Please, please don't blow it discussing salary!

Young workers especially continue to challenge this advice. Even parents think their kids should ask about pay and benefits in the first interview up--and are advising them likewise. As one parent wrote me after I wrote a column saying that wasn’t such a hot idea: “I stand behind the younger work force taking care of themselves first…I caution you to throw away the conventional wisdom used for employees in the 80s & ‘90s. It really doesn’t work today.”
Her comments were based on a previous column in which I cited a report on CollegeJournal.com that stated campus recruiters and researchers say that more than any recruits in memory, this year’s crop is asking employers for assurances of security. Click here for my column in which I talk about why, once again, it doesn’t help, but hurts to bring up salary and benefits in the first interview.

Comments

[aj]

I couldn't disagree more. This post suggests/promotes the idea that employers hold all the cards.

Once you've spent a month or more investing time, energy and emotion into a multi-stage interview process, only to find that the employer has flagrantly ignored your salary requirement, you will learn to be upfront about what you need. Decent employers have to respect that you need a certain salary or certain benefits like health insurance to consider the job.

[panasianbiz]

Andrea, though others are certainly entitled to disagree with your post, I, for one, think you're totally right. I've conducted initial employment interviews and, when I ask if the interviewee has any questions, they blurt out "how much does this job pay?", I am immediately turned off to them as it seems that salary is the only thing that matters to them. In an ideal situation, the salary should be brought up by the interviewer, but, if not, I think it's best to wait for a second interview before bringing up the issue.