How Much are You Worth to an Employer?

By Barbara Perone
What is your salary range and what kind of salary do you expect to earn on this job?
Typically, this question comes at the tail end of most job interviews and is one of most difficult for job applicants to answer.
The reason: “if you answer it incorrectly, you could either inadvertently get ejected from the competition, or, leave some money on the table,” according to famed Career Coach Alex Freund.
“A good answer is possible only if you understand what the Interviewer’s intent is,” he explained.  So, when you’re faced with this question, the Interviewer is merely saying, ‘so far, you’ve answered my questions well and I might consider hiring you, but, I wonder if I can afford you’, he added.
According to the guru of professional job seekers, “a good answer (to this question) consists of you offering a range.  The lower end of the range should be the absolute minimum you would accept; the upper end should be, say, 30 percent more. That recipe is, of course, only a general answer, whose tailoring depends on each job candidate’s individual circumstances.”
“Candidates who are unemployed, and no longer receiving state unemployment benefits, are different from workers who are secure in their current positions and would be willing to make a change, provided it gets them a raise,” Freund continued.
Freund offered his last piece of advice on the subject of answering an Interviewer’s questions about salary.
“Regardless of the situation, though, job candidates should do their due diligence and find out the actual, real-world range for such a position. Regrettably, web sites such as: www.salary.com give only very generalized information. A better source is www.payscale.com, but it charges a fee for obtaining a report,” he continued.
If you want to learn more about ins and outs of job hunting during this prolonged recession, contact Freund by emailing him at alex@landingexpert.com, or, read his blog by visiting www.landingexpert.com/job-search-tips.
To connect with him on LinkedIn and Google Plus, visit www.linkedin.com/in/alexfreund and gplus.to/LandingExpert, respectively. To follow Freund on Twitter go to https://twitter.com/Landingexpert.