5 ms·
Speaking as a hiring manager for 10+ years: If I've done my job right, I've sourced engineers experienced, confident and smart enough to negotiate and ask good
by jaaron 6y ago
Speaking as a hiring manager for 10+ years:
If I've done my job right, I've sourced engineers experienced, confident and smart enough to negotiate and ask good questions around compensation. I want to make sure that we have an open conversation so that both sides can move forward to the actual job at hand.
Tip: California based firms are required to give you a salary range if you ask for it and they can't ask you for your salary history, just your comp expectations.
- sokoloff 6y agoIs there anything to prevent that range from being given as "$30K to $999K/yr"?
- jaaron 6y agoI am not an employment lawyer, but I suspect if the employer gives you a crazy range, it's a violation and could be reported. The law does clarify it's a range and doesn't need to include bonuses or equity estimates. And to be frank, if you're interviewing somewhere and they come back with that answer, I think that tells you most everything you need to know about whether you should work there or not.
- refurb 6y agoThis is a valid point. Some salary bands are very wide. For my former employer, it was $140k to $245k. The mid-point is a good starting point, but it’s such a wide band it doesn’t give you much to anchor to. And this is not just “HR told me this”. It’s the actual number in the compensation scheme visible to hiring managers. And there is significant overlap between levels. The next level up is something like $170k to $260k.
- legulere 6y agoIf they state 999K then that is what you should be asking for.
- shajznnckfke 6y agoAlthough most of the variation in comp for engineers is in equity, so a salary band will only do so much for you.
- cbsks 6y ago> California based firms are required to give you a salary range if you ask for it I didn't know that! Do you know what the actual law says? Are employers required to give the salary range for any open position on request? Or is it more limited than that?
- bruckie 6y agoAfter you've interviewed. Here's the text (from https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=432.3&lawCode=LAB https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...): "432.3. (a) An employer shall not rely on the salary history information of an applicant for employment as a factor in determining whether to offer employment to an applicant or what salary to offer an applicant. (b) An employer shall not, orally or in writing, personally or through an agent, seek salary history information, including compensation and benefits, about an applicant for employment. (c) An employer, upon reasonable request, shall provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment. For purposes of this section, “pay scale” means a salary or hourly wage range. For purposes of this section “reasonable request” means a request made after an applicant has completed an initial interview with the employer."
- srtjstjsj 6y agoWhy haven't all the big company pay scales leaked yet?
- fractionalhare 6y agoI have good news for you: https://levels.fyi https://levels.fyi :)
- MertsA 6y agoA better question might be, why doesn't levels.fyi include the actual pay bands that companies have to disclose upon request to candidates instead of just reported compensation?
- mehrdadn 6y agoDoes "California based" mean "your office will be in California"? Or does it mean "the company is incorporated in California"?
- acjacobson 6y agoThe former, I believe. Many companies are incorporated in Delaware, but if they have offices in CA are still subject to CA employment law for jobs located there.
- mehrdadn 6y agoThanks!
- cushychicken 6y agoTip: California based firms are required to give you a salary range if you ask for it and they can't ask you for your salary history, just your comp expectations. Same is true in Massachusetts.