What's your salary expectations?

Rosa_Damascena

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82010820#Comment_82010820

Fair enough, you can't blame me for looking at this through middle aged spectacles. One of the gifts of ageing is that you are less tolerant of game playing and more inclined to the "repect me or get lost" operating model!!

Maegi

In my experience, they're generally looking to pay towards the bottom of the band but have some flexibility for their dream candidate. How close are you to the person on the advert/ any job spec/ their culture?

It's also usually wise to consider their whole package - things like pension contribution, flexible working as standard (e.g. flexitime, some ability to WFH) and any professional training offered.

In the medium term, simply getting your foot in the door can have value in itself. Is this the case here?

Jemma01

Do you have any negotiation powers? E.g. are you in a job right now that they want to convince you to leave if they like you?

I used to look at the salary, decide if it will give me at minimum 15k raise, then I would lie about my current salary and say that I expect at least 5k raise to make the move worthwhile. They never checked with my former employers, and the p45/p60 were always sent to a different team. Obviously I knew the market, and new that consultation companies will give you nothing if you don't ask.

I'm not encouraging you to lie, nor do I know what the market rate is for the job you're looking for and the years of experience, I'm just sharing my experience.

deapt666

Flipping the question back to them is a smart move. Another simple way to handle it is to just pitch near the top of their stated range, for example saying you are looking for £39k based on your current experience, and see how they react.