A couple days ago I finished 2 rounds of interviews at a company. After interviewing two times, but before the 3rd round, the recruiter calls and says "your asking is a bit too high". I said "well we can negotiate on it when the time comes". Is this normal?

Note: The recruiter asked me what my salary asking was before interview and I gave him a range

Hey Jobcasers,

Let's talk about the common pitfalls we face in our search for our next employment opportunity.

First, let's talk about the hiring process and how it works.

1. We submit job applications/resumes/cover letters (usually online).

2. We interview and hope for an offer or an invitation to the next interview; this repeats until we get an offer or aren't moved along to the next step of the hiring process.

3. We negotiate and either accept or decline the offer.

It's really simple when it's spelled out like that, but a lot of us (and I'm included in this group) find ourselves not making it through the steps as frequently as we'd like, so I'm going to talk about the common hurdles that we face at every step of the hiring process.

Step 1. We submit job applications/resumes/cover letters (usually online).

If you are not progressing beyond this step, then you have one of two problems that is holding you back.

I. Your resume needs to be updated and personalized for the job in question.

II. Your work experience is spotty or full of short term jobs that make hiring managers reluctant.

Fixing your resume is a lot easier than fixing your work experience and can easily be taken care of in an afternoon with the help of guides on how to write a resume or consulting with someone who can offer advice and revision tips to help your resume be the marketing tool you need to get to the interview.

If your work experience is spotty or full of short term jobs, then we have a problem that is going to take a lot more than an afternoon to fix. You'll need to broaden the list of employment opportunities you're willing to consider, because not many employers are going to take a Project Manager who has a history of resigning after three months, regardless of the fact that he has an MBA and a PMP.

You may have to take a lower position or something in a different field entirely and retain the job for 3-5 years. That's a long time, but let's look at why it's important to maintain an employee for at least thirty-six months (three years).

Studies show that you are actually costing the company money during months 0-6, because they are investing money in onboarding, training, and giving you time to acclimate to the company. It's not until Month 18 that the company finally breaks even on their investment in you. You remain for 18 additional months (for a total of thirty six months/3 years) as a way of repaying the employer.

This will show that while your prior job history is spotty, you have changed your ways and are willing to stick with them for at least enough time for them to recoup their investment and benefit from your employment. It also gives you enough time to have some achievements in the workplace and even get promoted which will only help when returning to your prior field (if you left).

Step 2. We interview and hope for an offer or an invitation to the next interview; this repeats until we get an offer or aren't moved along to the next step of the hiring process.

If you are consistently being brought in for interviews, but not being invited back for next-round interviews or given offers, then the problem is in your interviewing technique and this could be a variety of issues that need to be addressed.

Are you unprepared (e.g. do you not have questions ready or have you not thoroughly researched all available information there is regarding the company)?

Do you have weak responses to the behavioral questions (e.g. "Tell me about a time when...")?

Are you falling behind in technical interviews (e.g. "Can you tell show me how to...on this white board?")?

Or is the problem something such as lack of confidence (or overconfidence)?

The key to fixing issues at this stage is properly diagnosing what the issue is. You may want to do mock interviews with a trusted friend or family member (who ideally has been involved in interviewing before) who will give you objective, constructive criticism to help you improve.

If this is not possible, there are numerous books on improving your interviewing and many free resources on Google available to help you become a better interviewer and I can personally attest to the efficacy of these resources. I went from struggling to move beyond the interview stage to having been told in a Stay Interview that during my hiring interview I was "one of the best interviews I've had in twenty years of management." I'm not special; I just thoroughly researched the company and applied the techniques I got from combing free sources online and from the library in my interview.

If this is where you are struggling, it can be fixed; it just takes time.

The exception to this is if you find yourself consistently failing to answer technical questions for positions you've applied for. In this case, it may be best to look for more junior positions even if you feel you have the necessary skillset and/or experience to perform the duties listed for the positions you're applying for.

Step 3. We negotiate and accept or decline the offer.

There are three real hurdles here and I feel each one can ruin the fruits of your employment search.

I. The listed salary is far below what you would accept.

II. You negotiate too aggressively and they rescind the offer.

III. The listed salary is lower than you'd like, but the salary is firm.

Let's begin with the first hurdle: "The listed salary is far below what you would accept."

If you are applying for employment opportunities and this is an issue for you, then you are applying for the wrong employment opportunities. It really is that simple.

