WEBVTT - How Should You Answer When Asked 'What Are Your Salary Requirements'?

0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:07.080
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.520
<v Speaker 1>Lauren bog Obam. Here your seventeen minutes into an interview

0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.080
<v Speaker 1>for your dream job, and you are, as they say,

0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.840
<v Speaker 1>crushing it. They ask the usual questions about skills and experience,

0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.400
<v Speaker 1>and you come across as confident but not over confident.

0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:21.560
<v Speaker 1>You even get a few laughs about a story about

0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.800
<v Speaker 1>a jammed copier. But now comes the moment you dread,

0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:27.440
<v Speaker 1>so how much did you make it your last job?

0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:31.680
<v Speaker 1>Do you try to parry the question or just give

0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:33.960
<v Speaker 1>in and cough up the dollar amount, knowing full well

0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:35.800
<v Speaker 1>that you were underpaid in your last job and that

0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:37.880
<v Speaker 1>it will likely haunt you into the new job as well.

0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.080
<v Speaker 1>We spoke with Heather Mills, the founder of Women Who Ask,

0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.400
<v Speaker 1>a company that provides consulting and classes to help women

0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.559
<v Speaker 1>negotiate for better salaries, promotions, and work life balance. She

0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.560
<v Speaker 1>has three simple words of advice here, just say no A.

0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.280
<v Speaker 1>Mills says that women in particular should avoid answering the

0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.560
<v Speaker 1>salary history question because it's used against them to perpetuate

0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.520
<v Speaker 1>the gender pay gap. Employers often try to base a

0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.680
<v Speaker 1>salary for a new hire off of what the candidate

0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.440
<v Speaker 1>earned at his or her previous job. If a woman

0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.440
<v Speaker 1>was underpaid in the past, this question all but guarantees

0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.000
<v Speaker 1>that she'll be underpaid in the future. In fact, the

0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:18.319
<v Speaker 1>salary history question is so insidious that several cities, states,

0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.600
<v Speaker 1>and individual companies have banned it outright from employee interviews.

0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:26.280
<v Speaker 1>That list includes California, Delaware, Massachusetts, New York City, and Chicago,

0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:31.560
<v Speaker 1>plus Google, Amazon, and Starbucks. Unfortunately, most women live and

0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.440
<v Speaker 1>work outside of these bastions of pay equality, and for them,

0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.640
<v Speaker 1>plus anyone else who thinks divulging their prior salary could

0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.240
<v Speaker 1>do more harm than good, a Mill suggests dodging the

0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.640
<v Speaker 1>salary question with questions of their own, like what's the

0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.120
<v Speaker 1>salary range for the job, what you have budgeted for

0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.880
<v Speaker 1>the position? Or I'd really like to find out more

0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:51.720
<v Speaker 1>about the role and see if it's a good fit

0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.920
<v Speaker 1>before discussing salary. The truth, explains Mills, is that salary

0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.720
<v Speaker 1>history has no real bearing on what an employer should

0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.760
<v Speaker 1>offer a prospective employee. She said, the company has a

0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:04.760
<v Speaker 1>budget for the role, they know the market rate, and

0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.080
<v Speaker 1>they know the kinds of skills and training they want

0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.840
<v Speaker 1>for the position. They really don't need your salary history.

0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.160
<v Speaker 1>To negotiate. They're just making a power play to get

0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:16.399
<v Speaker 1>an upper hand. In salary negotiations, there's a well known

0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:20.160
<v Speaker 1>psychological phenomenon called anchor bias. The first number thrown on

0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.600
<v Speaker 1>the table has an undue influence on the rest of

0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.120
<v Speaker 1>the offers. It's called setting the anchor. If you answer

0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.320
<v Speaker 1>the salary history question, explains Bill, then you risk setting

0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.200
<v Speaker 1>the anchor way too low, undercutting your negotiating power. A

0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.400
<v Speaker 1>better move is to refuse to talk money at any

0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.320
<v Speaker 1>time during the interview process. Salary negotiations should only begin

0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:41.519
<v Speaker 1>after both parties agree that you're a good fit for

0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.720
<v Speaker 1>the job. Then you have a much stronger hand because

0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.080
<v Speaker 1>they want you. Mills said, I tell my clients to

0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.800
<v Speaker 1>be warm and professional and smile and just let it

0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.160
<v Speaker 1>be awkward, but continue to not answer the question because

0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.799
<v Speaker 1>it's really not to your benefit. You're not being difficult,

0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.240
<v Speaker 1>you're not being unprofessional. You're being savvy. You're being art

0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.400
<v Speaker 1>and playing the game well. Even in states where the

0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.919
<v Speaker 1>salary history question is banned, employers and recruiters can still

0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:11.000
<v Speaker 1>ask you for your salary expectations or salary requirements. If

0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.000
<v Speaker 1>you ask for too much, you might knock yourself out

0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.720
<v Speaker 1>of contention for the job too little, and you may

0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:20.720
<v Speaker 1>perpetuate your previous history of being underpaid again. Mills strongly

0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.800
<v Speaker 1>advises against answering any salary questions until the real negotiations begin,

0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.440
<v Speaker 1>using some of the techniques mentioned earlier, but she adds

0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:30.760
<v Speaker 1>that it's always smart to arrive at the interview knowing

0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.160
<v Speaker 1>exactly what the market rate of the position is in

0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.280
<v Speaker 1>your geographic area. You can find out this information by

0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:39.280
<v Speaker 1>asking contacts and similar positions for their going rates and

0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.160
<v Speaker 1>looking at websites like glassdoor dot com and salary dot com.

0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.040
<v Speaker 1>Mills said, if you really feel like you're against a wall,

0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.840
<v Speaker 1>I suggest giving the highest number that you can justify

0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.840
<v Speaker 1>based on your market research. An anchor needs to give

0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.400
<v Speaker 1>you room to come down and make concessions. But what

0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:59.120
<v Speaker 1>about pre interviews where a recruiter or human resources representative

0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:01.320
<v Speaker 1>calls up to see if it's worth bringing you in

0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.600
<v Speaker 1>for a full interview with the employer. A common screener

0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.760
<v Speaker 1>question is to ask about salary requirements. Is it okay

0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:12.280
<v Speaker 1>to dodge the question even then? Well, yes, a Mill said,

0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:14.960
<v Speaker 1>no good can come from giving a number During the

0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.919
<v Speaker 1>pre interview stage. You should ask what they've budgeted for

0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.560
<v Speaker 1>the position, and they should tell you. If they keep

0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.560
<v Speaker 1>pressuring you to give your salary history or salary requirements,

0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:25.719
<v Speaker 1>then they're trying to get a bargain, and that's a

0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:27.760
<v Speaker 1>red flag for what you might be dealing with going

0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:36.120
<v Speaker 1>forward in the employment relationship. Today's episode was written by

0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:38.599
<v Speaker 1>Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Playing. For more on

0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.200
<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other working topics, visit our home planet,

0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:53.800
<v Speaker 1>how Stuff Works dot com.