A Powerful, Targeted Approach to the Salary Interview Question

 Salary Interview Question | Tips for Success | P.S. Your Career

 

CEO / Career Coach Kate O. discusses how to best approach the salary interview question that comes up during every interview.

 

The salary interview question is stressful… you know it’s going to come up at some point during the interview and offer process, but when? This can add an element of anxiety to an already difficult process. Do yourself a favor and have a solid strategy in place to make sure that you maintain a good relationship with your potential employer and that you set yourself up well for a salary negotiation once you have the offer in hand. Here are 4 steps to take to ensure you are prepared to answer, “What is your desired salary?”

 

Do Your Research
The biggest mistake you can make is to go into an interview without arming yourself with the relevant salary information. This includes learning the basics about the role, the industry, and the company. Most hiring managers rely on a Compensation team within HR to do heavy analysis on salary before they decide on a role for a position or make any job offers. Although the number may seem random, it most definitely is not and, in most cases, serious analysis has gone into developing the number. Given that they have the benefit of in-depth analysis, you need to do the same thing to level the playing field.

 

There are 3 ways that most Compensation professionals will benchmark a salary: the external market for a similar role, the market within an industry (e.g. Financial Services), and your worth on the open market.

 

1)    To start, there are many good resources readily available on the internet that will help you determine the salary range for a specific role. Salary.com is a good place to start. Look at the range and take into consideration years of experience and location to make sure you are using the most relevant comparisons.

 

2)    Next, think about your industry. If you are in Financial Services or Investment Banking, it is likely that you should ask for closer to the top of the range. However, if you were applying to a job at a non-profit, you would be better off targeting a salary slightly below the median.

 

3)    The final component of the analysis is the most important one - you! What could you command in a similar role somewhere else, and what can you uniquely bring to the table that will set you apart? For example, if you speak a foreign language that would be useful for the role or you have prestigious degrees that would command value wherever you go, those may help you to get closer to the top of the range.

 

Defer as Long as Possible
Now that you know your facts, the salary question should be a little less intimidating, but that doesn’t mean you want to jump into it right away. If you are asked what you currently make or what you would like to make, try to defer by either saying you’d prefer to wait until you know more about the role or saying something cooperative but firm such as, “I am very interested in this job and I’m sure we can agree on a salary once we have both determined there is a good fit here.” Putting the salary conversation off until later in the process will give you more leverage for the salary negotiation, and it will also allow you enough time to gather all the information about the role and company you need to determine what you think a fair salary would be.

 

Ask for a range
If you can’t seem to get the recruiter or hiring manager off the topic of salary, the best strategy is to get them to name their range first. Almost all companies use a range for each role, and usually the hiring manager has some leeway to go to the top of the range (or even slightly above) if they find the perfect candidate. Most recruiters will share the range when asked. All you have to do when you get them to share is to confirm for them that the range is something you can work with. This is particularly useful if you are making a career change where you are taking a pay cut. Telling the recruiter your current salary may scare her off if you are making much more than she can offer. Asking for a range and confirming it is acceptable is a great way to assuage the fears and give her confidence that you are seriously interested in the role.

 

Offer a bolstering range
If all else fails and you have to give a number, give a range instead of a number (two can play this game!) Studies have shown that offering a “bolstering range” is the most effective way to initiate a salary negotiation. That means, if you are really hoping for $80,000, say you would be happy with a salary between $80,000-85,000. Giving a range is more cooperative because it opens up room for a conversation, but starting with your target at the low-end means that you are more likely to achieve your salary goals.

 

These tips probably won’t totally relieve the stress of one of the most-dreaded interview questions of all time, but being prepared and informed will help you initiate a good conversation while maintaining a good relationship with your potential employer.

 

5 Important Reasons You Should be Hiring a Career Coach

Make Strong Career Decisions | 5 things to consider | P.S. Your Career

 Coach Mike S. discusses why a career coach can be an extremely valuable tool when making a career change.

 

 

Introduction: It’s that perennial tradeoff that happens every time an appliance breaks; you plan a complicated vacation itinerary; your car makes a strange noise; you consider the joy of doing your taxes; or your computer pops up a strange error message – do I try to do this myself, or do I hire a professional to help me do it? There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but that doesn’t make the decision any easier.

While the examples above are for your non-work life, planning and managing your career isn’t all that different. There are a few considerations that can help you evaluate whether the ‘go-it-alone’ approach or engaging a career expert is the best for you.

How about your situation? Your career is more important and likely more complex than the disposal in your sink, so what are some factors unique to engaging career experts that can help you make an informed decision?

 

Experience: career coaches often have decades of experience, both in industry themselves and subsequently offering their coaching services to others. Many have worked with clients across industries, career stages, and employment situations. Hiring a career coach can give you the benefit of all that experience in a much faster and easier way than were you to have to acquire it yourself.

 

Objectivity: career coaches are independent of your career, company, and personal situation. This removes potential bias from their advice to you. For example, a company may have a leadership development program to help you improve your leadership skills, and this may be necessary for progression to more senior roles at the company. However, those skills, while transferable, are designed to enable you to work as an effective manager in that company’s management system, and not necessarily designed to help you achieve your career goals.

 

Perspective: career coaches in many cases have dealt with hundreds of clients or more, and have the perspective on market trends, career choices, and interview strategies that few others have. If you want to know how to negotiate a compensation package, wouldn’t the thoughts of someone who’s done it over and over be valuable to you?

 

Capacity: making career moves is hard even at the best of times, but with the advent of job search aids such as Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, you’d think that all this was getting easier. In reality, the competition for good roles is getting tougher, and the expectation is that you are engaged in both in-person networking and having a strong online presence. A career coach can objectively help you determine how to market yourself and what will make you competitive, as well as providing expertise on where to invest your efforts. All of that is not to mention the time it will take you to do these things well. Time that, if you’re still working in your current role, is most likely in very short supply.

