In these series of blogs, I have been discussing how to answer different interview questions. Today I shall discuss how to answer Interview Questions about Salary Expectations.

Interview questions about salary expectations are quite tricky and many candidates find it very difficult to handle. Most of the candidates either becomes aggressive or passively accepts the salary offer. Though they should ideally handle this negotiation assertively.

This is one phase of an interview where most probably the Human Resource officer or the Hiring officer and you are aiming at opposite direction. While you are eager to grab the highest possible salary, the employer might be offering the lowest amount of salary and aiming for an aggressive negotiation.

Here you need to balance between what the company is willing to offer and not sacrificing too much of your aspirations. You can confidently offer the answer to this question and assertively negotiate the salary discussion if you do market research well in advance.

There are various websites which offer a comparison of salary scale of various jobs. You should visit these websites regularly to acquire a fair idea of existing salary scale in the market. Further, you should discuss with your friends who are working with the different company about what are their pay scale.

When you come to interview, in the salary negotiation phase – you should remain assertive. You need to justify your demands with as much as logic as well as passion. You need to draw examples from past achievements from your previous jobs and align it with how much value you can add to the job in the offering. Many times the interviewers in certain job roles offer salaries in proportion to the self-efficacy of the candidate. Thus you should exude self-confidence throughout the interview and display positive body language from the very beginning.

You should be aware of the fact that salary negotiation happens in the final phase of the interview. So you are one of the few worthy candidates. Try to understand what is unique in you the company has seen and you should softly use this USP is salary bargain. You should also seriously think what value you can add to the company and how much profit you can truly add from your job role. Keep these entire things mind before your final say.

Sometimes, the company rolls out counter offers to the candidates once they quote their final offer. This is one chance where you get a fair option to think before a final say. You should keep in mind only monetary compensation is not all in your job until you are in any dire need of money. You may get a slightly lower salary but the company culture and mentors of the company may help you ultimately to achieve a rapid stride in your career ladder.

Thus few things you should keep in mind. Like beside salary what are the perks and bonuses the company offers. Many companies keep the salary low but give perks like quality accommodation, travel allowance, yearly trips and vacations and allowances for further studies. Beside some company offers flextime work, like they may allow you work from home a whole week in one month, or they give you flexible office hours.  Above all this company may be one of the companies which are top in the employer’s choice or noted as a fortune 500 companies. Brand value matters because working in such company helps to take rapid strides in your career destiny.

So weigh all things that matter and take a judicious decision. Do you have any suggestion on how to answer the job interview question about your salary expectations? If, yes, do comment in the inbox below. You can search various jobs on our website at https://thehrmonks.com/search-and-apply/

You can submit your resume to us  and our team would get back to you. Share these blogs with your friends and colleagues so that they may be well prepared for job interviews the next time.

Sayak

Sayak takes care of both recruitments and assessment projects of The HR Monks team. He loves helping people finding their dream job.

He started his journey in career leaving the shores of Waiting for Godot and found The HR Monks a better place, where he can change the lives of people by helping them achieve their dreams.

He has been to quite a fewer place across India and loves to travel. He loves two books, in particular, one Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and the other The Shift by Dr. Wayne Dyer.