HR Professionals set compensation maximums and minimum for each paygrade in the organization. You, as a new hire, will not exceed the maximum of that paygrade in hiring, because that creates a Red Circle Rate (which is where you're overpaid for your paygrade) which can cause low morale with other employees.

If you feel you the listed compensation is not reasonable, then you should pursue other opportunities.

I am not saying do not negotiate, but do not expect to negotiate 150% of the listed salary or an equally large number (e.g. if the job lists the annual salary as $50,000, do not try to negotiate for $75,000).

That leads us to our next hurdle: You negotiate too aggressively and they rescind the offer." This is a very real thing. If you bulldog your Hiring Manager in the interview and in any way create an ultimatum of "Either you give me X or I'll decline the offer," then it is very probable that you will not get an offer to decline.

There is nobody in any organization who is not 100% replaceable and as someone who has not even been invited into the organization yet, it is incredibly easy to move onto the next candidate who is not as aggressive in their demands.

Do not misconstrue this as saying not to negotiate or not to be assertive. I highly encourage people being assertive in that they state their needs, but you must be open to give and take and understanding that you may not get everything you would like.

The Assertive Negotiator will get much farther than the Aggressive Negotiator and I encourage us all to remember that in our next salary negotiation.

Now we come onto the Third Hurdle: "The listed salary is lower than you'd like, but the salary is firm."

This is perhaps the most subversive of all the hurdles, because it won't outright prevent you from being given an offer and it relies on the prerequisite First Hurdle. While this one won't stop you from getting invited into their organization as a stakeholder, it will make it much more difficult for you to be productive and give your best to them everyday.

This has to do with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

If we do not have a sense of Security (Level 3), then it is nearly impossible to attain Self-Actualization (Level 5) and not making enough money results in inability to fulfill our need for Security, and therefore makes it that much harder to attain Self-Actualization.

So how does this tie in with your employment opportunity?

It's simple: Are you really able to give 100% to your employer if you've got questions of how you're going to make this month's rent running through your mind in the background?

The answer is no, you're not, because you can't simultaneously give 100% to your employer and 20% to trying to solve how you're going to pay your rent. Even if you do figure out a method, you're still going to have that underlying anxiety that makes it impossible to be optimally effective in the workplace resulting in decreased performance and therefore increased friction between you and your management team, as well as increased chance of disciplinary action relating to your performance that you may have no control over simply because it's impossible for you to give 100% when you've got 20% of your brain subconsciously allotted to financial-induced anxiety.

Does this mean you should never take an employment opportunity that does not meet your salary expectations?

No. There are times when it is necessary to be less selective with the employment opportunities we choose to pursue, but we need to be mindful of the long-term consequences of increased stress and ways to cut back on it so that we can make the most of our employment opportunity or pursue ones that may better suit our needs (without developing a history of short-term employment opportunities that are not Contract-work).

Having said that, I'd like to thank you all again for reading; it's always a pleasure to share what insights I may have with the community and if you need anything at all, don't be afraid to reach out to me here or on LinkedIn. I'd love to help you in your search for your next employment opportunity.

Best Regards,

Gage Cherry

#jobsearch #application #gapsinresume #interview #careeradvice

What do you say when someone offers you a job but you need to decline, because it’s not exactly what you want or not what you thought it would be?

The job I interviewed for in November finally happened. There was a lot of negotiation between then and now, but it finally happened. My advice to those looking to move on:

1. Be real about your capabilities. Throw them all out there, especially at that interview. It gives the potential employer the potential value you can bring to the company. At the same time, don't over exaggerate. If you don't know how to do something, say so. While you may be applying for a certain position, it gives them opportunity to see how you can grow with the company and potential advancement possibilities.
2. Be flexible! I applied for an account manager position, but I'm starting out as customer service specialist to learn the basics of the company. It also gives the company a chance to see my skills in action and how they can be applied elsewhere.
3. Be honest about salary expectation and make sure they are, too. Salary was holding up our process. I expressed the need to maintain or exceed my current salary for financial obligations. Be firm about this!
4. The one cliché, but it's true: Be. Yourself. This is super important to see if your personalities will mesh well. It'll help give insight to the work environment you'd have to get accustomed to.

While you're selling yourself to the company, the company needs to sell to you, as well. They know why you're there. You need to know why you should work for that place and what value they can offer to you.

You're all worth it! Make them see that too.

