Re: Needs and Wants of Employers

[Sarah Stegall <stegall -at- TERAYON -dot- COM>]

Maurice King wrote:

> Perhaps the item that I find the most difficult to address is salary requirements and/or history. When I am asked about my salary history, it makes very little sense because so many years were spent outside the U.S. Also, employers have a hard time comprehending the large jumps in salary from one position to another during those years.

Ah, now you've hit on a real sore point regarding
employer/employee relations.  My position is that
it is no freakin' business of my employer what my
previous salary was.  My career is MY business,
and so are my salary requirements. What's more
relevant is the question: what's this job worth to
the employer? If I'm being asked to come in and
create a department where none existed before, to
turn unreadable, uncoordinated specifications into
manuals, to create out of thin air a workflow,
budget, process, and pre-press production
protocol, the salary I made in my previous
position as a cog in the wheel of a large
manufacturer's tech pubs department is TOTALLY
IRRELEVANT.

I know it gets down to a matter of who mentions
money first, but I make it a practice to NEVER
talk money until the deal is pretty much on the
table. The only exception is when you're trying to
see if the prospective employer is living in the
real world or not.  If he's advertising for a
technical editor with six years' experience, but
expecting to pay minimum wage, I don't even waste
my time arguing.  Let his own experience teach him
what he needs to know.

--
Sarah Stegall                 ||  Senior Technical
Writer
Terayon Communication Systems ||
stegall -at- terayon -dot- com
2952 Bunker Hill Lane         ||  voice
408-919-5893
Santa Clara, CA 95054         ||  fax 408-727-6204

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