What's your salary range (It recruiters)?

Every time an IT recruiter asks me the salary I want, I don't know what to answer. If I ask too much, they won't recruit me, if I don't ask enough, I will probably never know but I' will still be under the impression that I could have asked more.
I just got an offer for an IT analyst job in Albany, NY. They asked me what salary I wanted, and I told them between 20 and 25 hourly with benefits. Then they asked me how much without benefits, and I said 25 and above. Then they said we could offer you 25 without benefits and I said yes. They sent me a agreement to sign and I signed it. Then I checked on the internet to see if I could find the offer, and I found it. Guess what, on the internet offer, they are offering $30/h.
I guess it's too late now since I've signed their agreement. That's why I want to know what to answer when they ask me the salary I want. Should I tell them to make an offer first or just go with a huge salary hoping they will make a counter offer? I just don't know how to deal with that! Any advice welcomed.

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boobobobobob

You should always ask for more money then you are currently making, and you should adjust that rate to the area you are applying to.

Did you hurry to accept the offer? You should always think about the offer, thank the potential employer for the opportunity and tell him you would like some time to think about the offer. Then do some research!

Also keep in mind recruiters often make commision off the salary of the person they get hired. If you get hired for more, then make more. But they also need to be able to justify your salary.

NetworkVeteran

Every time an IT recruiter asks me the salary I want, I don't know what to answer. I told them between 20 and 25 hourly

If you don't know what to say, why not simply tell them that? "I'm not really certain. Why do you feel would be a fair price?"

You can't really get upset when you say you'll take $25+ without benefits and they offer you $25. Getting a ballpark isn't hard. What do you make now? What is the norm for such a role given your qualifications?

Guess what, on the internet offer, they are offering $30/h.

That they were willing to pay their ideal candidate $30 doesn't mean they would be willing to pay you $30.

phaneuf1

Well I would never have expected $30 for tech support job but now that I know they were willing to pay that much, I feel like I should have asked for more.

NetworkVeteran

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTE

Again, there's a difference between willing to pay someone that and willing to pay you that. I've certainly posted ads with ranges and hired people who, if they asked for the higher end, I would've passed on.

Next time, if you're not sure what you're worth, just ask what they feel is fair. If they're paying more than you make now and at or above the market rate for your skills, you have nothing to feel silly about.

dmoore44

When looking around for a new job, always tell the recruiter that you want 15-20% more than you currently make - you always want to show upward progress on your resume and in your salary.

Zartanasaurus

phaneuf1 wrote: »

Every time an IT recruiter asks me the salary I want, I don't know what to answer.

So as an IT person, if you had the same issue coming up time and time again in your environment, what would you do? I'd certainly hope you'd investigate a root cause and try to prevent that from happening again. Why is non IT any different? You have the same problem repeating itself, so what are you going to do to fix the root cause?

tpatt100

If 25 an hour without benefits is still a positive for you I don't really see what the big deal if you find out the company was looking to pay 30. What "you" are worth and what the company is willing to pay are two totally different things.

I know it sort of makes the offer you agreed to seem not that great but if it seemed good before you knew what the max offer was then next time an opportunity comes up ask for a higher amount, it might work against you the next time if you price yourself out of range. There are pros and cons to everything.

robp12

dmoore44 wrote: »

When looking around for a new job, always tell the recruiter that you want 15-20% more than you currently make - you always want to show upward progress on your resume and in your salary.

I'm currently a Senior Technical Recruiter and I would say that requesting a 15-20% raise is definitely a bit overboard. In permanent placements, the staffing firm does get paid a percentage of your salary (so the more you receive, the better) but that's a pretty heft jump in salary. I wouldn't say there is an ideal number to ask for though. When it really comes down to it, for permanent positions, you are worth what the hiring company offers you. I never want to have anyone take a pay cut, but it's also hard to justify a $20,000 raise if a client asks what the job candidates current salary is.

With that being said, I have helped people receive substantial raises. I actually helped a 25 year old CCNP (with a TS/SCI clearance) receive an offer from Cisco for $110k when he was currently maing $75k. All depends on the candidate.

ptilsen

I've never taken less a 15-20% raise. My raises have been roughly 28%, 30%, and 33%, in that order. I don't think I'm that exceptional, either. If you're worth 15-20% more than you're making, ask for it. It's not even uncommon in this field.

