101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview (23 page)

Speaking as someone who has hired hundreds, and who still sometimes worries that I’ve missed
some
thing and may be making the wrong choice, it would be mighty hard for me to pass up this “free trial offer.” It completely devastates the competition! It effectively puts off the decision for a week—a week during which
you
are in the office, working away, making friends, and influencing people, while your competitors are, what, sitting by their phones? You have taken control.

Do you really think the decision was being made in a week? Who cares anymore? You are in a position to force the decision to be made in a week. You have closed the presale and put yourself in an unbelievable position. Is there any question in your mind as to whether you’ll be hired at the end of the week? Only if you really can’t do the job, they hate you, or you hate them. In which case you’ve saved everyone a lot of grief and only “wasted” a week!

Questions to Ask Yourself After Every Interview

Kate Wendleton, founder and president of The Five O’clock Club, a national job-networking organization, has her counselors ask a series of questions of every candidate when they return from an interview. I heartily recommend that you ask yourself the same questions (and take notes on your answers):

How did it go?

What did they say?

What did you say?

How many people did you see?

How much time did you spend with each?

What role does each person play?

Who seemed the most important?

Who is the hiring manager?

Who is the decision-maker?

Who seems to most influence the decision?

Who else did you meet (secretaries, receptionists, department heads, peers, etc.)?

How quickly do they want to make a decision?

How do you stack up to your competition?

What objections did you have to overcome? Do you think you did so successfully?

How badly do you want this job?

What’s the next step according to them?

What is
your
plan?

CHAPTER 7
QUESTIONS TO GET THE BEST DEAL

Ask a few experts about dealing with salary issues during an interview, and you’ll undoubtedly receive a range of advice. Some experts advise bringing the topic to a head as soon as possible. Others suggest avoiding the subject entirely, as if getting a paycheck were some unspeakable practice, inquiring about that filthy lucre somehow too indelicate.

Common sense dictates a course somewhere between these two extremes. I recommend that you avoid bringing up the subject of salary yourself during your screening and selection interviews. If the interviewer brings it up, do your best to deflect her. It’s really in your best interest to avoid getting down to the brass tacks of salary negotiation
until an offer has been made.
Not talking about salary at some point is, of course, ludicrous. But talking about it at the
wrong
time is just foolish.

So don’t discuss dollars and cents until after you’ve convinced the interviewer that you’re the best person for the job. Until you’ve made it over all the other interview hurdles, the interviewer is still assessing your ability. And he or she is probably still seeing other contenders as well, including some whose talents, unfortunately, may come cheaper than yours.

The interview is a classic buy-sell situation: You are trying to sell yourself to a company and get the best price you can. The company is making sure that it wants to buy what you’re offering, and, if so, hopes to pay as little as you’ll accept.

If you can stand apart from the crowd of applicants, if you can convince the employer that an extra couple thousand dollars would be well-spent on a dynamo like you, then one of the only sure ways
not
to get it is by hanging a price tag around your neck too early in the proceedings.

If the interviewer is loathe to bring up salary during the early stages of an interview, then your bringing it up is a sure way to make him feel you are self-absorbed and interested solely in the money.

Would you buy something from a salesperson who only wanted to impress upon you how much something cost?

Of course not.

Why would a company hire someone only interested in seeing how much he could get?

I, and most experienced hiring managers I know, have at least one story about candidates who asked only about salary, benefits, and days off . . . just before they were thanked and shown the door.
None
of these subjects is one to raise when an employer asks,
“So, do you have any questions?”

But even if an interviewer tries to pressure you into naming a specific number early in the game, avoid committing yourself. Instead, cite a very broad salary range. You might say,
“I believe a fair wage for this kind of position would be between $60,000 and $68,000.”
The higher the salary, the broader the range you can name. (Be sure the bottom end of that range is no less than the minimum salary you would be willing to accept for the position.)

You should, of course, have a pretty good idea of what your particular market will bear long before you walk into the interview. If you don’t know the pertinent salary ranges in your area (city and state) and industry, do some research. Make sure you know whether these figures represent just dollars or a compensation package that may include insurance, retirement programs, and other value-added benefits.

If you’re a woman, make sure you know what men doing the same job are earning. You’re bound to find a discrepancy, but you should request and expect to earn an equivalent salary, regardless of what female predecessors may have been paid.

It’s important, so I’ll say it again: Timing is everything.
You have nothing to gain by discussing dollars and cents before you’ve convinced the employer that you’re the right person for the job. In other words, the best time to discuss salary is
after
you get the offer.

What If the Interviewer Blinks First?

You can always tell when an interviewer is paying people too little: She will inevitably raise the salary issue early on to determine whether she can afford you before she wastes time interviewing you.

