I am being laid off in August. So I am starting to look around…
I found a job add I am going to apply for.
They want a hand written cover letter and also salary requirements.
Should I include my salary requirements in the hand written letter or just put it on top of the resume?
I am not familiar with all this!
what do you think?
Don’t include salary requirements at all if you don’t want to.
I’ve spent a lot of time as a hiring manager, and that’s almost never supplied, even if the HR stock ad has it as a “requirement”.
Very few supply it, as it reduces the chance to be called or interviewed. Too high, and you won’t make the first cut. Too low, and you won’t be perceived as qualified.
There is some interesting discussion on salary (specifically requests for salary history) in this thread. The consensus there is that it’s inappropriate to include (or request) a salary history, and that salary should certainly not appear on the resume. We didn’t cover salary requirements specifically, but if you decide to include them, put them in the cover letter.
It’s also a good idea to be as vague as possible. Give a nice wide range of salaries so you have lots of leeway.
Finally the IMHO bit: if they’re asking for salary requirements, better to include them and be vague than omit them. In today’s job market you don’t want to give them an excuse to throw out your resume.
Thanks guy.
Yes, the add asks for it… I am torn… Like you both say, I can “omit” it but then, if they’re tough… They might just put me right to the trash can…
But you know what… They must have a pretty good idea of what they want to give that position, so it is quite hypocritical to ask me what I want… So, screw them, I won’t put anything…!
A handwritten cover letter? That’s very odd. I can’t imagine what they think they can learn by it. Might as well have you send a tarot card.
RealityChuck, it is a French company in the US, and they do it the French way (ohhh sounds dirty!). It is very commun in France to ask for a “motivation” letter, as we call it, to be hand written.
Actually, it has to be hand written. A typed letter is viewed as very impersonnal and rude. I was shocked the opposite way when I settled to the States to see everything typed. Even personal letters, friend to friend, being typed up on a PC!!
I am used to it now, but this time, I got to do it the “old” way!
And I changed my mind again, I think I will put a salary requirement… arggggg…
I can understand why the French don’t want to type anything, have you ever seen or tried to use their keyboards?
Zazie, best advice of professional HR managers is that you should NOT put in a salary requirement. They know what they want to pay, and it’s unfair of them to put the onus on you. If you feel you must put something, put “Salary Requirements: Can be discussed.”
Have you looked at salary expert.com, or one of the equivalent services/programs? Every time I am asked for salary expectations or adjustments (performance reviews, etc.) I provide some statistical information. You can still do this and not assert a specific expectation, by indicating to your boss or prospective employer that the going rate for your position ranges from X to Y, with Z as the industry average, and then summarize your experience and performance. Managers love it when you do their work for them, and in my experience, have simply taken the range provided (with quoted sources and statistical analysis - don’t make up numbers) and placed me within in according to my performance.
Don’t ask for anything, but provide information.
-FK
Last two posts sound like good advice.
I have added, when a job offer says salary requirements required for consideration, I will accept any reasonable offer.
Note that in another thread on this Forum (about handwriting analysis) it’s mentioned that some companies (especially French ones!) seem to believe that analyzing handwriting can tell them something about the personality of the the writer, and that they use this in their hiring process.
So maybe that’s why they want a handwritten letter!
In other words, you yourself, in your job as hiring manager, have seriously considered (or maybe even hired) people who ignored the instructions and left out their salary requirements?
Why would you do that? I would think that a hiring manager would take such an applicant and toss it immediately, while muttering “This guy can’t even read instructions!”
And if you really don’t care about his requirements, why did you include that request in the ad?
You are right t-bonham, some company will analyze your hand writting, supposely it shows if you are organized, serious, etc, etc… I don’t think a lot of company actually get an expert to do it, but some do.
Thank you all for the great advice/info.
As a recruitment/HR person I hated putting the salary request in adverts but it was company policy.
Basically, I refuse to rule out someone who may have fantastic skills because they haven’t included their salary details. It is a very personal thing, often puts an applicant on the back foot in negotiations later on, and I wouldn’t put it on myself (never do) so I keep an open mind about it.
If you are really worried about it, only include it if the job ad states a salary range, then you can tailor it to suit.
Zazie,
I might suggest writing your cover letter in a word processor and doing a spellcheck, or getting someone else to proof it for you. (And THEN hand-writing it. 
)
Oh, and the typical thing I hear from people on the salary requirements: just put ‘negotiable’ - although I like the ‘reasonable offer’ one too.
Heh, wow. And here when I read “hand-written” cover letter I did a double-take thinking, “surely he can’t mean a letter literally written by hand. He must mean they want a custom cover letter and not a generic form letter that he’s sending out to everyone”.
If any job you apply for specifically asks for something you MUST give it to them. If you don’t forget it, they’ll not consider you.
This company most likely just wants to eliminate a lot of people with high expectations. You are best to choose a salary range. But this may not work.
As a rule you don’t discuss salary unless specifically asked. I’ve had jobs where the first question is what exactly is your salary expectation and I give a range and then the counter with, “We need an exact figure.”
Then you give it to them.
It’s better to short yourself than to go high. If you go high your eliminated. If you come in short and get the job you can always take it or refuse it with, and say "You know after the interview and hiring process, I didn’t realize the job required as much and I feel that a more acceptable offer would be “XXX”
It might work, it might not. Employers are firmly in control now, and don’t expect to get today what you would’ve got prior to 2008. You will probably make a bit less.
hambin336, this thread is almost eight years old. It’s good to check the date on a thread before posting to it. It’s also good to provide some useful information.
I suspect the OP, who hasn’t posted in six years, has already resolved this issue and additional advice is unnecessary. Therefore I’m closing this.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator