Penelope Trunk advised last week that you should never answer the question, “What’s your salary range?”
I disagree; it depends on when the question comes and who asks it. In fact, there is a lot of research that suggests “anchoring” is an effective way to begin a negotiation.
If you have already convinced the questioner that you have the skills and experience for the position, there is no harm at all in being clear about what you expect vis a vis compensation. Remember, you can’t get what you are worth if you aren’t willing to ask for it.
But you won’t know what the right range is if you haven’t done your homework. What is the fair market value for the job? Consider the industry, the geography and the company.
There is a wealth of information on salaries available on the Internet (check out sites like www.thevault.com; you can learn even more through social networking sites (see www.linkedin.com, for example).
In fact, one of the best ways to assess whether the position is a good fit for you is to talk about the salary range early. If what they are paying is too low, the job is probably not what you think it is.
TAGS: career goals, disconnects, negotiating pay
Way too often, people interview for jobs that, if they really understood what the “day-to-day” reality of the job is, they’d run the other way. And, thankfully less often but much more damaging, they actually take the job.
Believe me, you do yourself (and your prospective employer) a favor when you ask questions of whomever interviews you about what exactly you will be doing. Then listen carefully to the answers. Compare the answers you may get from the recruiter with those you get from the hiring manager or those who actually work in the department. Get clarifications as needed to figure out the real story.
I am not suggesting that you can expect to be delighted with each and every aspect of a role but you should like at least most of them. In Her Place at the Table, we call this “drilling down.” Women sometimes avoid doing it because they don’t want to hurt their chances to get the job or for a host of other reasons. But the worst thing is being surprised when you start the job.
TAGS: Coaching Tips, communication, disconnects, Women at Work
When I write about a disconnects between what a presidential candidate says and what he or she does, even to be helpful, it elicits a lot of negativity about how nonverbal behavior doesn’t matter in an election. There are a lot of people who think this is superficial stuff. But communication is what we use to determine who we vote for — how well they convey their ideas and whether we sense that they are being authentic. What good is a president who has good ideas but who can’t communicate them or whose actions contradict them?
As Lois wrote about with regard to smiling, people sense when something isn’t quite right in communication even if they can’t articulate why. They sense disconnects between what is being said and how it is being said. And they don’t believe the person. Persuasion fails.
The good thing about disconnects is seeing them in another person’s communication allows us to pause and reflect. People sensitive to them experience a kind of “red-flag alert” — a signal to think before continuing to talk. When you sense a disconnect between verbal and nonverbal communication at work, you should ask yourself: Is something awry with this relationship? Are things changing around here? Have I misspoken or gone too far somehow? Count to five. That’s how political intuition begins to develop.
If people as polished as politicians reveal disconnects imagine how many the rest of us are sending out there!
Kathleen
TAGS: communication, disconnects, nonverbal, politics at work
Way too often, people interview for jobs that, if they really understood what the “day-to-day” reality of the job is, they’d run the other way. And, thankfully less often but much more damaging, they actually take the job.
Believe me, you do yourself (and your prospective employer) a favor when you ask questions of whomever interviews you about what exactly you will be doing. Then listen carefully to the answers. Compare the answers you may get from the recruiter with those you get from the hiring manager or those who actually work in the department. Get clarifications as needed to figure out the real story.
I am not suggesting that you can expect to be delighted with each and every aspect of a role but you should like at least most of them. In Her Place at the Table, we call this “drilling down.” Women sometimes avoid doing it because they don’t want to hurt their chances to get the job or for a host of other reasons. But the worst thing is being surprised when you start the job.
TAGS: Coaching Tips, communication, disconnects, Women at Work
