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Re: Salary Question for the Dallas-Fort Worth Area
Subject:Re: Salary Question for the Dallas-Fort Worth Area From:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:14:02 -0400
> I suggested $50K to $60K.
>
> Given the current market do you think I underbid
> myself?
>
> If yes, what range should I be shooting for?
>
> If necessary, how should I go about revising my
> number?
I'm not in the DFW region but I have some thoughts on this.
First, never give them a number. They want to hire you, you let them
give YOU a number and YOU decide if it's to your liking. If they pry,
a reply something along the lines of "I expect compensation equal to
others of the same seniority level who are contributing to the types
of projects I would be." That puts you on par with Development, QA,
etc.
Second, if you gave them a number, you really can't revise it without
potential issues. They may decide to drop you as a candidate if you up
the number after quoting them what you expect to pay, especially if
you do so after they extend you an offer that falls in the range you
quoted.
Not to sound nasty, but I'm a hiring manager, and I certainly wouldn't
be happy if a candidate turned around and upped their desired salary
after quoting me a number or a range. After all, a lot of work goes
into making sure the right candidate is chosen and that their salary
is worked into the budget. If I'm expecting to up my budget to
accommodate an excellent candidate, and the candidate then comes back
with a bump in expected salary of another $10k, that throws off my
entire planning and if I go back to negotiation with MY senior
management staff, I'm going to either look foolish or be told outright
that it's unacceptable and to stick with the initial offer or find
someone else.
Them's the breaks. But we don't just decide on a whim how much we're
going to pay people. If the candidate keeps changing the acceptable
range, it's easier to ignore them completely and find another than it
is to rework the budget.
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