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What Are Your Salary Expectations?
Employers may bring up the topic of pay at some point in the interview process. Sometimes recruiters ask this question during an initial screening/ face-to-face. You may also be asked for your salary expectations directly, on an application form, or in response to a pre-determined salary range offered by the employer.
Talking about money can be stressful for most people. So, you can manage this stress by preparing your answers to salary-related questions ahead of time. If you do research on average compensation for both the role and your experience level, you can have productive and informative conversations about pay with your potential employers.
Why employers ask about salary expectations
When an employer asks about your salary expectations, it’s usually for three reasons:
They have a budget.
The interviewer wants to make sure your compensation expectations align with the amount they’ve calculated for the job.
They want to gauge how well you know your worth.
A good candidate knows how much their skillset is worth in the market and can share it with confidence. To determine appropriate market value, factor in your level, years of experience and career achievements.
They want to determine whether you’re at the appropriate professional level.
An applicant who asks for a significantly higher amount than other candidates may be too senior for the role. Alternatively, answering with a salary expectation on the low end could indicate you’re at a lower experience level than the job requires.
Your answer to this question can be the beginning of the salary negotiation process. As a result, you want to make sure you’re providing a well-researched response.
Lennox Ramashia
21 Interview Questions To Expect for Management Level Positions
Management level hires are crucial to every organization. Managers set and track business
goals, train and motivate employees and ultimately take responsibility for the company
and/or divisional performance.
Most companies can’t afford to make a bad hire at the management level. Hence they will
ask you most of these interview questions.
Remember: even if the channel you’re considering is all the rage right now, it might not fit your brand. Always make informed decisions that directly relate to your company. Otherwise, your message won’t be delivered to its intended audience and you’ll have wasted time, effort and money.
Work history and experience questions
These questions find out how your background relates to the open position.
1. Tell me your story. How did you get from the start of your career to your last role?
2. Tell me about your leadership experience.
3. What was the age, gender and race makeup of the last team you managed?
Behavioural questions
These questions help the company predict your future by evaluating previous behaviour in
past roles.
4. Can you tell me about a time when a member of your team made a mistake? How
did you handle it?
5. What would you do differently next time?
6. What was the reaction after that happened?
Soft skills and motivation questions
These questions will help the company understand if you can work collaboratively and
manage diverse teams.
7. What was the best day at work you’ve had in the past three months?
8. What was the worst day you’ve had at work in the past three months?
9. What’s your plan for building rapport and credibility with your new team?
10. How do you stay in contact with your team members?
11. What’s your process for prioritizing tasks during busy times?
Competency-based questions
These questions are designed to help the company quickly evaluate your skills and mindset
by measuring how they handle certain situations.
12. How do you find opportunities to integrate management goals within your team?
13. What’s your definition of an awesome manager?
14. What criteria did your last company use to reward employees?
15. Who was the last person you promoted? What prompted you to promote them?
16. How many people did you promote on your last team?
17. How important are deadlines?
18. How do you handle missed deadlines?
19. How do you give helpful feedback?
20. Tell me about a time you had to give some difficult feedback.
21. How would you help prevent employee burnout
7 things to negotiate other than an increase to your monthly net income
You’ve done it. You’ve got the job offer. Now, you wonder: should I negotiate? (Yes, you
should) and, What should I negotiate?
Retirement Fund Match
The most common financial benefit provided to employees is a retirement fund. This means
the company will match a certain percentage of whatever money you contribute towards
retirement.
The retirement fund is a great investment tool. Your employer is incentivizing you to save
towards retirement. This money will grow over time because of compound interest. You will
thank yourself later.
Medical Aid / Health Insurance
Make sure that the medical aid plan, scheme and contribution offered by the new company
matches or betters what you are currently receiving. Take your dependents into
consideration. Review the dummy payslip, read what the employment contract states
regarding medical aid, and/or get clarity from the new company’s Employee Benefits
Administrator and HR Administrator. Being aware of this and negotiating it in advance could
relieve you of paying a medical expense out of pocket.
Relocation Pay
Moving can be a very costly exercise. So, if your potential job opportunity is located in
another city or country, and requires you to relocate. Always enquire, if the new employer is
willing to compensate you to move you there.
Bonus Pay / Shares
Whether you are offered a sign-on bonus, performance bonus, or shares – it all adds up.
Make it work in your favour. Read the terms and conditions of your sign-on bonus. Make
sure you have enough information about the ‘performance bonus’ e.g. pay-out date and
average value. And, if you have been allocated shares – pay attention to the vesting period.
Education / Personal Development Incentive
Education is power and you should always be advocating for yourself by learning and
growing in your role, company and industry. Always enquire if the new employer encourages
their staff members to keep learning, and if they will they pay for it.
Remote Work
Remote working has significant benefits that can save you time, money and flexibility. For
instance, the additional time you are get gives you the space to pursue other alternative
income streams.
Leave Days
Always look into your new employers leave policies. And, be certain that their leave policies
matches or betters that of your current company and also aligns with your personal family
travel plans.
When it comes to a new job, negotiate as much as you can upfront.
