Before touching on the subject of salary in an interview, below are five pointers for you to think about before being asked that question:

1) If you encounter this salary question during the first interview just be honest and tell the interviewer your current package. As for expected salary, you can simply ask for the market rate and a reasonable increment if you are not sure about your new employer’s budget.

2) Never lie about your current salary. It is common that you will need to provide your previous pay slip as proof during the reference check process. If you are unable to supply this with the figure you mentioned, an employer can simply pull out of the offer.

3) It is not encouraged to resign without another offer on hand as your negotiating power may vary depending on your current employment situation. If you are unemployed, it is likely you will only be able to earn similar to your previous salary or less.

However, if you are being hired away from an existing position, you will be in a better position as most employers will anticipate job seekers will be looking for an improved compensation package as well as better career prospects.

4) Don’t be too quick to let an offer that is below what you asked for close the door to a job opportunity. In these tough times, it is important that you weigh out the positives and negatives and make sure that the reason you turn down the job offer is reasonable. After all, you never know when a similar opportunity will come around again.

5) Handling offers and salary negotiations is always the sensitive part of the entire recruitment process. It is best left with your recruiter to handle on your behalf instead of dealing with it yourself directly, simply because there is no second chance for you to revisit.

Have any questions you would like to ask regarding how to handle salary negotiation? Feel free to ask away!

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How much can you put up with at work? Do you want to make a move but can’t decide when to leave?

In the TV show Entourage, Lloyd Lee is Hollywood super agent Ari Gold’s perennial ‘whipping boy’. If you’ve followed the show, you will know that Lloyd puts up with a constant stream of abuse and bad treatment from Ari from season to season.

During Season 6 of Entourage, Adam Davies, an ex-colleague of both Ari and Lloyd becomes a partner at a rival agency. Lloyd has been pushing and begging Ari for a promotion from his PA position to become an agent, without any joy, until Adam steps in to offer him an agent position at triple (!) his current salary.

Would you stay or would you go? Let’s now christen the ‘Lloyd Lee’ zone. Lloyd is in a horrible situation; he is visibly unhappy, stuck in a rut, and despite all that he has gone through, he still does NOT accept the offer immediately. He is clearly trapped in the ‘Lloyd Lee’ zone where he is not confident or open-minded enough to consider making a move even with an extremely attractive job offer.

It is important that you keep up to date with what’s happening in your industry and evaluate your market value against your peers. If you do receive a call from a head-hunter, I’d advise you to keep an open mind and don’t fall into the ‘Lloyd Lee zone’. You may well be very happy in your role, however take it as a compliment that you’ve been identified as standing out from the crowd.  Build a relationship with a recruiter that you can trust, who has strong market knowledge and contacts, and can provide career advice and opportunities. Don’t wait until it’s too late to consider a move – you don’t want to be miserable at work, life is too short.

If you would like to talk to a Morgan McKinley consultant about your career or your market value, feel free to contact us. You can find our contact details on this page or on the Morgan McKinley Hong Kong website.

Until next time!

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“Will you marry me?”

After what seemed like a lifetime (although in reality was about five seconds) she said, “yes.”

A couple of weeks ago I proposed to my girlfriend and despite the few awkward seconds before she replied, I was confident that this offer would be accepted because of the very thorough recruitment process I carried out:

Referrals: We were introduced by a third party (some friends at a barbecue). This was important as I was also able to speak to them to get references and background checks.

The vacancy: I was not actively looking to recruit when I met my future fiancée, I was quite happy to be single. However I was open to introductions and if someone came along who met my strict criteria then I was happy to create a vacancy.

Initial screening: As part of my initial due diligence I had to ensure that there was nothing that would immediately disqualify the candidate, eg the possession of a wedding ring, criminal record or Man United season ticket.

Tell the truth: On the first meeting with this woman, I did not tell her my deepest, darkest secrets (I am an Arsenal fan and have every Clash album ever produced).  I decided to be discrete at our first meeting but it was important that I did not lie about these things either. If I had claimed to support a team that that actually wins trophies or that I was cool then she would have soon seen through these lies at a later stage and I would have lost all credibility.

Is the candidate qualified? There are certain important qualifications in any potential wife. For me, it was someone cute, intelligent and fun to be with. If during our first meeting I realized that she wasn’t qualified, then I would have had a duty as an interviewer to firmly but politely reject her at the first opportunity.

Two-way process: Whilst I was meeting up with the candidate, I was aware that not only was I interviewing her for the position but that she would also be conducting her own assessment. It is not a one way process. If I had decided on the interview technique of making the candidate feel nervous, then not only would she have not continued with the interview process but the brand ‘Damian Rhodes’ would have been in ruins.

Manage expectations: If at any time during the selection process I had claimed to speak fluent Cantonese then she would soon be disappointed when the conversation moved away from, ‘you are beautiful’, ‘where is the MTR?’ and ‘turn left please’. It is very important that neither the recruiter nor the candidate exaggerates or over-sells in any way.

Regular contact: During this recruitment process we stayed in regular contact: this is about balance – too many calls or emails can be off  putting too.

Intuition: An important part of recruitment comes down to intuition – will I wish to spend a lot of my time with this person?  Synergies in terms of attitude, ethics and values cannot be gleaned from a CV alone.

Offer and acceptance: Before making the offer, I ensured that I had carried out my research, had sufficient meetings with the candidate, built up strong rapport and therefore was confident of the outcome.

All we need to do now is agree on the start date.

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