Don't price yourself out of a job!

techie2018

We had a guy that we phone interviewed for a principal engineer that we really liked, knew his stuff. We bought him onsite and again he killed the interview. The hiring manager for some reason asked him about salary. Usually in my experience salary isn't bought up in the interview. That's handle before hand to make sure everybody is on the same page. Anyway when the hiring manager asked him about salary, he said 220k. Well he had told HR he wanted 150K. They were fine with that. But as soon as he said 220k, that was a wrap for him. If he had stuck to 150k the job would of been his.

NetworkingStudent

I have heard this happening once.  I was doing a level two support role. Our boss was hiring for level 2 for VIP and executive support. Well our boss was in the same room as us.  Our boss said some asked for $40.00 an hour on the application, and that was to much.  

I cannot image someone getting paid 40.00 an hour for desktopsupport 

Jon_Cisco

I have seen a few people up there demands after seeing the work environment. I don't really think it's a great practice but if he was not going to do the job for 150k then asking for more was probably right.

If he wanted/needed the job he may regret asking for 50% more.

advanex1

Yeah, I'm not sure what his situation was but if I'm making 180k currently and I put 120k minimum for salary then I'd expect to price myself out of some contracts and that's okay. I'd rather field the contracts that pay more anyways. Granted, if he already agreed with you guys at 150k and HR at 150k, it's odd that he would spike that high unless he was justifying why such a huge increase.

november24

techie2018 said:

We had a guy that we phone interviewed for a principal engineer that we really liked, knew his stuff. We bought him onsite and again he killed the interview. The hiring manager for some reason asked him about salary. Usually in my experience salary isn't bought up in the interview. That's handle before hand to make sure everybody is on the same page. Anyway when the hiring manager asked him about salary, he said 220k. Well he had told HR he wanted 150K. They were fine with that. But as soon as he said 220k, that was a wrap for him. If he had stuck to 150k the job would of been his.

What is the position duties and in which City is it? I am just curious.

iBrokeIT

Is it possible he gave HR a range and they only heard the bottom end of it, 150k?

mikey88

iBrokeIT said:

Is it possible he gave HR a range and they only heard the bottom end of it, 150k?

Happens all the time. You give a range to the recruiter and they pass along your bottom number to the hiring manager. Although probably not what happened in this case.

matt333

It's funny that I am seeing this thread now because I'm going for a principal role on Wednesday. I'm probably going to price myself out of the job because I like where I am and I see a huge upside to staying. But money talks and if they will pay me I'm willing to leave. 

He probably didn't really want the job if he is giving two different numbers

Danielm7

Expectations change sometimes when you get more details on the position. A coworker is on his last week at my workplace and he told me just yesterday that he had to adjust his asking salary during the interview process. It started as a vanilla Sr network engineer role. During the interviews they changed that to .. weeeelll, see we're expanding worldwide and we'd like you to start here, but then become the number two and lead the other teams and architect everything annnnd... 

JDMurray

matt333 said:

He probably didn't really want the job if he is giving two different numbers

This brings up the possibility of deliberately sabotaging your own interview. I have been in interview situations where I suddenly realized that this was not a project or organization that was a good fit for me, and felt that I needed to "shorten" the interview to keep from wasting everyone's time. In a phone interview, you can simply give a polite reason to stop the interview, thank everyone for their time, and hang up. An in-person interview is not so easy to self-terminate quickly. Giving an outrageous salary requirement may have simply been a tactic to influence the interviewing team to cut the interview short.

MrsWilliams

Some good valid points here. 

*Rule 1 - Never trust recruiters. With that being said, (some) recruiters lie. Recruiters are all about the numbers game*

Yes, it's possible he gave a range of 150-220k. That range could have been dependent on the size of the environment and the workload. Unfortunately time and time again job requisitions aren't matching up to daily duties. What the job posting said someone was supposed to be doing and what they are doing when are hired can be different. I am speaking from experience.  He could have found out that the job requisition and what he'll be actually doing based on the interview was more inline with the 220k range than the 150k range. 

The city is significantly important to further this discussion. 150k in Los Angeles, California and 150k in Clarksville, Tennessee are totally different numbers. 

The best time to look for a job is when you have a job. I've given recruiters numbers and never heard from them again.I didn't miss a beat.  I gave somebody a number and I have an interview set for next week. If I am happy where I am at, it's going to take a pay increase to get me to leave. I am happy where I am at currently.  If someone wants someone with my qualifications, they have to pay. It's against my religion to leave a job for a lower paying job. 

Earlier this year I applied for X job and the recruiter set me up for an interview. At the beginning of the interview I was told I was being interviewed for Y job. The job I did not apply for. Long story short, I didn't say anything and conducted the interview. I never heard back. This goes back to Rule 1. 


