Dr Kirstin Ferguson from the SMH tackles questions on the workplace, career and leadership in her advice column “Got a Minute?” I’ve chucked in my ten cents worth too.
Q. I am going for a new job and dread the interview question about salary expectations. I am young, the only female in my role in my current workplace and I know I am not paid well, so I want to avoid mentioning my current salary because they will think that is the starting point. I don’t know how to avoid answering the question. What do you recommend?
A. This is the question most people find the hardest to answer; you are not alone. As a woman, research shows it can also widen the gender pay gap over the course of your career, so this question really does matter. There are a few schools of thought about whether you should be the first to say how much you want, or whether you let the recruiter or employer tell you what is on offer. My preferred approach is to wait until you are told what the salary on offer will be. That gives you a starting point then to understand where your expectations sit relating to that offer.
If you can get them to tell you what is on offer first, regardless of the number, play it cool. It may be the salary on offer is much more than you are on now. I would just calmly say, “OK, thanks. That is in the general range of my expectations, too.” Save your screaming excitement for home. If the number is a lot less than you were hoping for, at least you know what you are dealing with. This is when you can say something like, “It would be good to understand the scope of the role a little more clearly since that is quite a lot less than I am paid now.” At that stage, you are bound to be asked what you would need to entice you and that is where you can give the range you had hoped for.
Malcolm King’s reply
You’re applying for a job but you don’t know what the salary is? Let me sell you a block of land in a swamp. It has become all the rage for employers not to publish the salary, so applicants have to guess and because they’re fearful of asking what they’re worth, ask less. It’s an endearing strategy created by a-holes. Find out the salary or salary range before you apply. If you can’t find out, that’s a very bad sign and your life, even if you get the job, will probably be hellish.