Talking about money can be hard. When this conversation needs to be held in front of an interviewer then it might get worse. To keep up your impression and convey the right meaning to your interviewer, you need to learn certain basic communication skills. These skills will not only help you excel in your interview but will provide you with a common base through which you can communicate with other members of your company. Let’s know What Are Your Salary Expectations? How To Answer + Sample Answers
Every time you walk into an interview, you know your expectations and the type of answers you need to give there. There’s always a particular way to express your expectations and answers to the interviewer without creating first-hand bad impressions. Salary is a crucial subject that needs to deal with care instead of greed. Thus, today we will look at certain ways about how you can answer the salary answer properly and get what you deserve.
Today we will be focusing on the question-
What Are Your Salary Expectations?
This article will help us learn the correct way to answer this question and grab your interviewer’s attention.
Reason Behind the Interviewer asking the question-
What Are Your Salary Expectations?
There are various reasons why your interviewer might ask you this question. All types of questions let the interviewer understand more about you and the way you deal with things. So this question has its potential to describe something a bit you to them. Here we have listed certain basic reasons why the interviewer might ask you this particular question. The reasons are as follows-
- To see your self-esteem- Here, the interviewer might ask you this particular question to understand what you think about yourself. whether you have confidence in yourself and your skills. When you express high or moderate expectations, this instantly gives them a signal to the interviewer that you value yourself and the skills you offer to others. This will help the interviewer prepare themselves with whether they would like to offer you the job or not.
- To see if they can afford you- This question can be commonly asked to understand whether the company has the resources to afford you and your services or not. Every company has a fixed quota beyond which they cannot give their employees and if your expectations exceed their quota then they might not consider your application.
- To see if you are flexible- Every company loves a flexible employee. Every company isn’t perfect and thus requires individuals who understand the company’s imperfections and stay with them to help and grow together. Asking the salary question will help the interviewer understand whether you have a flexible mindset or are rigid to your thoughts and opinions. This will help the interviewer to make the right decision.
These are certain reasons why your interviewer might ask you this particular question. So it’s important to keep these pointers in mind while asking your questions otherwise you might end up losing your job. But it is also important to understand your worth and keep your expectations moderate so no one takes advantage of your nature.
How to answer the question-
What Are Your Salary Expectations?
There are several ways you can answer this question. You need to understand what points and values the interviewer is focusing on, then only you can frame your answers to make everything appear smooth. Here we shall discuss certain pointers you need to keep in mind while answering this question. These points will help you frame and execute your answers in a well-structured manner. The various pointers are as follows-
- Research- Everything requires research. It is the basis through which you can support your opinions. Thus, you need to research, a lot before you decide to answer the question. First, start by researching the average salary that the job position gets. Now you can look at the company and their packages to decide how much you expect of the company. This will help you decide on a salary which the company can easily provide you.
- Look at the Salary Trends- Understand the market and what everyone is getting in that position. This will help you decide the correct salary range. When you look at salary trends you will understand how much everyone is getting in that particular role and accordingly you can look at your skills and talents to demand something close to those lines.
- Never give an exact number- When you are discussing salary you need to keep in mind that exact numbers might distract the interviewer from the interview and force them to take a different route than the one they were meant to take. Thus whenever you’re discussing salaries try to describe your ideal salary by using salary ranges to keep the conversation light and fun.
Example- Instead of saying I expect $5000 a month as my salary, you might change the answer to I expect the salary to be between $4000 to $5500 a month.
- Be honest- There are some cases when you need to be honest about your salary and demand what you truly deserve. This will help you get what you want. When you are honest about what you think and what you deserve, even others would feel lucky to have you and give you what you want. You can even talk about your skills and competencies and how you need to pay the minimum if the company wants to make use of your skills.
- Show instead of telling- This is a famous catchphrase used by many people. You need to keep in mind that people believe you only when you show them your worth. Until you keep your talents and skills in the dark and hide your real expectations from them, you will never be appreciated for the things you do. You need to make use of your skills and talents to show everyone that you deserve it.
- Turn the question around- This is a popular tactic used by many interviewees. Here all you need to do is ten the question around and let the interviewer decide what salary you deserve and then you can modify their expectations. This will save you a lot of time as you wouldn’t need to explain to them why you deserve the salary you are expecting.
- Delay the answer- Many times you can even delay the answer completely. Here all you need to do is shift the topic from discussing salaries to discussing something else. This will help you keep yourself out of the tiring question and you can focus your energy on discussing something that might impress the interviewer. This tactic is quite good but if the interviewer asks you the same salary question again, you need to answer it honestly to save your impression.
These are certain pointers that you need to keep in your mind to get the job.
Sample Answers for the Question-
What Are Your Salary Expectations?
Sample answers will help you a lot to analyze which type of response you would want to give. Here we have listed certain common responses that you can use to answer your interviewer. You should keep in mind that these sample answers are just for your references. Don’t try to copy the answers and, it might sound fake and structured. Come up with your answers to the question by taking the help of these sample answers. The list for the sample answers are as follows-
- Example
“Well, a job has a lot of responsibilities attached to it and whenever I think about giving an exact number for my salary, I always try to think about how much I am providing to the company and how many responsibilities I need to deal with. It helps me understand what I am giving to others, and thus accordingly, I decide what I deserve for my work. It would be very generous of you if you would brief me about the various duties and responsibilities that I would need to deal with daily and how much time I would need to be in the office. This would help me make a clear estimate of my expected salary.”
