Flying out to interview- salary not yet discussed.
February 24, 2010 8:10 AM Subscribe
I'm flying out to a city to meet with an organization about a potentially exciting job opportunity. It will be the third round of interviews. We haven't discussed salary, and given the nature of the position it could be a make-or-break issue. Should I bring it up, or go meet with them? Would it be considered in poor taste to fly out and then potentially reject the offer if the salary is too low? I'm thinking not, but...
Go, no question. Feel no remorse in pressing for the salary you want and deserve.
posted by The Michael The at 8:21 AM on February 24, 2010
posted by The Michael The at 8:21 AM on February 24, 2010
The important thing is to get the job offer. Once you do you can start to negotiate salary.
posted by caddis at 8:59 AM on February 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by caddis at 8:59 AM on February 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Feel no remorse. Getting the offer and then negotiating salary is usually the best situation for you to be in -- by the time they make the offer, they've put in a lot of time and money into the process, and will be less likely to walk away.
Having said that, it does help when you do give your salary requirement to let them know if it's absolute or whether you can go for less. Don't, however, just drop without attempting to add conditions -- hiring departments usually have an array of sweeteners that they can add, like hiring bonuses, retention bonuses after X period of employment, stock & stock options, moving expenses, title changes, and anything and everything else you might be willing to accept in lieu of your preferred salary.
posted by feckless at 10:25 AM on February 24, 2010
Having said that, it does help when you do give your salary requirement to let them know if it's absolute or whether you can go for less. Don't, however, just drop without attempting to add conditions -- hiring departments usually have an array of sweeteners that they can add, like hiring bonuses, retention bonuses after X period of employment, stock & stock options, moving expenses, title changes, and anything and everything else you might be willing to accept in lieu of your preferred salary.
posted by feckless at 10:25 AM on February 24, 2010
"Should I bring it up, or go meet with them? Would it be considered in poor taste to fly out and then potentially reject the offer if the salary is too low?"
No, this is the ideal situation for you- because if they make the offer at a later stage, they've invested enough in you and you have heavy negotiating power at this point.
I chickened out of using that heavier negotiating power and am still regretting 'politeness'. 'politeness' is a game you have to play at the beginning of your new job for the first several months, not a good game to play when you actually hold the cards.
think like they will be- focused on business sense not on personal elements. personal elements are good once you've joined, but they will always think in terms of business sense, will just prefer that everyone does it in a congenial way.
posted by saraindc at 11:57 AM on February 24, 2010
No, this is the ideal situation for you- because if they make the offer at a later stage, they've invested enough in you and you have heavy negotiating power at this point.
I chickened out of using that heavier negotiating power and am still regretting 'politeness'. 'politeness' is a game you have to play at the beginning of your new job for the first several months, not a good game to play when you actually hold the cards.
think like they will be- focused on business sense not on personal elements. personal elements are good once you've joined, but they will always think in terms of business sense, will just prefer that everyone does it in a congenial way.
posted by saraindc at 11:57 AM on February 24, 2010
Yeah, go. If they want to fly you out to interview and haven't discussed any of *their* deal breakers (salary probably isn't unless you have wildly unrealistic unexpectations) then that's their problem. They probably will fly out several candidates knowing they will only hire one.
posted by R343L at 9:49 PM on February 24, 2010
posted by R343L at 9:49 PM on February 24, 2010
Either they want you or they don't. Get to the point where they want you, then discuss salary.
The cost of flying you out is small beer in the grand scheme of things: Companies regularly pay out 50% of annual salary to recruiting firms in order to hire people. Unless they're a small firm who's really short on cash they're not going to sweat the cost of a plane ticket.
posted by pharm at 2:33 AM on February 25, 2010
The cost of flying you out is small beer in the grand scheme of things: Companies regularly pay out 50% of annual salary to recruiting firms in order to hire people. Unless they're a small firm who's really short on cash they're not going to sweat the cost of a plane ticket.
posted by pharm at 2:33 AM on February 25, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Etrigan at 8:18 AM on February 24, 2010 [1 favorite]