Return on Investment: While hiring a career coach does have a cost, if your resulting salary increase will pay for that cost in six months, and then continue to pay you more for the life of that role, that starts to look like a very smart investment. Outside of salary increase, many clients find that making a well-thought out decision is the best return of all, because they are more likely to land a job they really want rather than settling for what is most available to them.

As you can see, the factors that might influence your decision around engaging expertise for career-related decisions is not a simple one, and is not the right choice for everyone – but for many of us there are compelling reasons for choosing to engage outside help at pivotal moments in your career.

 

How to be Ready for Change

Make a Plan | Prepare Your Network | Take the Leap | P.S. Your Career

You know you need to change something up in your life, but it can seem scary and full of uncertainty – especially these days! Moving from an acceptable situation that works, even if it isn’t all that exciting, to something unknown is scary and can be very unsettling. While it can feel overwhelming, especially if you aren’t sure exactly what change you want to make, a few key steps can set you up to handle the transition successfully.

Make a plan

As frustrated as you may be with your current situation, you don’t want to make any rash decisions. Quitting your job and rebuilding your resume with a now-expired job is not the best way to move into a new role. Not only have you potentially lost a number of useful contacts from quitting unexpectedly, it pits you against the clock and sets you up for falling into another uninteresting position to make ends meet. Instead, devise a plan that helps move you into your next position by utilizing the network you have built in your current position or industry. Be realistic in your plan, which is probably somewhere between the best and worst case scenarios you’re imagining. Include in this plan some time for reflection on things like your goals for the transition and why you want to make this transition. In addition, think about how you plan on getting to the next opportunity, what you can do in the short term, and what contingencies you could expect that may throw your plans out of whack. When you’ve visualized a realistic plan and timeline, it starts to feel more manageable.

Prepare your network to support you

There is nothing wrong with discretely searching for opportunities to help you better understand what it is about your current role that is unfulfilling. Having some key relationships in order will make your transition much easier, both practically and emotionally. It is important to build communication with your superiors and coworkers so that you have a productive and healthy relationship before attempting to navigate a departure. It is much better to be exiting a role in a place of trust and understanding with your coworkers than to be suddenly jumping ship. If they are managing you or will have to take on part of your workload, they will need to be in the know, just as you would hope to be. These people should be your best references moving forward, so it behooves you to ensure that the relationships are healthy.

In addition to practical support from your coworkers and boss, you’re likely going to need to lean on people in your personal life as well. Talk to friends and family members who will be understanding, and explain to them that you are thinking about taking on a transition. If they know what you’re going through, they are likely to be there with a helping hand, whether that’s cheering you up after a setback or introducing you to someone who might have an open role.

Take the leap

When it is time for you to make the transition you have been planning, be sure to execute it effectively. Be clear about when you will not be completing duties pertaining to particular roles anymore, when your last day will be, etc. as your coworkers don’t want to be blindsided by the work you are no longer doing. If you’re moving to a new role right away, make sure that you have a plan in place to stay in touch with coworkers from your current role. It will be easy to get caught up in a new company and lose touch with people who were valuable friends and colleagues. Writing down a concrete plan will help you stick to it. If you’re planning to take a break between jobs, know how you will structure your time once you’re not working. Are you planning a trip, planning to do work around the house, or jumping into a full-time job search? All are great options, and it helps to set reasonable expectations for yourself about what your life will look like during the transition period.

In order to be prepared for a change, it is important to take proactive steps to manage it before the time comes to act on it. Ensure that you have a well-thought-out plan, and prepare your network in advance to control any collateral effects of your change. When it is time to execute on your plan, do so with thoughtful intentionality whilst maintaining the relationships you made in your previous role.

How to Conquer the 6 Second Resume Screen

CEO / Career Coach Kate O. discusses tips from her time as a resume reviewer that can drastically affect your resume’s chances at being completely reviewed.

Introduction: Did you know that most hiring managers only spend 6 seconds reviewing a resume before they decide whether to keep reading or toss it into the reject pile? That might sound harsh, but as someone who used to review up to 100 resumes a day, I can tell you that it’s a matter of necessity. So, if you’re applying for a job and you know you’re qualified, your challenge is: how do you get past the 6-second screen and get to the interview stage? Here are my top tips for how to make your resume stand out:

1) Before you start writing your resume or hit send on an application, make sure that you’re sending the version of your resume that best positions you for the role you’re applying to. This concept of positioning is crucial. The idea is to think of yourself as a product and the hiring manager as your target audience, then follow the basic rules of advertising. What does my target market care about the most? How can I make it very clear to them that I provide exactly that value? This might require taking off some experience and expanding on others or rebranding your key skills to match what’s in the job description. A little bit of effort towards positioning yourself correctly can make all the difference.

2) Include an Executive Summary section at the top and avoid the Objective section at all costs. An executive summary is key – it may be where your reader spends all or most of the 6 seconds. You can use the summary to include key pieces of information like your top skills, years of experience, and an overview of your career trajectory. I don’t recommend an objective because if you’ve submitted your resume, your objective is already clear: you want to get a job. You don’t want to use limited space to say something that your interviewer already knows. You DO want to use your space to summarize your experience and present a clear personal brand.

3) Vary your format but be sure to keep it focused on Accomplishments vs. Tasks. The biggest mistake I see people making on resumes is they want to convey everything they did and were responsible for on their resume, and the result is that it ends up reading like a long list of tasks. This doesn’t do anything to set you apart from other applicants who have held the same role. In other words, it doesn’t give a clear sense of the unique value you will add to a company. Instead, consider using multiple formats or frameworks, and always be sure to quantify the scope and impact of your work whenever possible.