What should one do when confronted with the question on the job application: ‘What approximate salary would you expect for this position’?
The question seems, I don’t know, like a trap.
Background: this is for a teaching position at a high school. I’ve looked at the salary for comparable positions, at other schools in the area, with my level of qualifications. This school though, for a few reasons, might not be held to the same salary table as these other schools.
Should you low-ball, and hope that will be taken as a sign of eagerness? High-ball, to demonstrate how highly your value your skills and suitedness? Explain that you’d expect a salary commensurate with the salary table?
I just had to deal with this as well…it was requird before I could even get to the point of attaching my resume.
I shot high because I have a minor ‘in’. But if I was just another anonymous applicant, I’d be worried of overshooting and being instantly disqualified.
This is my biggest pet peeve about job hunting. I don’t remember this happening years ago - I used to see a salary range stated, or at the very least if they did not state one they also didn’t ask you to name your price.
If you can somehow state a range you think is appropriate I’d do so.
The first time they understood what the range was and wanted to see what the lowest number they could pay me was.
The second time they didn’t know the range, and didn’t hire me based on the range I expected (which was based on the salary I was getting at the time).
I’d advise you to give a range just to be polite, but make it the high end of reasonable and expect them to lowball you on the job offer.
This is the worst. A good cop-out is ‘going rate’, but this is rarely accepted.
After that, a range is useful. Teaching should be easier than most as it is usually union and there has to be published salary ranges.
Given that range, chose higher in the range if you think you have a good chance at it and lower in the range if you just want to get the job and worry about salary down the line.
Seems unusual since most teaching jobs don’t have negotiable salaries. I assume it’s for a private school. I’d say you’re in a tough spot if you don’t already know others at that school that could tell you the likely salary range. I see a lot of teachers who get, and change jobs, based on inside information. You should at least try to put down a range. You can put more details on your considerations in your cover letter or resume.
ETA: I think many people would hesitate to do this, but I’m not most people, and I’d just call and try to reach someone at the school in a personnel or other administrative role and ask them what the likely pay rate is. YMMV
My wife just went through this situation and we discussed what to put in that spot. We both decided that there was no good reason to put a range since the only number the company will look at is the lower boundary. She put a middle value of what she researched as the going rate for that position and they came through.
The school district I live in handles that in this weird way:
They look at your resume and give you credit for each full year of experience. So if you had 3.5 years at School A, and 2.5 years at School B, and 1.25 years at School C, you only get credit for having 6 years of experience and your salary will be assigned to you based on some sort of voodoo economic math fomula that only certain people in the District understand. I work with teachers and this causes much consternation among them, especially after XX years because if you had 28 years of teaching under your belt, but the school only accounted for 24 of them because the other 4 years were fragments of years, that would mean you’d have six more years until retirement rather than two. They hate that for some reason.
So it might be worth a call in to the District office to find out exactly how they negotiate hiring offers. Whatever salary range you might be requesting could be completely moot. If it’s not done this way, then I say high-ball it and ask for about 20% more than you think you’ll reasonably be offered. When I was a hiring manager, I tended to low-ball by about 20% and negotiate from there.
At first glance at the form, it didn’t look like a range was available, but I’ll look again.
As I said, I think that this school will not have to follow the ‘voodoo math’ that the normal public schools do, for a couple of reasons.
Given that, I’m leaning towards trying a range, leaning high; if that’s not possible I will moderately high-ball it (given my judgment on my chances…) I think I’ll be able to convey ‘eagerness’ sufficiently through other areas of the application. If they tell me they have to go towards the bottom of my range, I won’t be too put out, but it seems crazy not to try to push it a bit, as I am an excellent candidate for this job.
I hate job apps, so many hair-pulling questions. I’ve never applied for this kind of job before, either. Fun times!
It doesn’t sound like this is the case in the OP, but sometimes you have to put a number that is low enough or the HR software they use will automatically reject you and your resume won’t be seen by anyone. I had a potential employer tell me to put “zero” so that my application would be accepted. The salary wasn’t negotiable in any case.
You should probably have a realistic expectation of what your salary should be. There’s plenty of info out there and realistically, you aren’t going to jump from $50,000 to $190,000. What do YOU think you should be making?
In my experience on both sides of the conversation, salary tends to be the last thing that is discussed. I’ve gone through multiple rounds of interviews only to find out that the salary was like %50 of my last salary. Fuck that.
The hiring manager isn’t evaluating you based on what number you give them. They are basing you on how good a fit you are for the position. What they are trying to determine from the salary question is if you are in the same range as the position. A “vice president” can be anything from a senior grunt to the head of an entire multi-million dollar division. They are trying to make sure they aren’t interviewing a $250,000 a year person for a $65,000 a year job.
I recently had to switch jobs at the school where I work.
It was a given that I would be hired - they asked me to go to that department - but I still had to fill out paperwork as if it was all my idea and they would indeed accept other resumes (of which three other people did apply).
When asked salary, I pretty much doubled what I am currently earning - knowing full well that wasn’t going to fly, but hey - they asked!
When I went to the manager for the official job interview, we chatted and she confirmed I was getting the job. Then she laughed and showed me the email from Human Resources stated I was ideal for the job “…but his salary expectations are far above our range, and you will have to discuss this with him.” She then told me the maximum salary allotted for the position, which I of course accepted.
So, what I learned from this is that even though I had put a ridiculously high amount on the form, the HR Department said I was an ideal candidate but that it was the manager’s job to get me on board for the salary they intended to pay. In other words, they had not tossed my resume, just pointed out that I was coming in with unrealistic expectations.
Thus, I think it is fair to assume most companies would do the same - don’t go crazy and ask for Bill Gate’s salary, but if you put the high-end amount, I doubt they will toss your resume out the door without at least discussing that point.
