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Salary Negotiation with Skip Manager

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Data Engineer at Financial Company7 months ago

I'm at the 2nd round of interviews with an ~80 person company. I did well in the first interview with the hiring manager, hence my getting to the second interview. This one is with the hiring manager's manager, i.e. my would-be skip.

The Calendar invite for the interview has this description:

In this interview, you will be meeting with Jim our VP.  He will talk to you more about the role and answer any questions you may have.  Please be prepared to discuss your salary expectations with Jim during this interview.

How should I handle this discussion? Is this different from handling a recruiter reaching out for a role where it's imperative not to give the first number?

I'm assuming I should:

  1. Not give the first number
  2. Try to focus on the value I can bring to the company

Anything else?

Thanks!

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Discussion

(3 comments)
  • 2
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    Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
    7 months ago

    You don't have the offer yet, right? Don't negotiate until you have received signal that they will give you an offer. If any kind of compensation discussion comes up, just defer by saying, "Right now, I'm still learning more about the company and where I'd fit in. I'd prefer to figure out compensation details later in the process."

    See also [Taro Top 10] Pay Negotiation

    • 2
      Profile picture
      Data Engineer [OP]
      Financial Company
      7 months ago

      Sounds good. Nice and simple and something I can stick to.

  • 1
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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    7 months ago

    If they force you to give a number, make sure to give a non-committal bare-minimum number: "As mentioned before, I'm entirely focused right now on showing my best self and demonstrating how I can add value to the company. However, I will share that the bare minimum total compensation I'm willing to consider is $X because I'm actually quite happy in my current role and need a competitive motivator to leave."

    Your goal is simply to prevent the scenario where you give a number you're supposedly happy with, they give exactly that number, and then they lambast you for not auto-accepting as that number is actually not very high.