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Parts of this seem unrealistic to me. How would anyone say with a straight face "That's great! I was thinking anywhere from 60k up to 130k"? Sixty to a buck thi

by funkah 15y ago

Parts of this seem unrealistic to me. How would anyone say with a straight face "That's great! I was thinking anywhere from 60k up to 130k"? Sixty to a buck thirty? Nobody has that kind of range. In the first example, if the company was willing to pay 100, why would they say 60? As the article mentions, typically the person on the other side of the table is much less invested in your salary than you are. If that's the case, I can't see them going from 100 to 60. I dunno. I think there are a lot of ways to approach this and the main thing is not getting caught doing the dumb stuff patio11 talks about, like shying away from the entire process. But these smaller issues like mentioning the number first could more likely go either way.

tnorthcutt 15y ago
In the first example, if the company was willing to pay 100, why would they say 60? Because you've told them you want 100k, and they think by offering 60k, they might be able to (easily) get you down to 80k. If they were willing to pay 100k, this is a win for them.
run4yourlives 15y ago
>In the first example, if the company was willing to pay 100, why would they say 60? Because if the company can get away on spending under budget for you, they can either spend more of that fixed number on someone or something else - anything from the manager's own salary ("Hey, I saved the company 25% of my budget this year, give me a raise!) to adding additional staff to buying that long needed server. If you aren't spending as little as possible on all your costs, you're doing the business thing wrong.
- byoung2 15y ago
  Because if the company can get away on spending under budget for you, they can either spend more of that fixed number on someone or something else I think the recent trend in hiring software engineers is to pay what they ask, because if you don't (e.g. offering $60k instead of $100k), you're going to have to hire again in 6 months to a year when they leave. Just searching for a software engineer can cost $30-50k in downtime, recruiter's commissions, and learning curves.
- davidcuddeback 15y ago
  > If you aren't spending as little as possible on all your costs, you're doing the business thing wrong. This needs to take into account the costs of turnover (including the cost of training a replacement) and hiring. There is an inverse relationship between the salaries that a company pays its employees and turnover costs.

by funkah 15y ago

tnorthcutt 15y ago

In the first example, if the company was willing to pay 100, why would they say 60? Because you've told them you want 100k, and they think by offering 60k, they might be able to (easily) get you down to 80k. If they were willing to pay 100k, this is a win for them.

run4yourlives 15y ago

>In the first example, if the company was willing to pay 100, why would they say 60? Because if the company can get away on spending under budget for you, they can either spend more of that fixed number on someone or something else - anything from the manager's own salary ("Hey, I saved the company 25% of my budget this year, give me a raise!) to adding additional staff to buying that long needed server. If you aren't spending as little as possible on all your costs, you're doing the business thing wrong.

byoung2 15y ago
Because if the company can get away on spending under budget for you, they can either spend more of that fixed number on someone or something else I think the recent trend in hiring software engineers is to pay what they ask, because if you don't (e.g. offering $60k instead of $100k), you're going to have to hire again in 6 months to a year when they leave. Just searching for a software engineer can cost $30-50k in downtime, recruiter's commissions, and learning curves.
davidcuddeback 15y ago
> If you aren't spending as little as possible on all your costs, you're doing the business thing wrong. This needs to take into account the costs of turnover (including the cost of training a replacement) and hiring. There is an inverse relationship between the salaries that a company pays its employees and turnover costs.