By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

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How wide a range should I give them?

What Recruiters Know That You Don’t: Your Value in the Market

Now whatever the bottom number is, it should be one that you’d be willing to accept. So that’s always the proviso in there. I’d say a $20,000 range can work. They’re not going to respond well to a $50,000 range, but a $20,000 range can work. And that’s true whether you’re a $95,000-a-year person currently or a $200,000-a-year person. So a range should be something that starts off with the premise that the lowest number is one that you’d accept, and you have to deliver that line.

I had mentioned it to Jason, but I haven’t met with, you know, you know what I just said. So start practicing saying that when you’re asked the question by, and generally it’s the HR screener who’s doing this. Hiring managers don’t like to get their hands dirty with such questions. So what they’ll do is work with the assumption of what you’ve told the corporate recruiter as being the valid thing to work with.

But from your vantage point, you always have to give that stipulation that says, “But you know, I haven’t met my future boss, the team, heard more details about the role and responsibilities, as well as expectations. Can we speak after I actually interview with the hiring manager and have a clear idea of that?” “Yeah, but I need a number.” “Okay, I’d be looking for a range between this and that. But I want to be clear: I’m not committed to those numbers. What I need to do in order to be more certain is get a clearer idea of…” and then you go through the speech yet again because, you know, from your standpoint, you don’t want to get tied down too early to a number because that’s what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to get you to commit to a number at a point where you don’t know enough to really commit to that.

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