Industry Basics

Industry BasicsIndustry Basics

How to Answer What Are Your Salary Expectations

How to Answer What Are Your Salary Expectations How to Answer What Are Your Salary Expectations Answering the interview question What are your salary expectations? is usually the most complex dance in the whole interviewing process. It can also be the most dangerous. The best strategy is to do your research in advance, know the minimum you can accept (your walk away number when the job is leid worth it for you), and have your answers ready.This question may also be stated as What are your salary requirements? or What do you expect to be paid? Here are a few different ways to answer and prepare for the salary expectations question.Deflect the questionRather than answering the question directly, you could respond withI would prefer to know more about the job and your expectations of the employee first to give you a realistic number.If you go with this approach, be prepared in case the interviewer presses you for an answer about your salary expectations. Provide a salary sortimentThe em ployer will very likely want a specific number, so another strategy is to give them a number or a range. Assuming your target salary is $47,000, you could sayIm looking for a position which pays between $45,000 and $52,000 for a 35-hour work week.Understand that if you offer a range, they will usually choose the low end of the range in their initial offer, so maybe bump up the range a bit. For example, in this situation, the range could be $42,000 to $52,000. Unless you are very experienced (years in the job, working very successfully), do not expect to be offered the top of the range. Offer a salary range plus some options for negotiationTo give yourself more room for negotiation, add some options which would be beneficial to youIm looking for a position which pays between $45,000 and $52,000 for a 35-hour work week, but that number can be adjusted based on my ability to work at home, vacation time, bonuses, tuition reimbursement, and other benefits you may provide.With this answer , you are offering a specific salary range, but also indicating some flexibility based on the benefits provided. Include options that are important to you and will, effectively, be an increase in your pay by reducing some of your out-of-pocket expenses or giving your salary a boost.Research to prepare for the salary expectations questionGuessing at the salary range is very dangerous If you guess too high, you could disqualify yourself from consideration. If you guess to low, you are setting yourself up for a long period of being underpaid. Research the salaries paid for the job you are seeking so you have a starting point for this discussion. Unfortunately, fewer than 15% of job postings contain a salary ranges, currently. Fortunately, today, several websites offer salary information. Sites like PayScale, Salary.com, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn offer salary information. The information used is largely self-reported by the people using the service (as you will need to do to see their dat a). Since they cannot verify each individuals salary or benefits, consider this salary data to be estimated rather than exact. Also, understand that job duties may vary widely even though the job titles are the same.I like two other sources that are not mentioned often Indeeds salary estimatesand RobertHalf.coms salary guide for job postings.Start with Indeed to get an idea of what the jobs you want are paid. If the employer doesnt provide the salary data, Indeed estimates the salary by comparing the posted job with other similar jobs. Bonus you may even find the real or estimated salary range for the employer and job you are interviewing for.RobertHalf.com provides very complete information in their salary guidesbased on the RobertHalf job openings. Scroll down past the registration form to the Salary Calculator and complete the form to see the salary estimate.Susan P. Joyce, publisher ofJob-Hunt.orgsince 1998, has been observing the online job search world and teaching online jo b search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Susan is a two-time layoff graduate who has worked in menschlich resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Follow Susan on Twitter atjobhuntorgandon LinkedIn.What does the interviewer want to hear?Whether youre still trying to land the interview or want to review your top talking points before the big meeting, run a skills analysis with Jobscan. Paste your resume and the job description below to see a breakdown of the top skills a hiring manager asked for in the job description.??