- Example
“I have always longed to work here. Getting an opportunity to be here in the interview is quite big for me. My ultimate goal is to get a job at your company because all I wish to do is upgrade myself, my skills, and my experiences, and I can see those things happening in the future if I get a job here. Something that matters to me the most is the work environment and the professional development that I will go through. Salary is not something that I think about a lot. It’s important for me but not as important as getting a job here. I would expect a salary that’s higher than my previous salary that’s the only expectation I have from the company”.
- Example
“Before answering this particular question, I would love to know a little bit about your previous employee or the employees who are working here, similar to the position I have applied for. Were they equally qualified as me? Did they have much more experience than me, or did they have better skills and talents than me? It will help me understand where I stand in this race and, then I can decide what my ideal salary should be. I would also love to know what the previous employee’s salary was. You need not give me a solid answer, but you can give a particular range. It will make the decision-making process easier. In any company, the employers have the right knowledge about what a person deserves according to their capabilities and talents and, thus, I would love it if you took this decision on my behalf.”
- Example
“In my past working experiences, I have seen a lot of drama and negative workplaces, which has disturbed my mindset a lot. All I want is to have a good working culture and a positive experience here. Money matters a lot to me, but what matters more is the respect and positivity, that I can feel in this organization. All I want is to be part of this organization. I do expect a good amount for my salary, but I would still be happy if the amount doesn’t match my expectations. All I want is a good workplace where I can express my thoughts, and other employees would listen to me and help me climb the professional ladder.”
- Example
“I have worked with a lot of organizations, and the one thing that has always kept me working hard and doing my best for the organization is the pay scale. It attracts me a lot. I am not like any other candidate who might hide their desire for a good salary. I am confident in my skills and capacities and wouldn’t take something less than I deserve. This opportunity would help me grow a lot, and that’s the reason why I want to work for this organization. I would clearly state what I expect instead of turning and twisting my words. So according to the research about the organization and the field I work in, I would expect a salary that’s between the range of $50,000 to $60,000 a year. This is my expectation and, you can either respect it or reject it”.
- Example
“This is my first job interview, and I haven’t worked for any organization to date. So I don’t see the point of answering this question. I think the organization would be a better judge for deciding my salary. I have worked in small internships, which have paid me quite less, than my original caliber but the amount of knowledge and skill that I learned from them is immense. Thus salary isn’t my priority right now. All I want is a good workplace where I can grow personally and professionally and get in touch with new people who would help me grow and be a better person. I would be grateful if you took back the deciding power from my hands and decide by yourself what I truly deserve.”
- Example
“The question is quite interesting. Many times in my earlier interviews I have always tried to ignore this particular question because I thought that it would leave a bad impression on the interviewer. But now, I have released the true potential behind this question, and I would love to openly express what I expect. I would love to have a salary that’s between the range of $ 40,000 to $50,000 per year. It is my expected salary but if you have any misconceives with this range, then you can openly express them. I am quite flexible and can take a salary that’s below this range as well”.
These are certain sample answers that can help you answer the question properly. You can either copy an entire response or take my points from different sample answers and answer the question. It will help you give an answer that resonates with you the most.
How to Determine the Right Salary for the Question-
What Are Your Salary Expectations?
There are a lot of ways through which you can determine the right salary for yourself. It will help you understand what you deserve according to your capabilities and thus you would seem more confident and open to others. Different ways to determine your ideal salary are as follows-
- Take help of online tools- There are a lot of online tools that can help you determine your right salary. You can either take help from Glassdoor or Payscale to analyze the salary for the position. It will help you a lot. These apps can prove very beneficial as their data is completely based on research and statistics.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics- The Labor department had listed out a lot of jobs on their website with the average salary that the job deserves. This will help you undertake your worth and you can thus make better decisions about your salary in an interview. The US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics is a reliable source and thus you can trust them with the salary part.
- Talk to experts or co-employees- You can also talk to your co-employees who have worked in that position or to other experts who know a lot about the market. They might give an exact number or give you a particular range that can help you give the right response. Talking to someone will help you get a clear understanding of what happens in the working environment.
These are certain common ways you can determine your perfect salary for the job.
Conclusion
Getting into an interview and answering such questions can be hard but it can be made easier by practicing. Practice can make your life easier as it will instill self-confidence which is quite hard to achieve sometimes. Hope this article helped you learn something new today.
FAQ’s
- Is answering the salary question compulsory?
It completely depends on you how you wish to proceed with this question. You can either answer it by stating a salary range that you expect or answer it in a different way than we have mentioned above.
- What’s one important thing that will help in acing the interview question?
One thing that would help you ace the interview is confidence and self-belief. You need to have some faith in your abilities and show your interviewer that you deserve the salary you are demanding.
- How to prepare yourself for the interview?
You can use various guides all over the internet and on our website to prepare yourself for the interview.
