Job interview question
 

I'm trying to help out a friend.

He has an interview with a company next week. He went in kind of blind not knowing what the position paid, everyone(myself included) thought the position would pay around 60K a year. So he gets the interview set up and the guy from the company emails him directions and an outline about the job. The salary range is 38,000 to 42,000. currently makes 42K.

What do you think about salary ranges?

I told him who cares, you go in and sell yourself, and I think you could get atleast 50K.

His job does not have any benefits. This position has health 401K and a car. However he would have to drive an hour to work if he got this new position.

Thoughs?

I think if he can get 50K its worth it, if not stick with his current job.

If the company disclosed the range prior to the interview, he should probably politely decline the interview based upon the range not meeting his requirements. That's the polite thing to do considering it would be a waste of everybody's time otherwise. Interviews suck, even from the other side of the table.

So you don't think they will go over their range?

Depends on the company and their policy but probably not. He should let them know they aren't in his range and they can decide whether or not they still want to interview him.

Not surprisingly, phobia's right, in my opinion. I don't think many (or any) companies will skew their planned salary structure by that large an amount, and it would be damaging to go in there, interview, get a job offer, and turn it down because of information you already had going in.

I'm always very careful about listing the salary range when I hire, and I would really think poorly of someone who got the job notice, interviewed, and then told me during the job offer phase that they needed $10K more than my upper range.

The proper thing to do, in my opinion, is to write the person, let them know that you have XXX experience and are looking for a position in the YYY pay range. Ask if there's flexibility in the salary structure, or if there's a more senior position available, and let them make the call.