Okay, that might not always be the reason that the subject of salary is broached too early. It might just be that the interviewer is inexperienced or has a premonition that you’ll want more than he can afford to pay.

Whatever the reason, if the subject of salary
does
come up too early, sidestep it. Remember: It can’t possibly do you any good to discuss salary before you’ve sold the employer. One of the following replies might prove useful:

“I have an idea of the salary range for the position from your ad (or from what the recruiter said). It sounds like a reasonable range to me.”

“I’m willing to consider any reasonable salary offer.”

“I’d feel more comfortable discussing salary after I understand my responsibilities better. Is that alright with you?”

“From what I know about the position and the company, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble agreeing on a fair salary.”

“I’m aware of what salaries are for this position within the industry. I’m sure that if salaries here are comparable, we’ll have no trouble coming to an agreement.”

Fielding the Offer

So, you’re an ace candidate. You have impressed the interviewer so much that a couple of days later you get an offer by phone.

You’re delirious. You want to shout with joy. You got the job!

Don’t get too carried away just yet. You’ve captured the high ground in your search for a job. Now you want to take advantage of that strategic position.

Even if you’ve been out of a job for months, this is
not
the time or place to let your desperation show, so avoid gushing,
“Gee, this job sounds so gosh-darned wonderful I can’t believe you’re going to pay me anything! Just give me an office and a phone and I’ll work for the sheer fun of it!”

I stressed earlier that the interview is a buy-sell situation. Now that the company is sold on you,
you’re
the one who must make the decision to buy.

Get the complete offer in writing, with all details spelled out. But be careful: I actually once interviewed someone who was so mistrustful she insisted that I confirm, in writing, that she be allowed to wear sneakers to the office every day . . . and that I had to notify her 24 hours in advance if I expected her to dress up for any reason. Otherwise, she intended to wear jeans in the winter and a T-shirt and shorts in the summer. And
that
had to be confirmed, too.

Can you say,
“I’m sorry, I just changed my mind about hiring you”?
I did.

Take your time. You should never—repeat,
never
—accept a job the minute it’s offered to you. Even though you’ve probably thought about little else since your last interview with the employer and have thoroughly made up your mind that you will accept the job if it
is
offered, politely inform the interviewer that you “need some time to consider it.”

You could say you want to sleep on it, or think about it over the weekend, or talk it over with your spouse or “adviser.”

Most companies will push you for a fairly quick response—they have probably interviewed other promising candidates for the position and don’t want to lose
them
if you reject the offer.

However, don’t act before
you’re
ready to. Tell the person making the offer that you need a short time to think it over, thank her for thinking so highly of you, and agree on a day and time that you’ll call back with your answer.

What’s the first thing you should do once you’ve received an offer?
Tell all the other companies you’ve been interviewing with about it!
Much like the stock of a company that’s perceived to be “in play,”
your
perceived value to these companies will increase. Another interested company will know they can no longer sit on the fence about hiring you; it’s either act now or forever lose you . . . perhaps to their competition.

That’s another reason to ask the offering company for as long as possible to tell them your decision. You want to give all the other potential players time to get into the game!

Questions to Ask When You’ve Gotten an Offer

After you have received an offer, here are a few questions you might want to ask.

I’d like a little time to think about your generous offer.

When would you like me to get back to you?

When would you like me to start (earliest or latest)?

If I have further questions, whom should I contact?

You indicated that my base pay would be ______________, plus a bonus would be payable quarterly based on specific criteria you’ve outlined. I understand the medical benefits. You’ve also told me that I shouldn’t expect consideration for a company car for one year. Are there any other items we need to discuss to make this offer complete?

Especially if the money isn’t all you’d hoped for, you are looking for hints about how flexible the interviewer (or the company) can be about perks: Is a better title negotiable? Will they pay for your cell phone? Give you an advance against travel expenses? Reimburse your graduate school tuition? Buy you a laptop computer to use at work, at home, and on the road?

As I’ll discuss a little later in this chapter, it is imperative that you consider the whole compensation package, not just the salary, when evaluating an offer.

What to Do If You Don’t Like Their Offer

You know the salary range for the job you have been offered. You either discovered it through your research, found out by asking a recruiter or Human Resources, or asked the hiring manager directly.

If you are offered a salary close to the top of that range, consider it a compliment and don’t think too hard about pushing for more money. You don’t have that much to gain anyway, particularly in today’s performance-based job market.

But if you’re offered a salary at the floor of the range, you may certainly consider making a case for a better deal. You may say something like:

“I understood that the position was paying as much as $84,000, and yet you’re offering me only $77,500. You told me that you’ve interviewed several candidates for the position. Well, you’ve selected me because of my management and financial expertise, as well as my experience working with plastics. Therefore, I believe a salary of at least $81,000 is reasonable for me to expect.”