A job interview is a tough assignment, because you have to do several things at once. On a job interview you’re talking about the job that someone is trying to fill. You’re sharing your relevant experience and trying to understand your hiring manager’s need. You have a lot on your mind. At the same time, you’re checking out the employer.
Are they smart people, and are they ethical? Do you feel that you can trust them? It’s essential to answer these questions before you take the job, after all!
There are a few “knockout items” that should give you major pause if you hear them while you’re interviewing, because they suggest that no matter what else happens during your interview process, this is not the best job for you.
One knockout item goes like this:
You: What is the salary range for this position? We should make sure we’re in the same ballpark so that we don’t waste anyone’s time.
Manager or Recruiter: We haven’t established a salary range for this position yet.
No no no! That’s a lie. That’s simply not true, because in order to begin interviewing people you have to establish a salary range. No company, large or small, creates a job ad or a job spec without a clear salary range. If they say they haven’t set a salary range for the position yet, they are lying to you.
What else will they lie to you about?
There is no good reason for any employer to keep its salary range a secret. The only reason to keep salary range quiet is that they don’t want to tip their hand and tell you the range in case you might accept a lower job offer than the top of the range they’ve already decided on.
Well, it’s a negotiation, so you will have to have your own number ready to share. That number is your target salary, not your current or past salaries. Your current and past earnings are nobody’s business but your own.
The most ethical and talent-aware employers publish their salary ranges in their job ads, but any employer that leads through trust will tell you whether your target salary range overlaps with their target salary range, or not. If they tell you “We can’t say, because we haven’t set a salary range for this position yet” run away!
If they insist on learning your current or past salary, get out of there! The talent market is good right now and lots of employers are hiring. You don’t have time to waste with people who want to lie to you and cheat you.
Remember that not everyone deserves your talents. Only the people who get you, deserve you!
Liz Ryan is the CEO and founder of Human Workplace. Follow her on Twitter and read the rest of her Forbes.com columns here.
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