In general, I think people shouldn't be shy about asking for what they want. Be reasonable, but don't try to hedge with a lower number. I think that realistically, if you're a little above what they're looking for, most companies will offer you that. It's your choice to take it or walk away. If you're so far off they won't even negotiate, then you've saved a whole bunch of time.

tpatt100

Also 15-20 percent is not always a fixed number because I could easily ask for 20 percent back when I was making 30K but as the years go by it gets harder as income increases.

Zartanasaurus

Hey rob, who are you a recruiter for? PM me if you need to.

ptilsen

tpatt100 wrote: »

Also 15-20 percent is not always a fixed number because I could easily ask for 20 percent back when I was making 30K but as the years go by it gets harder as income increases.

I agree in principle, but depending on your career trajectory and all the details, it can take quite a while to hit that point. As I posted, my job-switch raises have been progressively larger. My last one in dollar amount was almost as much as the previous two combined, and was a higher percentage. I do expect my next raise to be a lower percentage, but it took quite a while to get to that point.

redz

Most of the time you can deflect that question pretty easily so that you have time to research and decide on an appropriate range. I usually use something akin to "it depends on the specific levels of non-salary compensation".

Keep in mind that salary does not equal compensation. You need to figure out what benefits are worth to you, as well, so just tell them you can't give them an appropriate range until you know what benefits are available. I'm going to use random, round numbers for these and base everything off a $50,000 per year salary.

Examples:
What percent of my health/life/vision/dental insurance is paid by the company? What about my family?
These insurances cost you, in total, $600/mo if you pay them yourself. So if the salary is exactly the same, but they cover insurances 100%, that's a 14.4% bump, and that bump is tax-free.

How many days of PTO are accrued per year?
They're basically paying you an extra (salary/240=) $208.33 for each day of PTO you accrue. This is a very crude estimate, and not tax free compensation.

What educational benefits are in place?
Partial tuition reimbursement? $4500/year training funds per person? What are these worth to you? Would you be paying it anyways (making it 1:1)? Keep in mind, you're not paying taxes on this, so 1:1 is more like 1.2:1. If you're using it for tuition you'd be paying anyways, that's a 9% bump, again, completely tax-free.

401k matching?
This is just extra money. A 10% salary increase and a 1% higher maximum employer match (lets say 4% to 5%) is an increase of 11.5%, not 11%, because both your salary and percentage are higher.

There are a lot of other fringe benefits - cell phone, home internet, gym memberships, et cetera. Keep in mind that you are not taxed on these things, so the $70/month cell phone bill that requires you to make $100 pre-tax is a win for you if you sacrifice $80/month in pre-tax salary compensation, and your company is paying less because they're being taxed on $70 of compensation as opposed to $80 of compensation. It's win-win.

tpatt100

I would take a job that paid exactly the same if my commute was cut in half, my current commute is sucking the life out of me.

ptilsen

Also a good point, tpatt. I would even take a minor cut for full-time telecommute.

And redz makes a great point, which is that you should consider total compensation. The numbers I posted were based on estimates of total compensation, not just salary. I would need a 3% raise just to replace tuition reimbursement from my current job.

Hypntick

@tpatt100 totally agree with you there, I was doing a 1 to 1.5 hour commute each way, depending on traffic and took a 10k pay cut to cut my drive time down to 15 minutes each way. Now i'm spoiled as i'm 3 minutes from my door to my desk, so as long as i'm challenged and continue to learn, even if my pay doesn't increase amazingly over time, i'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

JoJoCal19

Hypntick wrote: »

@tpatt100 totally agree with you there, I was doing a 1 to 1.5 hour commute each way, depending on traffic and took a 10k pay cut to cut my drive time down to 15 minutes each way. Now i'm spoiled as i'm 3 minutes from my door to my desk, so as long as i'm challenged and continue to learn, even if my pay doesn't increase amazingly over time, i'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

This! A lot of people overlook the non-cash benefits when considering new jobs and salaries. I work from home full time and that is a huge reason I've stuck with the job I have while I was doing my bachelors degree and while my wife and I were starting our family. For jobs I've been recruited for I have always figured in a minimum of $3000 of any new salary just for gas expenses. I'm a final candidate (hopefully find out today) for a new position at the top competitor for my current firm, and it would be a 40% pay raise because when they first contacted me, I told them way over what I really wanted as I figured in all of the benefits I currently receive.

