When asked for salary expectations, if i state the median salary as per MGMA data, will most HR recruiters understand? I’m starting to interview for my first attending job and I want to amswer the salary question appropriately!
Negotiating salary
- Thread starter Jecave
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I'd quote the 75 percentile ...
As an exercise - lets say you want to buy a car. You walk into the dealership and find one for $35,000 MSRP. You want to buy it for $30,000. You tell the salesman "I'll take it! Here's $30k". Now you've started negotiations, and you set the floor at $30k, and they set the ceiling at $35k, You're probably going to meet somewhere in the middle. If you set the floor at $27k, realizing you want to settle out at $30k, you're more likely to do so.
Obviously you won't get anywhere if you set your expectation too high, which is why I typically pick the 75th percentile. The recruiter knows the 50th and 75th percentile too, and if you're way too high for the job they'll tell you. They don't want to waste your time or theirs, so if you say "I want $250k" and they say "We couldn't pay you any more than $225k" then you can decide if you want to continue with the interview, realizing that maybe $225k was actually your ideal number. If you go in asking for $225k, don't be surprised if you get less, despite $225 being their ceiling.
All of this is moot if you're interviewing with a group with standard salaries however.
As an exercise - lets say you want to buy a car. You walk into the dealership and find one for $35,000 MSRP. You want to buy it for $30,000. You tell the salesman "I'll take it! Here's $30k". Now you've started negotiations, and you set the floor at $30k, and they set the ceiling at $35k, You're probably going to meet somewhere in the middle. If you set the floor at $27k, realizing you want to settle out at $30k, you're more likely to do so.
Obviously you won't get anywhere if you set your expectation too high, which is why I typically pick the 75th percentile. The recruiter knows the 50th and 75th percentile too, and if you're way too high for the job they'll tell you. They don't want to waste your time or theirs, so if you say "I want $250k" and they say "We couldn't pay you any more than $225k" then you can decide if you want to continue with the interview, realizing that maybe $225k was actually your ideal number. If you go in asking for $225k, don't be surprised if you get less, despite $225 being their ceiling.
All of this is moot if you're interviewing with a group with standard salaries however.
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I'd suggest requesting more than the average... unless you are happy with the negotiation ending in a below-average figure.
Thanks for the advice! I’m about to interview at a FQHC. I realize that health centers are not known to provide the best salaries. This particular position has been vacant for over a year. Can knowing this factor into a better salary? Besides resulting in a better contract I’d really want to know why the position has been vacant for so long!
