In earlier posts I talked about salary negotiations and how they shift depending on your personal situation.  I won’t try to recap those comments (click here and you can read them – they’re good!)  but over the past few weeks I’ve been coaching people about some basic language to use when their interviewer pops the question:   “what are you looking for?” Here’s how to answer:

 “I was hoping to hit $60M --  I’m just a bit under that right now.* But I’m sure whatever you think is reasonable will be just fine.”

 *(Note:  don’t be specific with your current salary.  Either you’re worth your new salary or you’re not, but your current salary doesn’t necessarily determine that)

 Then (and here’s the trick), stop talking about it.  Don’t explain, don’t defend your needs.  Change the subject, ask another question, get your interviewer talking about something else.  If your number is reasonable, they’ll hit it.  If you’ve overshot and they like you anyway, they’ll make an offer they can afford and let you decide if you can live with it (the “whatever you think is reasonable” phrase lets them do that without feeling as though they’re insulting you.).  If they didn’t like you, it doesn’t matter what you say– you won’t get the job anyway, even if you underbid yourself.

 “Whatever you think is reasonable” also sets you up as flexible, foreshadowing the great employee you’re going to be.  And in my experience, companies will work extremely hard to meet your goal – everyone wants a new employee to be thrilled with everything about their new job, including their salary.  If they can afford to hit it, they will.

 But what happens if you ask for $60M and they offer you $40M?   I can only think of three scenarios in which someone would do this: 

1: the job simply isn’t at the level it needs to be for you

2: the company is in financial distress

3: someone there lacks integrity and is simply trying to get something for (almost) nothing.

 Any of these scenarios suggest this might be the wrong place to work, don’t you think?  So the answer’s easy:   Say thank you, but no.  Say you’d love to be able to accept, but it seems the job isn’t quite at the level you were hoping, after all.  Say if anything changes you’d love to be reconsidered, but you just can’t quite make ends meet on such a big drop.  Thank them profusely, write a lovely note, and then move on.  This one’s not right.  The next one will be.

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