Surveys state that more than a half of all the job-seekers choose the appropriate position according to the level of salary, and its possible future growth. But to mention the desired salary on your resume or cover letter is supposed a violation of professional etiquette. The right time to discuss money questions is during the interview, after the candidate has laid all his cards on the table of negotiations. But what if you are asked to mention the salary question on the cover letter? Is this a subtle trick of the employer to check the degree of your greed?
Even when asked to state the expectations on the scale of wages, about 80% of the applicants still “would better respond without specifying the exact number”. There are several common strategies how to hint the employer at the desired level of salary without actually naming it. The most widespread method seems to be “letting the hiring manager know that a question of salary may be discussed during the personal interview”. This mode raises the chances to win the interview, and gives the candidate one more benefit- time. Everyone will agree that it’s better to speak about your accomplishments and the value you may bring the company before mentioning the exact amount of money the employer will have to ‘pay’ for your positive qualities.
The second popular way to mention the salary without specification is to state on the cover letter a range of possible pays with indicating your flexibility. Some candidates prefer to speak about several last annual incomes on the cover letter. This method is rather simple: you have to mention the company you worked for, the duties, and some of the most prominent achievements, the final sentence should summarize your value by the salary you used to get for the enumerated accomplishments. Such mode of salary negotiations suits those candidates, whose achievements were really worthy. If you were lucky to work for a well known company, and now want to relocate to their competitors, you even may ask for a salary increase. But remember the general rule that favourable conditions to mention the highest peak of salary expectations emerge when your work history reaches the mark ‘profound’.
If you don’t wish to state the desired salary level on the cover letter, be prepared that it may decrease your chances to land the position. Some employers think that a person unable to evaluate his skills will make a weak-motivated, unconfident employee. In some job fields, like trade, reluctance to bargain the desired salary may be considered a professional drawback.
To find the level of salary that will meet your demands and altogether won’t keep back the employer, think over the following points:
- How badly do you need money? Are you too desperate to get any salary offered or do you have another source of income\some savings to live on while searching for the position of your dreams.
- What kind of person are you? Will you risk everything continuing the salary negotiation until it reaches a specific mark on the salary scale? Are you a gambler, who feels when to raise the stakes and when to back off?
- What is the amount of duties you are willing to fulfill? It happens that the level of your pay will directly depend on the number of duties and work you can ‘shoulder’.
- Is the salary you need a common one for the job field you work in? It’s not worth discussing a salary increase if your expectations are much higher than the ordinary level of pay in your industry.
- What is the place of the company on the market? This question is frequently missed by the candidates, but the level of salary is closely connected with the size and even the age of the future company-employer. A brand new organization is highly unlikely to offer salary increase in a few years as they have other more important items of expenditure.
- Are there enough job offers in the desired field? Don’t risk refusing the low-paid job offers when there is a shortage of vacant positions in your market niche.
Salary question is, to a certain extend, a matter of luck. Sometimes even the low-qualified graduates are offered decent salaries. Much depends on the employer’s personality and his desire to invest money into the employees and thus into the growth and flourish of his company.
