Ramit Sethi explains why directly asking about salary signals low competence in negotiations. Instead, defer the conversation with "we can discuss salary later; I want to see if it's a good fit," then research market rates on salary.com and payscale.com to know what to ask for.
Here's a question from Guru in Portland, Oregon.
He asks, how do I discover the.
Job'S pay rate and is it okay to ask at all? Lots of times they do not mention anything about pay. Okay, good question.
In general, no, you do not want.
To ask them about pay. That is a low competence trigger.
What does that mean?
There are certain triggers, behavioral triggers that people with high competence use. Alright, so what's an example of a low competence trigger?
Let's actually go to the world of social dynamics or attraction, which is the most fun for me. So I walk into a bar and I'm like, I'm on the hunt. So I walk in, I'm like, yeah ladies. But then I'm like looking around like.
This, yeah ladies, what's up tonight?
And then I'm just staring at people and I'm following people around and it does not look good. I have no friends there. It's terrible. However, let's take a look at the.
High, high social competence trigger.
So I walk in, I'm confident, I walk in with a bunch of buddies. You know, we're having a good time, chatting it up, having some drinks, everyone's having a good time.
Okay? Totally different. And it looks very good to people who are watching from around the bar versus a dude who's creeping. Okay? Now the same thing is true when it comes to your career.
So if you walk in and the.
First thing you ask about is what's.
The vacation time, what's the salary? That's a very low competence trigger.
People with high status do not ask that question. Okay?
In fact, they use quite a different approach. They'll say something like this, they'll say, you know what, we can discuss salary later. I'm sure we can find a number that works. But for now I just want to.
See if it's a good fit between you and me. Notice that I want to see if it's a good fit between us. Why? Because I'm evaluating you company as much.
As you are evaluating me.
That is a high competence trigger. Alright, so no, you do not ask.
How do you find out details about.
The job in terms of salary?
Two sites I want to recommend to.
You, salary.com and payscale.com youm should be able to fairly quickly find the range of what that position is.
That's how you do it. And then when you get into negotiation.
I've got a bunch more stuff on.
How to do negotiations including some sit downs I did with people to help.
Them negotiate over $10,000 per negotiation.
So stay tuned for that. But for now, the answer to your question is no.
Do not ask them about salary. Make sure you're sticking to your high, high competence triggers, not your low ones.
What most average candidates do is they go and they try to answer questions like, yes, this is why I'm. I'm very interesting, and my biggest weakness is that I try too hard, and please, will you please accept me for this job? Please? And by the time they get to the end, when they're discussing compensation, if they've gotten the job offer, which is good, congratulations. The interviewer knows. He's like, I got this guy. I know he has no other offers. I know he has really no other options. I know he probably didn't make that much at his last job. Maybe he even told me how much he made.
