Salary Requirement on Resume 4

[DTSMAN]

What is everyones opinion on putting your salary requirment on your resume? I have found that those hiring can make a job poisistion out to be more than what it is and make me waiste a day off to come in an interview for a job that pays 10k less a year than my current salary and I am in a posistion now that it will take a 10k raise to get me to leave my current employer. Should I put my salary requirement on my resume to weed these interviews out or will that cost me other chances. A good example was a interview for UPS IT dept, walked in and it was a group interview with about a hundred or so people at tables filling out apps. Thought about just walking back out but stayed for the day and went throug the steps with no call back.

 

[DoubleD]

If salary is your sole reason for accepting or declining a job, then by all means, put your salary requirement on your resume. Unfortunately, job offers are not that simple.
Health care, cell phone, company car, stock options, vacation, etc. have to be factored in.

They may plan to offer you only a 3K bump in salary, but have fantastic benefits. I would not want to take myself out of an opportunity based solely on salary.

I am what I am based on the decisions I have made.

DoubleD

 

[DTSMAN]

I agree on the benefits package also. If a company offered me fully paid medical benefits and a company car, and my base salary did not change, then yes I would take that job because it does equate to a salary increase. I hope not to sound to selfish or unprofessional, but I am a little bit money motivated at this point of my life, as are my favorite athletes bouncing from team to team to the highest bidder. My reasoning for this post is to find out how to let a potential employer know that he is going to have to pay me more without coming off as someone who is going to leave him for a higher bidder, because that is not the case. I am quite stable and have held my current posistion for some years now, and have pretty much tapped out my current employer.
I know this all sounds kind of vague, but I do appriciate the feed back on the intial question on whether or no to post salary requirements on a resume.

 

[rasETL]

My opinion...

Salary information should never be put in a resume.

However, if you want the prospective employer to know your salary requirements, include a cover letter.

 

[Onyxpurr]

I agree with rasanders.

If you are concerned about wasting your time, make sure when you are contacted by the agency to ask what THEIR salary range is. Then based on that decide if you'll interview or not.

This is what I have been doing.

 

[BJCooperIT]

Some companies require your desired salary on the resume. If you must state a figure, hedge your bet with something like:

Desired Annual Salary: $25,000 to $30,000 depending on benefits

^{Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw}
Systems Project Analyst/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle/Windows

 

[langleymass]

If the jerk wants a salary requirement, I put it in my letter. There's a good chance that they don't have a job at all. They may simply be doing a "salary survey"--seeing what the market wants. I also know that the worst employer I had ever had later advertised for my job and wanted a "salary requirement."

If they ask about this, it says a lot about them. It means that they consider employees liabilities instead of assets. It means that they would rather buy cheap than buy quality.

If I am asked by an interviewer, I usually say that I think I am worth one thing. But then I say that I may be willing to go for a lot less if I like what they have to offer. For some really bad companies, my salary requirement is much higher.

 

[vstewart7206]

Customize your resume to the job.

 

[dragonwell]

langleymass hits the nail on the head. I recently had a recruiter ask for my salary requirements AND what my current salaray is. I started to write back saying it was none of their business, but ended up just deleting the email.

 

[langleymass]

Most decent employers have some type of budget. They already have some type of idea of what they are willing to pay. If they want a salary requirement, they may be hoping you will go lower. If you go too low, you may be considered "desperate."

 

[Onyxpurr]

You'd be surprised. This is one thing that has made my new employer all the more desirable.

In the interview I asked the range, and they said 50k-60k. They asked me mine, I said 50k-55k. I filled out an app that said I currently way below the range. Result? They offerred me above my asking range. (And I had mentioned in the interview that I had always felt I wasn't appropriately compensated with my current company, but stayed on because of the people, work, and benefits.)

 

[willir]

I agree with some comments above.

Avoid putting salary expectations on the resumé, or even in the cover letter or even in the first interview. And try and get the employer to make a offer first, and negotiate upwards.

Yes, an employer will have a budget, and yes, the salary may be a decision factor which is exactly why you do not want to offer your salary expectations.

When asked about salary expectations, respond that you want to paid for your work depending on the expectations of the job. This means that you will be reasonable depending on expectations. It also tells the employer that you need to know more about the job before being ready to discuss salary expectations.

For example, your are seeking a job for IT technical support, then they add database administration. Or your are seeking a job as a programmer and then they tack on network administration. If you already have given your salary expectations, you will have a hard time moving upwards in your negotiations.

Above comments have indicated that the job will have a salary range -- you want to be offerred at the high end. But if you request the high end, the employer may remove you from the "short list" because another candidate seems to have a similar skill set. If you dodge answering the specifics for the salary request, you will probably stay on the "short list". Then on the second or third interview, the employer now realizes that you are the better choice than the candidate with lower salary expectations. And now you can go for the higher salary range.

If you give your salary expectations, you loose your negotiation posistion, and you may have to "low-ball" your expectations to ensure you make the short-list.

From an employer's perspective, I suspect they want to make sure the person they hire is happy. It costs then money and time to hire and train. Therefore, they will probably have a fair budget and expectations.

 

[DTSMAN]

Thanks everyone for the great input, and extra thanks to you willir for all that good info. I just finished putting my resume and cover letter togethter and ready to hit the street. Per the advice, no salary requirement will appear on my resume unless asked for.