It’s not uncommon for recruiters to ask about salary expectations when interviewing a candidate, but what’s the correct way to answer? An interview expert has recently gone viral after sharing her best tips to answer the question the right way.
In a clip shared in December under the username anna..papalia, she explains that when the interviewer asks you about your salary expectations you should not give them a number right away.
She says: “If you are currently making 50 for example, and you’re hoping for 60 grand, whatever you do don’t say ‘Well I’m currently making 50 but I’m hoping for 60 grand,’ because they may be paying 60 to 90 and you just shot yourself in the foot by telling them that you would take the lowest end of the range.”
“Instead,” the poster continues “When they say to you ‘What are your salary expectations’ you say ‘What is the range of the position or what is the position paying?’ They will most likely give you a range or maybe even they push back on you and say ‘Well, we really need to know what you need in order to put you on to the next round.’
“And if that’s the case, you say something like ‘Well I need to know the range before we move forward,’ or ‘I’m sure your range will be something I’d be amenable to.’ They ask because they want to base your future salary on your current salary. They should tell you what the position is paying.”
Many Americans are currently unemployed and looking for a job. According to the latest charts shared by Statista, in the United States, approximately 5.83 million people were unemployed and looking for work in November 2023.
This number was lower than in October, with 6.1 million people looking for a job, but higher than last year at the same time, with 5.52 million people.
The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 16.1 million views and 920,000 likes on the platform.
One user, Wendy and Mom, commented: “What? No, I’m an HR person and we REALLY need the number.” And user7631591145966 said: “I always say the number I’m expecting, I don’t want to waste my time interviewing for a company that can’t pay what I need, learned the hard way.”
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Brandon Bezos added: “I say ‘I’m happy to take [into] consideration any reasonable offer, I’m very excited about this opportunity and I don’t want anchoring to be an obstacle.”
Newsweek has reached out to anna..papalia for comment via email.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.