4 ms·

Why does making a salary demand before they make a salary offer put you at a disadvantage? (Note, this is not rhetorical, if you have a good rationale for this,

• pkaye 11y ago
  You maybe undervaluing yourself so when you put out a number, the offer will be anchored around that number.
  • scott00 11y ago
    That's not a problem with making a demand before an offer, that's a problem with making a low demand.
• czep 11y ago
  Because they don't know how much you will accept. They have salary bands, a budget, and past experience, but they've never encountered you before. If you give away your salary requirements, you may well cost yourself a great deal of money because no matter how much they want you later in the process, you will already have revealed how much you are willing to accept. Try responding with "I'm fairly certain my CV commands top of market, what are the budget expectations set for the role?" If the recruiter then gives you a budget range, react unimpressed, REGARDLESS OF THE NUMBER. Keep your best poker face and say "Well, I'm sure they could be flexible for the right candidate". Even if the number they tell you is 2x more than you wanted, you act unimpressed. Your attitude should be polite, but absolutely not willing to settle for one penny less than what you are worth. And you will not tell them what you are worth, they have to figure that out for themselves. You wait until the late stage when everyone has given you a green light, the company has already invested a lot of time with you, and they want you. Are they going to start all over to save a mere $30k? No, but if you already told them you don't need that extra $30k, they certainly won't give it to you now.