Oogle
Quite a co-oincidence - haven't looked at PPRune for a while and then tonight when I do I get asked a question!
As an employer I want to pay the least I have to in order to get a thoroughly competent, motivated, happy employee. But I also want to try and assess how genuinely committed that person will be to the job if he/she gets it. People leaving within months of being recruited is a costly pain for a business.
Inevitably there is a spread of salaries for any given job, sometimes big, sometimes small. By asking what someone's expectations are I can gauge what I need to pay them for them to be happy with any offer and the job. If they tell me they want £15k more than what I feel is right, the chances are that even if they accept my offer, they will not really be happy and soon looking around for a better deal. If they tell me they want pretty much what I think is fair I'll think they're realistic. If they tell me £10k less than the job's worth I'll be a bit suspicious that they are too desperate for the job and probe for any reasons.
Will I pay them what they ask? If it's realistic, usually yes. If it's too high, I'll make an sensible offer, respecting an effort to ask for more, and if it's readily accepted be happy. But if instead there's then a gnashing of teeth I'll tell them the job's not for them as they clearly will not be happy.
If they ask less than I was expecting, assuming they fit the criteria, they'll go towards the top of the list of candidates. I'll offer them the job on the salary they asked for. I'll be pretty confident they'll be happy and stay and I'll know I've got headroom for salary rises if they do the good job I thought they'd do.
Does that help you understand why I ask now? Of course, not saying I'm right, but it's worked pretty well for 15 years!
Last edited by rotorspeed; 4th Nov 2005 at 19:21.