Getting the amount of money you deserve is truly an art, because of two conflicting agendas: Employers want to hire you as cheaply as they can, while you want to get as much as you can. Timing is oh so important, so delay discussing salary until you receive a job offer, when you’re in the strongest bargaining position (even if you’re chomping at the bit to find out what it pays). The interviewer will never want you more than he or she does at that moment.

Whoever mentions a number first loses in this game, and both the interviewer and job-hunter can jostle to get the other to show their hand. Be strategic and dance around a bit with your responses, ask for more information, display thoughtful silence, and utter the immortal words: “Is that the best you can do?” Often interviewers have “wiggle room” with salaries, and can pay more if you convince them you deserve it. Learning how to use classic negotiation techniques is invaluable in upping your ante in obtaining the best salary.

Job Savvy

Each bolded interview question is followed by a description of what the interviewer is trying to ascertain by asking the question. Then you will be given examples of good answers and bad answers to the question.

What salary are you looking for? Or: What is your salary requirement?

If the interviewer asks this in your first interview, he or she may hope you give a figure outlandishly high or ludicrously low, which either way will knock you out of serious consideration. Or a figure that will steer the interviewer toward an end of the range the employer is willing to pay, or set a figure if the amount has not yet been decided. If asked much later in the interview process—perhaps after three interviews—the interviewer may be ready to offer you the job.

Good answer: Avoid giving a number as long as you can. Say you want to make sure you understand the job’s duties and responsibilities completely, and tick off what you know one by one. Then try to counter with your own question, like the salary range the interviewer is allowed to consider for the job, what similar jobs at the company pay, or what he or she thinks someone with your qualifications and skills will command. Stall by saying that without knowing all the details about benefits, it’s hard to cite a figure.

If throwing the ball back into the interviewer’s court doesn’t work and you are pressed to give a number, offer a salary range that reflects your research about this type of job before the interview. (“Help wanted” ads, employees in this job type, trade associations, and salary information websites can be helpful.) The low end should be the minimum you want to accept. Of course, you may already know the salary being offered from an ad or the recruiter who told you about this job.

Bad answer: Blurting out a figure that may knock you out of the running for being too high or too low, or box you into a figure, instead of seeing the question as the negotiating gambit it is. Or saying salary doesn’t matter, you just need a job. Never show an interviewer you’re desperate—your value will go down in his or her eyes.

How much are you worth?

The interviewer wants you to make a case for the salary you want and match up your qualifications with the job requirements.

Job Savvy

Research what you’re worth online. Salary.com shows salary ranges for jobs in many industries by years of experience, metro area, and zip code. CareerJournal.com, a Wall Street Journal site, shows median salaries by job title, industry, and city. Jobstar.org links to over 300 salary surveys in many different industries.

Good answer: Be aware of the market rate for this job from your research in the salary range you name, and confident you meet all of the job qualifications, which you list, if not more. If you feel you deserve higher pay due to your career accomplishments, say so.

Bad answer: An answer that shows you are operating in the dark, with little or no knowledge about what the going rate for this job is. A naïve job-hunter is usually an underpaid job-hunter.

What are you making now? Or: What was your salary in your last job?

Sadly, many interviewers are unduly influenced by your last salary, and use it as a guide to offering you a similar salary, or a bit more.

Good answer: Say that you feel your current (or last) salary shouldn’t be relevant to the salary for this job, since they are different. Perhaps you are coming from the public or nonprofit sector, which often pay less, started the job at a low base, or there were budget cuts, etc. If pressed, and you know you were underpaid, you can include the dollar value of benefits like health insurance, profit sharing, stock options, and salary instead of vacation in your figure. Just be able to justify it if asked why it doesn’t match your pay stub.

Bad answer: A flat figure, with no explanation if it’s underpaid, which tempts the interviewer to tie a salary offer to your last salary.

Job Jinx

Sometimes interviewers ask to see payroll stubs or W-2 tax forms when you are hired, or condition the job offer on salary verification with your employer or an outside agency. Your signature on a job application with the tiny print gives them permission. So don’t invent a figure you can’t justify.

What is your salary history?

