How to answer 'what are your salary expectations?'

I’ve had a rough week.

Australia has been testing my patience lately.

Firstly, I got swooped by a magpie, then my favourite cafe handed me a lukewarm “extra-hot” cappuccino (they are dead to me now!), and then India lost the World Cup and it wasn’t close.

Well, I will need some time to get over the last one.

Until then, let’s focus on how to discuss salary expectations in your next interview.

What are your salary expectations for this role?

This question is tricky. Its purpose is to gauge your expectations relative to the budget allocated for the role.

Of course companies can make this a whole lot easier by just posting salaries on job descriptions, but they’ve got their reasons for not doing so. Reasons I don’t understand…

It’s common for most people, especially college students and graduates to feel awkward when they’re asked this question because we don’t talk about money in our daily lives.

Most freshers have the same goal, and that’s what we will focus on.

They don’t want to leave money on the table, but they also don’t wanna quote a figure that makes the employer say “thank you, there’s the door!”

Never throw out a random salary estimate without researching. It can hurt your job prospects and make you seem unsure to the recruiter.

When you're looking into salaries, don’t just think about your job duties and experience, but also speak with friends and alumni who’re in similar roles.

Use tools like the Salary Guide on Seek to get a reasonable idea about where you should pitch yourself.

Instead of stating a specific number, provide a salary range. This indicates your flexibility and willingness to collaborate with the employer.

By sharing actual figures, you highlight the value you bring to the table, and signal that you've done your homework and understand your worth.

Now here’s the key. When you’re giving your salary range, try to keep the bottom of your range toward the mid point of what you’re looking for. As an example, if you’re looking for $75,000 to $90,000, but you think the company has budgeted $70,000 to $80,000, you should give a range of $82,000 to $95,000.

This way even if the company negotiates below the range you’ve stated in your interview, it’s still a win.

“No one is very happy. Which means it’s a good compromise.”

This is one of my favourite quotes from Game of Thrones.

Look, I will never tell you to accept a job offer that doesn’t pay you what you’re worth. That decision is yours to make. I’ll tell you though that that’s what I did and it worked out great for me.

For my first graduate role that I interviewed for, my salary expectation was $60k. The offer on the table was $50k, and I ended up taking it.

The difference in my after tax income would’ve been ~$500 a month. For me, at that point at least, this wasn’t a big enough difference to reject this opportunity.

But you know you. All I wanna tell you is that there’s a risk that’s involved when you’re negotiating with the employer. So consider the upside and downside, and do what you think is best for you. And then, just be unapologetic!