During an interview, when they ask desired pay, this is my way of flipping that question back around to avoid low-ballers:
This usually works to reveal low-ballers and this is how I flip it back onto the interviewer:
Hiring person: “So what is your anticipated pay for this position?”
Me: “If selected for this position and made an offer, I will trust that an offer will be made in good faith, taking my skills and experience into consideration. I will know based on an offer whether it will be a good fit for me.”
Hiring person: “But we need to list a concrete figure here, so like if you had to put a number to that answer, what would it be?”
Me: “Since I don’t know the way your organization determines the pay scale, I wouldn’t have a concrete number to give you. But I’m sure the range is available internally and I would say an amount within that range that reflects my skills and experience. Did you have any additional questions about my skills or experience that would help clarify that?”
Yes, I realize this will turn away certain companies and offers. That’s somewhat the point.
And yes you should go into the interview knowing the vague range, but if you want to gauge the culture of the company, my suggestion stands.
If a company doesn’t expect money to be important to you, why should you assume and do the work of telling them where in their pay scale they should pay you?
Netizens’ comments
- I always ask….”What do you have budgeted for this position?” when they ask me what salary I’m expecting. If they balk I walk, but honestly I’ve almost never not gotten an answer.
- If the pay range is not listed on the jon advertisement, they’re low-ballers
- My thinking is that I quote a number that is about 50% above what the job should pay, then let them start negotiation.