Thanks for listening ✌️

I was just offered a job that I know is worth $20 hr. , its paying a cheeseeee $11 hr I'm not stupid and I know I'm worth more than that and the job should pay better that what their offering, I said HELL NO to them and he had the nerve to ask me if i knew anyone that would work,, , i hung up the phone.

As I mature in my career, I'm finding that I prefer a better life/work balance, and that my time away from work is just as important as my dedicated time at work.

Honestly - I want to hear from other women how they ask for what they are worth during initial and merit-based salary negotiations.

I see this phrase a LOT on Jobcase, typically mixed with other reasons an applicant feels they didn't get the job. (Age, appearance, race, etc...)

There very well may be something to this, though the responsibility might not fall onto the shoulders of the potential employer, as much as it falls on the applicant's.

You may have twenty years of experience in your industry. In this example, let's say your experience happens to be in office administration. You have been out of work now for almost a year, and you find that many jobs aren't willing to pay you what you feel you're worth. When you don't get hired, you assume it is because they want someone younger, whiter, prettier, etc...

There very well may be instances where this is true, but, for a lot of folks, it is simply that the salary they are demanding far outweighs what a company is willing to pay.

For each job requisition a company posts, they have a set salary range. Their desired applicants will fall within that range. If they have anything to say about it, they will fill the position with someone willing to work the job on the lower end of the range. From a business standpoint, it makes fiscal sense.

If you were with your previous employer for twenty years, you received pay increases each year based on your work ethic and ability. Merit increases mixed with cost of living increases may very well have put your pay rate outside the scope of the current market rate for an office administrator. Which is good for you...until you lose that job. Whether you retired, got fired, was let go, whatever the means, you are no longer with your job of 20 years.

Now, you have twenty years experience but you also have no money coming in. When you apply for a job, you expect to find a company willing to start you off at the rate that you were making with your previous employer after twenty years of employment.

Realistically, that simply isn't going to happen. It is not fair for you to expect a new employer to pick up where your old employer left off. I am sure they would love someone with your experience and skill-set; but the bottom line is, they aren't going to start you off anywhere near what you were making.

Rare is the circumstance when a company will do that, but the odds are not in your favor.

If you are unemployed, understand that most jobs are willing to pay market value for your skills. In fact, if you are aces in your field, you may command the high end of the salary range that has been earmarked for the position but you won't make your old rate and it is not fair to expect a potential employer to accommodate your previous salary. This is especially true when you are unemployed and have been making zero dollars for 6 to 12 months. That puts the advantage into the hands of your prospective employer.

The bottom line is, you are not being discriminated against when a potential employer can only afford to pay a certain amount and they turn you down because you are asking for more than they budget for. If you truly need work and you are finding it a challenge to land a job in a field in which you excel, consider taking the high end of the range, despite the fact that it falls well-below your previous pay grade. You will be making more than zero dollars an hour and it puts you back into the status of a passive job seeker, which is very attractive to potential employers. Being an employed job-seeker might be the thing that can help you secure a higher salary.

Lastly, before applying for a company, you can research the job and the salary by visiting the company page on glassdoor.com. Simply search for the company/job title for which you are applying and you should see a salary range for that particular job. It will give you an idea of what the company is willing to pay for the role and some room to negotiate. (https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/salary-negotiation-tips-know-how-much-money-youre-worth)

Be reasonable, be understanding, know that your previous worth may far exceed what the market rate is for the position,and research the current market rates to best negotiate the higher end of the range. You will eventually get back to where you left off, but it's most likely going to take some hard work and proving yourself.

Best of luck in your search!

I went for an interview and I believe I am in a good spot to have the job. The problem is the location of the job is a bit far and the pay may be not enough to compinsate the travel. The job is basically I'll be testing checking programming, along with also maintaining inventory. I feel they may ask me for 15-18 an hour where I would take the job at 22. Is there a good way besides stating for travel expenses for them to increase my pay? I'm open for ideas.

I have two companies I'm interviewing with. Both are telling me they are going to make an offer in the next week. My question is this.: should I play them against each other before either of them has made an actual offer? I'm hesitant to do so as I'm afraid that might irritate them and make them think perhaps if there is another company pursuing me, they could easily drop out and go with a different candidate. Since neither company has made a firm offer yet, I'm just waiting and interviewing with other companies. So what is the correct thing to do? Tell each company I'm in negotiations or just wait it out? I would like either of them to just get off the stick and tell me one way or the other. At this point an answer - for or against me would at least set my direction.