4 ms·

I think an additional piece to this, is to tell candidates what level they are interviewing for and the possible salary ranges, not total package, but actual ba

I think an additional piece to this, is to tell candidates what level they are interviewing for and the possible salary ranges, not total package, but actual base salary ranges. I just went through an interview process with AWS that wasted a lot of time for both sides due to them not being up front about the potential package. I had to push a fair bit to get any info, and finally had to politely tell them if the it's less the X I don't think it makes sense to move forward. Edit: ----- Additionally, they were unable to explain how after two interviews, what an additional 7 interviews in an onsite capacity would add/build on top of the first two. It felt like they were just putting me through a gauntlet without really understanding why. It saves both sides effort if you can make sure you are in general alignment before going too far into the process.

michaelt 6y ago
A lot of people say "never be the first to give a number" (which might be wise if you aren't confident you have a good idea of your market value) but I've always found it useful to just give recruiters a salary requirement figure upfront. After all, I know $X is what it will take for me to move enthusiastically and see it as good for my career trajectory, so if $X is over their salary range being coy about what I want just wastes my time.
- twic 6y ago
  I think that "never be the first to give a number" advice is good if you want to maximise your income. If you want to minimise your drudgery, name a number as soon as possible.
- collyw 6y ago
  I agree. I am at the higher end of the payscale where I live (Spain so overall pretty poor salaries). Most jobs will be offering around average salaries, so it's saves me time to state up front what i expect.
twic 6y ago
> not total package, but actual base salary ranges Why base salary rather than total comp?
- incognito_limey 6y ago
  Because I've experienced a lot of number fiddling to describe total comp. For example we offer you X equity at Y valuation, when the valuation is something they have made up internally etc. I want to know how much cash in hand I can expect. Also, offering private health insurance, when you live in a country with a decent public health care system is not much of benefit and generally not worth what the company says its worth. If it was the US, I could see how that would be valuable, but in most of Europe, it is not.
  - jrockway 6y ago
    Startups are going to be like that, but you said you were interviewing at AWS. You can buy and sell their equity on the open market, so it's not really a mystery what you're getting. If they say they give you 50 shares a year, that's $137,941 a year in cash money. Probably more next year. You can sell it or hold it, but turning it into cash is very easy. Sure, Amazon could go out of business while you're holding stock grants and then you get $0... but that's exceedingly unlikely. A lot would have to go wrong for Amazon to lose all its value. When I was new to the FAANG world I pretty much valued the stock at $0. I quickly learned that that was not correct; stock ended up being half my pay. (Probably more than half as you move further up the ladder!) The base salary is good, but another 100% on top of that was also pretty okay. I guess until you've seen it, it all seems mysterious. But I can assure it's almost as good as cash, minus whatever you pay someone to fill out all the tax forms. As for why these companies give you stock instead of bumping up your base salary to be what you'd get by selling the stock right when it vests... apparently it's cheaper for them. It's not quite the same as printing money, but I guess it's close.
    - ryandrake 6y ago
      Instead of worrying about base salary vs. equity, I'd rather know roughly how much "guaranteed" compensation to expect. Guaranteed would include cash salary, immediately-sellable stock, and the amount of bonus that is not contingent on personal or company performance. The rest is "speculative" compensation: stock options, potential gains from holding stock, illiquid stock, and bonuses that might not materialize for various reasons.

michaelt 6y ago

A lot of people say "never be the first to give a number" (which might be wise if you aren't confident you have a good idea of your market value) but I've always found it useful to just give recruiters a salary requirement figure upfront. After all, I know $X is what it will take for me to move enthusiastically and see it as good for my career trajectory, so if $X is over their salary range being coy about what I want just wastes my time.

twic 6y ago
I think that "never be the first to give a number" advice is good if you want to maximise your income. If you want to minimise your drudgery, name a number as soon as possible.
collyw 6y ago
I agree. I am at the higher end of the payscale where I live (Spain so overall pretty poor salaries). Most jobs will be offering around average salaries, so it's saves me time to state up front what i expect.

twic 6y ago

> not total package, but actual base salary ranges Why base salary rather than total comp?

incognito_limey 6y ago
Because I've experienced a lot of number fiddling to describe total comp. For example we offer you X equity at Y valuation, when the valuation is something they have made up internally etc. I want to know how much cash in hand I can expect. Also, offering private health insurance, when you live in a country with a decent public health care system is not much of benefit and generally not worth what the company says its worth. If it was the US, I could see how that would be valuable, but in most of Europe, it is not.
- jrockway 6y ago
  Startups are going to be like that, but you said you were interviewing at AWS. You can buy and sell their equity on the open market, so it's not really a mystery what you're getting. If they say they give you 50 shares a year, that's $137,941 a year in cash money. Probably more next year. You can sell it or hold it, but turning it into cash is very easy. Sure, Amazon could go out of business while you're holding stock grants and then you get $0... but that's exceedingly unlikely. A lot would have to go wrong for Amazon to lose all its value. When I was new to the FAANG world I pretty much valued the stock at $0. I quickly learned that that was not correct; stock ended up being half my pay. (Probably more than half as you move further up the ladder!) The base salary is good, but another 100% on top of that was also pretty okay. I guess until you've seen it, it all seems mysterious. But I can assure it's almost as good as cash, minus whatever you pay someone to fill out all the tax forms. As for why these companies give you stock instead of bumping up your base salary to be what you'd get by selling the stock right when it vests... apparently it's cheaper for them. It's not quite the same as printing money, but I guess it's close.
  - ryandrake 6y ago
    Instead of worrying about base salary vs. equity, I'd rather know roughly how much "guaranteed" compensation to expect. Guaranteed would include cash salary, immediately-sellable stock, and the amount of bonus that is not contingent on personal or company performance. The rest is "speculative" compensation: stock options, potential gains from holding stock, illiquid stock, and bonuses that might not materialize for various reasons.