Salary Question, Job Interview Thursday

Hi everyone,

I would appreciate some advice about salary for a job interview I have coming up this Thursday. A little background info about me: I've been in IT little over a year. I'm currently employed at a large law firm as an intern in their Deskside Support team. I troubleshoot hardware, software, LAN related issues as well as set up video conferences. This is my second internship in the IT field. Last summer, I was employed at another internship as a Support Services intern, more or less doing the same job responsibilities I do now. I recently got a call for a Systems Administrator position with a large engineering firm. I'm very excited about this opportunity and hope this will help propel me into my future career goals. Problem is, I'm having trouble finding a salary for my years of experience and my area (Pittsburgh, PA, somewhat big market). I've researched for the last week possible salaries from anywhere in the 40K to 60K area. Condering I've only been in IT for little over a year now, I would think I would be on the lower end of that payscale correct? I've actually never negiotated salary before so it's all new to me. I've read over a lot of the other threads about this but I would appreciate a ballpark figure from you guys before I go in for the interview. Job duties are as follows:

Job Title: Systems Administrator 1

Role:
Performs support to company executives. Responsibilities include, computer software and hardware support, setting up meetings with support of conference calls, video calls, and presentations. Monitors and maintains continuity with system software licensing and maintenance agreements. Performs computer rebuilds and upgrades according to our leasing schedule. Other duties as assigned
Requirements:

Two-year degree in Information Technology
1-3 years related Information Technology experience

I understand this is kind of broad duties which I'm obviously going to get more details on in the interview, I would just like to know what you guys think a fair salary for me would be for having about 15 months of hands-on IT experience. Thank you very much!

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Comments

VinnyCisco

"Performs support to company executives" - That right there screams Senior Desktop Support on top of Admin duties. It is what I do.

Juggling server support and admin duties here in NYC means I have my hands in everything. (Which is good for more experience.) Remember that means there may be overtime required, and I would make sure to get compensated for that.

Also keep in mind that experience will dictate what they will want to offer to you.

With your experience, I would not ask for anything lower than 50,000. As far as how high you should go... maybe 55,000.

I would ask for 60,000.. but thats me. LOL. Don't shoot yourself in the foot because of what I am saying. But just know that executive support deserves compensation.

Executives can be very **** about everything. And it can be stressful at times.

Danielm7

Systems admin is a tough title to gauge salary on if you just go by the title alone, it can mean anything from help desk to running the servers for the entire world depending on the company. This description does sound more like desktop support so I'd probably start your salary search there for your area vs. systems admin.

Nemowolf

If your looking for advice on how to handle the money question DURING the interview, avoid it. I stand by Ramit Sethi's advice as it has helped me in the past with my interviews to let them be the first one to drop a number:

"It's not your job to name the salary. Let them name it first," says Sethi. "You can say, 'You know what, I'm sure that we can find a number that works for both of us. I'm very interested in the position. I would love to know how I can contribute to the organization.' Let them make the first move. So when you do, you will find that they will make you an offer and you will come back at them. You'll have your homework, you'll have a number in your head. But when you make the first offer -- I've seen this happen many, many times -- people chronically short themselves."

[Source: MarketPlace ]

If you drop a number, say 50k but they were willing to pay you 60k then you just lost 10k right there. You need to figure out the right amount of money that is going to satisfy you for the job and you need far more information that that overly generalized job description. If come to find out in the interview that your primary job duty will be supporting executives in a desktop support capacity and that isn't what you want to do then perhaps your going to feel cheated out of any pay they offer.

If they say they are going to offer tuition reimbursement and paid training, then perhaps you are going to be more agreeable to the just okay offer instead of a larger number than you expected. There are far too many unknowns for you to walk in and just know that X dollars a year will be the right value.

Finally, I always ask for 24 hours or more to consider the option. If they are pressuring you in the interview to accept an offer remember that it reflects your future working environment. If your not going to operate well being under the gun and always under pressure, that may be a negative sign for you. Observing how they handle deflecting the money talk to keep it business may be the best indicator of your future there.

Madmd5

Thank you everyone for the advice so far. I will keep researching for salaries around my area to see a ballpark amount. Anyone else have any other suggestions before Thursday?

jibbajabba

VinnyCisco wrote: »

"Performs support to company executives" - That right there screams Senior Desktop Support on top of Admin duties.

Not necessarily. What it screams is more likely "Cleaning mouse ball for director and / or explaining how to add a signature at the bottom of the email and why the hell wouldn't work that laser mouse on the glass table even though I slam it like a crazy person and I don't care if its a security policy, I want to watch that youtube video of a cute kitten".

Been there, done that... bought the t-shirt (and couldn't wait to burn it).

Bokeh

Totally agree with having them throw out a number first!

When I did recruiting, we always told our candidates when the $$ question comes up, pause and ask them directly what would someone with your skills, certs, education, etc expect to earn in their company. Always make them make the first move.

Madmd5

By the job duties, would you consider this an entry level job still or a little beyond?

bgold87

I agree with Jibbajabba, this sounds like showing execs how to print, how to use Powerpoint, and helping them send a GoToMeeting invites. I would let them throw out a number and go from there as this sounds fairly entry level.

The key when going to this interview is look for growth opportunity.

VinnyCisco

jibbajabba wrote: »

Not necessarily. What it screams is more likely "Cleaning mouse ball for director and / or explaining how to add a signature at the bottom of the email and why the hell wouldn't work that laser mouse on the glass table even though I slam it like a crazy person and I don't care if its a security policy, I want to watch that youtube video of a cute kitten".

Been there, done that... bought the t-shirt (and couldn't wait to burn it).

And that right there is what I call Senior Desktop Support. I only assumed you guys knew what I was talking about.

And Directors are usually out running errands while everyone else works here in NYC.