Answer questions about your salary expectations with a range you have researched.
Write down, today, the salary range you would give if an interviewer asked for your expectations, and next to it the sources that range comes from. The question comes up in almost every hiring process. Because it is predictable, it is one of the easiest moments in a salary negotiation to prepare for.
Preparing matters because of what Lesson 4.1 explained: the first serious number in a negotiation tends to pull the rest of the negotiation towards it. If you name too high a figure, you risk pricing yourself out. If you name too low a figure, you set a ceiling on everything that follows.
Hafiz works at a bank and is applying for a senior data analyst role at a healthcare group. Near the end of a friendly call, the HR manager casually asks what his salary expectations are, and his stomach drops. He worries that too high a figure will price him out and too low a figure will cap the negotiation.
The question often comes early, sometimes in the first screening call, when you still know little about the role. There are two good ways to handle it.
The first is to ask for their range. Say you'd like to understand the role better before naming a figure, and ask what range has been budgeted for it. Many employers set a range before advertising, and some will share it. If they do, you learn their likely limit, in the sense of Lesson 2.3, Estimate theirs and find the zone of possible agreement, before you have said anything yourself. If the job listing already shows a range, refer to it and ask whether it is still accurate for the role.
The second is to give a researched range instead of a single figure. Use this if they want to hear from you first, or if you asked for their range and they declined. Build the range from market data, as described below.
Avoid giving a vague non-answer such as "I'm open" or "whatever is fair" and repeating it several times. It does not protect you. It invites the employer to pick a number for you, and they usually pick from the low end.
Many people answer by adding a percentage to their current pay. This ties the next salary to the last one, even if the last one was below market or the new role is much bigger. Your current pay belongs to the job you have now. The employer is pricing the new role, so base your answer on the new role.
Hafiz is in exactly this position. He earns less at the bank than the market range for a senior analyst. If he anchored on his current salary plus a standard increment, he would ask for less than the role is worth to the healthcare group. So he builds his range from the evidence he gathered in Lesson 7.1, Find your market rate from real sources: wage tables, recruiter guides and current listings for the role he is applying for.
If you are asked directly about your current pay, answer briefly and bring the conversation back to the market. You might say that your current package reflects your current role, and that for this position, based on market data for the role, you are looking at your range.
When you give a range, the other side hears the bottom of it. If you say S$7,000 to S$8,000 (an example figure, like every amount here), assume the offer will start near S$7,000. So set the bottom at a figure you would be glad to accept. To test it, ask yourself whether you would celebrate an offer at that number or just put up with it. The bottom should sit comfortably above your reservation point from Lesson 2.2, Set a reservation point and a target. The top can stretch towards your target.
Hafiz's market range is S$6,500 to S$8,000, and he places himself in the upper half. His reservation point is S$7,000. He decides to state S$7,400 to S$7,900 a month. He would genuinely be happy with S$7,400, and S$7,900 is close to the top of what he can justify.
A good answer takes under 30 seconds, names its sources, and leaves room to discuss the rest of the offer. Hafiz's answer cites salary guides and current listings for senior data analyst roles and mentions the dashboard and programming work he would bring. It names the range of S$7,400 to S$7,900 a month and says he is interested in the whole package and would look at it together with them. The whole answer takes under 30 seconds.
Salary answers that sound fine in your head often sound shaky out loud. If you hesitate, let your voice rise at the end, or add "but I'm flexible, of course", the listener hears doubt about your own worth, and that usually means a lower offer. Say your answer to a mirror, a friend or your phone, listen back, and cut any phrase that sounds apologetic. Keep the sources in, because they make the range sound researched. Repeat until the words come smoothly.
The rest of the interview, from your CV to the questions you ask at the end, is covered in the course Career strategy: CVs, interviews and networking in Singapore.
Write your answer, then record yourself saying it in under 30 seconds.
Write your answer to 'What are your salary expectations?' using your researched range, then record yourself saying it in under 30 seconds.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).