Interviewing: At the end of an interview (Part. 4)

AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW

Say Thanks

Always remember to thank them at the end with another proper handshake. It’s only polite.

Then don’t forget to follow-up with a handwritten thank you note, or a thank-you email if that’s in line with the mode of communication you’ve been using for all of your correspondence.

What to say? Well, thank them for the interview opportunity, express your interest in the job, and say that you hope to hear from them shortly.

BEFORE ACCEPTING

Try and meet your co-workers/see the company

Many a time my friends have been burned into accepting a less than stellar job because they didn’t meet the people they’d work with to see if they’d be in a happy, safe environment, and ended up quitting, feeling depressed and on the job hunt again.

A new job is like a relationship. You’re hoping to be in it for life (not likely, but play along with me), and you want to make it amicable and pleasant as you will be spending the majority of your life doing it.

Asking about salary

Try not to give a figure. If you are pressed hard to name a figure, give a range instead, and make the range bottom at what you earn now (if you have a way to figure it out), and then tack on the highest salary you think you can get away with as your top. Usually the range is about $20k.

So: $40,000 – $60,000

Give them room to negotiate, but don’t make your minimum starting salary so low that they think you’ll expect that.

I once had an interviewer (it was 2 of them and 2 separate ones) who asked me what my salary range was. I said $XX,XXX. He told me to aim for lower.

Suspicious? Yes. They don’t want to pay you as much as you want or that you are worth.

I went to my next interviewer (the real guy hiring me).

When he put out feelers on what I thought I would accept as a job salary, he lowballed me at $10k less than what I knew I was worth.

I emailed back saying it wasn’t acceptable because I had other offers.

He came back with $7k above what I originally asked the first guy for.

Let this be a lesson to you: negotiate. I know you’re desperate for the job, and you’re sick of being unemployed, but don’t lowball yourself.