Gary Will's WORKSEARCH:
Selling Yourself To An Employer
Chapter 14-Part One
[a] [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [g] [h] [i]
Asking questions -- an essential and overlooked step
From the book How to Prepare for an Employment Interview.
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This book shows you how to sell yourself in an employment interview.
Should you ask about salary if it not been raised by
this point?
There's an old saying in sales that you should never discuss price before establishing value. Until the
prospective buyer is convinced that you can provide something they want, the question of price is
irrelevant. It can only scare them away.
Ideally, you'd love to wait until the employer decides that they must have you before the subject of
salary is brought up. You'll never be in a better bargaining position than if you can first get them
salivating over the prospect of having you join their team first.
Now, it's quite likely that the employer will never be quite that excited by you, no matter
how brilliant and skilled you are. But if they're going to choose to give you an offer (the question of
salary is irrelevant otherwise) they will come closest to feeling this way once they've had a chance to
evaluate what they have to choose from and begin to see you as standing out from the pack. They
probably won't reach the "we really want this person" stage until all the interviews are finished.
This means that you wouldn't want to bring up salary questions in the initial interview. In fact, you
should try not to discuss it until you've received a job offer or have some indication that you're their
first choice.
If you're going to run up a lot of expenses or be required to devote a considerable amount of time
on the selection process, then it might be best to find out quickly if there is at least a possibility of
a match.
In most situations, though, it is best not to discuss salary until as late in the selection process as
possible. This gives you time to present the value you offer to the employer, and lets you gain an
understanding of the requirements of the position so you can determine what you consider to be an
acceptable salary.
[Next: Chapter 15. Adjectives, adverbs, and the "Roget Style" of writing]
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