He or she wants to know how often you received raises and promotions, and how much, for clues to how well you did on the job to decide on the salary to offer you.

Good answer: Frequent and sizable jumps in salary look good, obviously, so why not admit it if this is the case? If not, or if you don’t want your salary history to influence the salary offer, dodge it by saying it will require some time to figure out. If the interviewer expects you to do so, respond that you will do it as soon as you go home. If pressed to do it on the spot, okay.

Bad answer: Lack of steady, upward progress, which makes the interviewer willing to lowball the salary offer or gives him or her second thoughts about you.

Job Jinx

Don’t ask what salary the job pays. This pegs you as someone too interested in money and not enough in the job. Wait for the interviewer to bring up salary.

You’ve been stuck at the same salary in the same job for the past few years: How come? Or: Why aren’t you making more money at your age?

The interviewer shouldn’t know this—hopefully, you didn’t volunteer this, or perhaps the ad, application, or interviewer insisted nobody would be considered without a complete salary history. He or she is wondering if your lack of steady upward progress signals something sinister about your job performance, like laziness or lack of motivation.

Good answer: Note that advancement opportunities were severely limited at your employer, due to budget constraints or employees with more seniority. Segue quickly to this is why you are job-hunting, and eager to apply your skills and expertise to this particular job.

Bad answer: Shame, defensiveness, or anything that shows you are not a desirable commodity this employer should snap up.

Job Savvy

Women earn an average of $550,000 less than men over a lifetime, a study by the Older Women’s League found. One reason why: Women ask for less money than men. Eighty-five percent of men put a dollar value on their job worth, while 83 percent of women were uncomfortable doing so, found the University of California at Davis, which led mock job interviews of MBA students.

That’s too high for us. Can you come down a little?

He or she is interested, but wants you at a somewhat lower price.

Good answer: Cite a lower range that you are willing to accept. While negotiating up can be hard (because lowballing your salary can trap you), negotiating down is much easier. You should always ask for more money than you expect to get, because you have a better chance of ending up with the amount you expect even if you lower your demand. You can also ask for the benefits or perquisites to be sweetened if you do well in a few months, instead of money up front—for example, a performance review with a raise and/or promotion, a bonus, more vacation or comp time, etc.

Bad answer: You are not willing to budge, because the figure or range you cited was your absolute minimum.

Job Jinx

Never mention a fixed number. It will box you in, perhaps knock you out of the running if it’s too high, or peg you as a cheap hire if too low. Cite a salary range instead, if pressed. If job applications ask for desired salary, write “open” or “competitive.”

How about a salary of (fill in the blank)?

The interviewer hopes you will grab this amount without ever learning he or she was prepared to pay $5,000 to $10,000 more.

Good answer: One of the best bits of interview advice I ever learned was to repeat the amount offered in a reflective tone, and then be silent—or say “hmmm” and be silent. Silence seems to unnerve interviewers, who often rush in to fill the vacuum with a higher amount. Try it—it often works like a charm. Another gambit: Ask thoughtfully, “Is that the best you can do?” and then wait for him or her to cave.

Or say you’re very close, since the range you were considering was X to Y—with your low end a bit lower than the high end (or fixed amount) the interviewer offered. For example, he or she offers $35,000; counter by saying you’re pretty close, since you had a $34,000 to $40,000 range in mind.

Bad answer: You grab the amount offered without negotiation, so they get you at a bargain rate. Or you say no because you want X and he or she said Y—and don’t realize there may be “wiggle room” to go up from Y.

Job Savvy

Two excellent books to read on negotiation are The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Winning Through Negotiation (Alpha Books, 1999) by John Ilich, and Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1,000 a Minute (Ten Speed Press, 2001) by Jack Chapman.

You’ve learned the importance of timing: how to stall on salary questions, how to wait for the interviewer to throw out the first number, and how prudent silence may buy thousands of dollars in a salary offer. You know to avoid fixed numbers, and stay on your current salary as long as possible. You’ll never go into an interview blind again, but be armed with valuable information about how much your qualifications are worth and how to prove you deserve a certain salary.

But you’ve been interrogated enough. Learn how to turn the tables and give interviewers a dose of their own medicine in Chapter 10, where you interview the interviewer.