I was hoping someone can offer some advice on how they handle questions in an interview about what they expect to be compensated. Given that various firms pay drastically different amounts for the same job, I am unsure how to approach this one. In this situation, the prospective job offers much more upside in term of skill set growth, so my concern is not in trying to milk as much money as I can but rather not over price myself to the point I don’t get the job ,while not under pricing myself at the same time. I have a feeling that my firm pays a lot given what I do, and I am concerned about using my current compensation as a starting point.
rule #1 – find out what other firms are paying for that job. i don’t think you should ever go into a job without knowing what the market rate is. rule #2 – if you’re not concerned about comp (but in reality, you always should be, to some degree or another), just say something about how you are expecting to get at least what’s in-line with market. rule #3 – if you sell yourself short, there will always be a buyer! so don’t do that. if they think you’re too expensive and still want you, they’ll just counter-offer with lower comp. …if you already feel that your firm is paying a lot, and if you know that’s above market average, and you have nothing else to negotiate with…then shouldn’t you already know what to tell them? seems like the answer to your question is rather mundane and obvious, unless i’m missing something here.