessarily out of date in many industries, high tech 
in particular, although as you say, showing them that you have done the 
research should stop a lot of game-playing and enable you to get down to 
a quick, serious negotiation.  Be sure to also check the annual STC 
salary report, if you are a member, and any other guides you can lay 
your hands on.  Information on the web is much less likely to be out of 
date than anything in print.

During the negotiation, it should be assumed that a salary discussion is 
not appropriate until they have decided they want you, AND you have 
decided you want them.  That last part is important.  I have stopped 
salary negotiations cold when I said I needed to know more about the 
company before I would talk money---and then backed it up with some very 
probing questions that the recruiter had to go research to find out.  It 
shows professional candor if you state that you are not ready yet, as 
long as you have specific questions to ask.  Remember that you are 
interviewing them as much as they are with you.  If the company and its 
stock package is very valuable it might be worth taking the low end of 
the range, but you won't know until you ask a LOT of probing questions.

Personally I have played it both ways, according to the situation.  I 
p**'d off a few recruiters by refusing to name a figure until they did, 
and then negotiating upward, knowing that they were quoting the low end 
of their range.  I have also been very up front with salary in at least 
one circumstance when dealing directly with the CEO, because I knew the 
him and had worked with him at another company.  I knew that he probably 
already knew my salary history and was just playing a game---he 
recognized it as well, we had a good laugh and he offered the middle of 
his range---about 10% more than I was currently making.  I took it, 
leaving him room to give me a raise later.

As Sun Tsu said, it pays to know your opponent.  The other guy in a 
salary negotiation is *always* an opponent, even if they become a 
co-worker immediately after the negotiation is finished.