FloOz

Hypntick wrote: »

@tpatt100 totally agree with you there, I was doing a 1 to 1.5 hour commute each way, depending on traffic and took a 10k pay cut to cut my drive time down to 15 minutes each way. Now i'm spoiled as i'm 3 minutes from my door to my desk, so as long as i'm challenged and continue to learn, even if my pay doesn't increase amazingly over time, i'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Man I would love being so close to! I'm about a 45 minute drive to work which isn't to bad. Much better than taking the train that' for sure

TechGuy215

When asked for salary requirements:

1. Invert wrist, so palm is facing outwards and make a fist.
2. Extend pinky
3. Touch pinky to corner of mouth
4. Answer "100 Billion Dollars"

Mwahahahhah!! mwahhahaha!

Mishra

In my opinion, you need to do a lot of research until you come to a figure that YOU believe you are worth then stick with that.

Once you are making what YOU think you are worth, then seeing other jobs that may be more is not a big deal to you.

pert

robp12 wrote: »

I'm currently a Senior Technical Recruiter and I would say that requesting a 15-20% raise is definitely a bit overboard. In permanent placements, the staffing firm does get paid a percentage of your salary (so the more you receive, the better) but that's a pretty heft jump in salary. I wouldn't say there is an ideal number to ask for though. When it really comes down to it, for permanent positions, you are worth what the hiring company offers you. I never want to have anyone take a pay cut, but it's also hard to justify a $20,000 raise if a client asks what the job candidates current salary is.

With that being said, I have helped people receive substantial raises. I actually helped a 25 year old CCNP (with a TS/SCI clearance) receive an offer from Cisco for $110k when he was currently maing $75k. All depends on the candidate.

With all due respect, you say that because you're a technical recruiter, not for any other reason. My last two raises were 50%, which would cause any recruiter to vomit. People are way to obsessed about what they're making now to justify their future. Your skills and ability along with your capacity to prove them during an interview determine what you are worth to interested people. When you start getting into higher level IT it becomes a meritocracy and not a union, your pay is based on skills and ability and not time served.

Totino

I learned my lesson and always research the job before I apply. Nowadays, if it's a reasonably sized company, you can get a general idea of how much their going rate is for the position.

I had a recruiter try and do the same thing to me on my first help desk job. They were willing to pay me nearly $5 more an hour than the recruiter initially offered. The recruiter ended up flaking, which I learned wasn't a surprise when I researched the company. I got the job myself 2 weeks later by directly applying. Funny enough, he emailed me about 1 month after I had the job asking me if I was still interested, what a laugh that was.

instant000

Just to add on, you should always ask for the rate that you want, especially in this day and age whereby recruiters will contact you out of the blue.

If the company really wants you, they will make adjustments. I had one HR manager tell me that I was 20K over the range for the position, only to have the same person call back two hours later to say that the CIO still wanted me.

philz1982

Very true, Recruiters perpetrate this myth that it is hard to get a job in our economy. I get job offers weekly. The no-knowledge, special-ed jobs are a dime a dozen but people who understand technology, business, and can speak in front of a crowd in legible sentences are rare.

-Phil

Hypntick

Yeah my last jump in pay when I moved into this position came out to around 75%, although I don't expect quite the same level of jump the next time I move. Although I do fully expect a 25-30% increase with the next jump, and have no intention of asking for less. If any recruiter tried to say that it was to much of a jump, i'd thank them for their time and move on to the next.

boobobobobob

I think pay jumps when you're making under 80k in the 30%+ is pretty normal lots of people go from Computer Techs making 30k to a Jr Network Tech and make 40-50k. But if you make 90k now asking for 25%+ is just not going to happen... unless you recently pass the ccie or something of that nature.

TheProf

Well at 90K asking for a 25-30% salary raise would most likely mean that the new opportunity is a step up, otherwise for the same type of job, its going to be very hard to find that kind of salary... I would assume if you're making 80-90K, that's a salary of a Senior Administrator/Engineer/Specialist.... anything over and you're looking for roles such as integrator/architect.