After applying for a job with a company that does not list compensation (most of them) is it okay to ask them “before” you interview “What is the salary range for this position?”
It may seem a little forward to ask this but I think it saves myself and the interviewer time if the salary range is lower than what I’m looking for.
I’d hate to go through everything, get excited about the job, have them excited to have me, then have to tell them “sorry, that’s not the salary I was looking for.”
I guess the idea is that you know the rough salary range yourself, from your knowledge of the industry. Say you’re going for a junior network engineering job, and you’ve just got a couple of years experience, you’d probably know the average salary within a few grand. Therefore, you know that you’d probably be willing to work for that amount.
There’s nothing wrong with asking for the specific salary in the interview, but asking beforehand just makes you look mercenary.
Actually, I’d incline to the opposite point of view from that expressed by lambchops. I’ve just completed a whole series of interviews and it didn’t worry me at all when some of the candidates asked about the salary range. In fact it simplified matters for a couple of the candidates, who declined to come in for an interview once they discovered that their preferred salary was outside the range we were offering.
Anyplace that would get huffy about your asking that isn’t a place you want to work.
Think of it as saving them and you time. If they want to pay too little then you don’t WANT to interview there.
As an employer, I’d be delighted to eliminate wasting my time and employees time by knowing up front that you didn’t want the job. So, I’d say, by all means say up front “I need a salary of at least $X; is this a problem?”
On the other hand, if I were advising you on getting the best job you can, there’s a basic concept in selling, which is to always show your prospect the value of your product before you show him the price.