How To Help Managers Grow Employee Engagement

How To Help Managers Grow Employee EngagementHow To Help Managers Grow Employee EngagementHow To Help Managers Grow Employee Engagement Chinsky MatusonIn their bestselling book, First Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization argue that the number one reason why people flourish in an organization is their immediate supervisor. Its also the number one reason they quit. Studies across the globe support their findings. Yet many businesses operate as usual and are then surprised when the expected occurs.Business is anything but usual these days. The power to hire and retain employees may be in the hands of employers today, but this will inevitably change as we move through the recovery.Baby Boomers, who were supposed to begin retiring in droves, will start to execute their plans as their portfolios recover. Younger people, who for the first time in their lives have experienced a layoff, will set sail on their journey towards becoming business owne rs to avoid this happening again. Thus businesses will find themselves in the midst of another war on talent.Companies can shore up their organizations and prevent people from leaving by pulling out their secret weapon. That weapon is called middle management. ansicht are the people on the front lines. They are the glue of the organization and in the trenches with the troops everyday. They are the ones who can minimize your risk of losing your best people. But they cant do this alone.Here are some best practices to help your managers re-engage their teamsEngage Your Front-line ManagersEmployee engagement is defined as an employees willingness to expend discretionary effort on the job. Highly engaged employees are more productive and provide higher levels of customer service than those who are moderately engaged or disengaged. They are also more likely to remain loyal to the organization, which cuts down on costly employee turnover.To create this type of environment, you must first f ully engage your managers. Their feelings of commitment and connectivity will be apparent to their people, who will most likely follow suit.Here are some ways to accomplish this.Keep the Lines of Communication OpenIt is important, especially during difficult economic times, to keep the lines of communication open so people know what to expect. In todays fast-paced global world, consider using whatever forms of communication are available to you and your people.Memos are fine, but it may be more efficient (not to mention more green) to communicate via a company Intranet. This will help prevent communications from being lost in the mounds of paper or e-mail sitting in peoples in-boxes. Streaming a live webcast is also a great way to ensure your message is heard by all, particularly when you have a remote workforce.Keep in mind communication must be a two-way street. Employees need to feel their concerns have been heard and that they can impact change.Engage by Growing TrustEngagement begins with trust. It is important to feel confident, that with the right resources, your managers will be able to create a strong connection with their people. However, this connection has to start at the top. You have to demonstrate that you trust your own people before they will trust others.Take a closer look at your systems and processes. Does everything require ten signatures for approval? Are employees empowered to make customers happy without having to call the boss? The ability to make decisions without close supervision is a clear sign of trust. If you allow your people to operate as if they were business owners, they may very well surprise you and deliver better results.Empower Middle ManagementHaving a position with a title and little authority can be quite frustrating for most people. Yet this is exactly what happens in many organizations. Give managers the authority they need to be effective in their roles. Allow them to make decisions that are well within the scope of their expertise. For example, involve them in the budgeting process and give them responsibility for bringing their departments in on budget. Give them full authority for decisions regarding staffing and employee terminations.Encourage TransparencySo often middle managers are asked to be less than truthful to their own people, in order to protect the firm. For example, they may be instructed to tell people there will be no further staff reductions, even though this certainly could be a possibility if the companys largest client chooses not to renew their contract. This type of scenario prevents managers from establishing authentic relationships with their people. Weave transparency into your organization and encourage your middle managers to do the same.Set Clear GoalsShare the company goals with managers and encourage them to do the same with employees. This helps keep employees committed to the mission. Show each employee how his or her work contributes to the health of the organ ization. When goals change, dont forget to keep people informed so they remain on the right path.Free Up ResourcesManagers (and their people) have been asked to do so much with so little that most are exhausted. As the economy improves, free up financial resources. Give your managers permission to provide salary increases to those people who have excelled under less than optimal conditions. Allow them to replace substandard equipment and to staff vital positions that have been on hold.Follow these simple steps and you will sail through the choppy waters of the recovery with the wind behind you.Author BioRoberta Chinsky Matuson is the President of Human Resource Solutions and is the author of the forthcoming book, Suddenly in Charge Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around, (Nicholas Brealey, January 2011). Her firm helps organizations accelerate productivity and profitability by increasing employee engagement. Sign up to receive Robertas complimentary newsletter, HR Matters .