Long story short, pricing yourself out of a job isn't necessary a bad thing.   If someone is in the 150-220k range...I am sure the skills they are brining to the table can be used and negotiated elsewhere. 

JoJoCal19

To MrsWilliams' point, I am happy in my current role, and honestly get paid a ridiculous amount to where 99% of jobs I get contacted for are way under what I make. When I do get contacted for an opp that is something I would consider hearing more on, I bring up salary immediately and let them know I'm already highly paid and don't want to waste either of our time, and I throw out a large figure. So far I've had two companies say that wasn't an issue. I use the high salary figure on the front end as a filter to weed out most stuff, definitely wouldn't think of changing my number after the fact though unless I learned something about the company/opp or whatever that changed materially changes how I feel about it. I would let them know and be upfront with something like "based on what I've learned/due to these factors, I'm unable to consider the opp at this salary".

coreyb80

JoJoCal19 said:

To MrsWilliams' point, I am happy in my current role, and honestly get paid a ridiculous amount to where 99% of jobs I get contacted for are way under what I make. When I do get contacted for an opp that is something I would consider hearing more on, I bring up salary immediately and let them know I'm already highly paid and don't want to waste either of our time, and I throw out a large figure. So far I've had two companies say that wasn't an issue. I use the high salary figure on the front end as a filter to weed out most stuff, definitely wouldn't think of changing my number after the fact though unless I learned something about the company/opp or whatever that changed materially changes how I feel about it. I would let them know and be upfront with something like "based on what I've learned/due to these factors, I'm unable to consider the opp at this salary".

Same boat over here.  I had to learn to bring up salary in the emails/phone calls otherwise you’ll get in a situation only to realize they’re not even close to what you’re making.  Of course when I tell recruiters what I make and what I’m looking I get the infamous’ “I’ll keep you in mind for future opportunities”.

BradleyHU

NetworkingStudent said:

I have heard this happening once.  I was doing a level two support role. Our boss was hiring for level 2 for VIP and executive support. Well our boss was in the same room as us.  Our boss said some asked for $40.00 an hour on the application, and that was to much.  

I cannot image someone getting paid 40.00 an hour for desktopsupport 

Depends on the industry, and location.

mikey88

I'm assuming for executive support there is extra hand holding and ass kissing involved - thus a higher wage 

BradleyHU

coreyb80 said:

Same boat over here.  I had to learn to bring up salary in the emails/phone calls otherwise you’ll get in a situation only to realize they’re not even close to what you’re making.  Of course when I tell recruiters what I make and what I’m looking I get the infamous’ “I’ll keep you in mind for future opportunities”.

I've gotten this a lot lately too. In NYC, it's against the law to ask my current salary, but I will always tell them what I'm looking for.

Case in point, a recruiter called me the other day about a SENIOR desktop role @ an IB. We went over the details of the role, and it's practically what i'm doing now at my current IB, just a title change. So, I asked him what salary was, and he said they're open(i hate that saying by the way, it's pure bs). Then he says for the right candidate, they'll pay around X. I told him, that was below what i'm looking for, especially since i'm well above that now. He immediately hit me with the "i'll keep you in mind for other roles". I know I'm not going to hear back from him again.

EANx

It's for having great patience as well as the knowledge to address the person as sir/ma'am. As opposed to saying "bro!" and offering a fist-bump.

SweenMachine

BradleyHU said:

coreyb80 said:

Same boat over here.  I had to learn to bring up salary in the emails/phone calls otherwise you’ll get in a situation only to realize they’re not even close to what you’re making.  Of course when I tell recruiters what I make and what I’m looking I get the infamous’ “I’ll keep you in mind for future opportunities”.

I've gotten this a lot lately too. In NYC, it's against the law to ask my current salary, but I will always tell them what I'm looking for.

Totally. I never ask someone what they are making. It doesn't matter to me. I want to know what they are looking for to work for MY company. 

I never judge. It is not my call to tell someone what they think they are worth is wrong. If they are priced way above the position they are interviewing for, but I think they are a great fit, I still make them my best offer and let them turn it down. 

-scott

Anonymouse

NetworkingStudent said:

I have heard this happening once.  I was doing a level two support role. Our boss was hiring for level 2 for VIP and executive support. Well our boss was in the same room as us.  Our boss said some asked for $40.00 an hour on the application, and that was to much.  

I cannot image someone getting paid 40.00 an hour for desktopsupport 

That's actually what I make right now in a desktop support role. It could be coupled with high cost of living where I am but colleagues/ex-colleagues are making in the range of $45-60 an hour doing VIP/Exec support.

EDIT: Since making this post I received a small bump from $80k to a little over $90k at my job after less than a year here. Just throwing this out there since I see a general disdain for desktop support as a low paying job. I know it's not the coveted 6 figures but a good place to be while I re-evaluate where I want to be in IT. Don't let job titles price you out of a job either, people.