What should my salary requirements be?

[DPK]

I am a recent college graduation with a BS in Information Technology and several years experience as a student computer technician. I often wonder what I should put as my salary requirement when asked before applying for a job, the current job in question being a Help Desk Specialist with a large banking company.I don't want to put too little or too much.

 

[Anubis]

i dont know. 40K

depends on teh size of the company

 

[bmacd]

i make ~30k/year at kmart, give or take with only a couple credit hours in college. I'm going to finish up as much school as i can next semester, and then transfer to police academy with a bachelors degree in something like liberal arts.

-=bmacd=-

 

[xuanman]

Originally posted by: TheEvil1
i dont know. 40K

depends on teh size of the company

yup, depends on size of company and city. anywhere from 35-50 sounds right.

 

[WileCoyote]

in the D.C. metro area, you'd probably get $25-30k if you're lucky enough to beat out the other 200 people more qualified than you asking for the same amount.

 

[slycat]

you usually DO NOT put salary reqs...safe bet=depends on OFFER...
however, if HR forces it down your throat...be modest. U can always re-negotiate but
if ur off their mark, u won't get called back ..meaning an instant "in the trash".

 

[DPK]

Well, the job posting askes for salary requirments, so should I just not put one?

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: DPK
Well, the job posting askes for salary requirments, so should I just not put one?

Hmmm, I've always been curious about this type of situation...anyone had to deal with it before? Do you put a range, or an exact amount?

 

[ElFenix]

a pizza every friday and an escort every saturday night

 

[Mean MrMustard]

whoa whoa whoa guys, 40K, 25 to 30K? First we need to know the cost of living in you area.

 

[aircooled]

Try here: Salary.com for a ballpark figure in your area.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: DPK
Well, the job posting askes for salary requirments, so should I just not put one?

I know some people who said if they asked for it and you didn't put it on it, instantly went in the trash.

 

[bmacd]

Originally posted by: redly1

Originally posted by: DPK
Well, the job posting askes for salary requirments, so should I just not put one?

Hmmm, I've always been curious about this type of situation...anyone had to deal with it before? Do you put a range, or an exact amount?

put "negotiable".

-=bmacd=-

 

[kranky]

Yes, put down "Negotiable".

Maybe it's true that someone would trash an application if you put that down, but if so, that person is an idiot. The company has a salary range for the job, and it's impossible for you to know for sure what it is. I would say 90% of the applications we get where I work say "Negotiable", and it certainly doesn't get them thrown in the trash.

 

[BooneRebel]

Help Desk Specialist? Are you working phones or doing internal desktop tech support? First job out of college? I'd suggest posting an hourly range, from the title I wouldn't think that it would be a salaried position. Negotiable always works, too. You can always lowball it to get your foot in the door, if they're a large company then you should be able to jump positions internally pretty quickly if you are initially overqualified for the helpdesk job. Get in, rub elbows, and play the politics game.

If you ask for $40K, they're probably just going to put you in the round file. Especially in the current job market, there are a *bunch* of qualified candidates floating around out there.

 

[Siddhartha]

Where is the job? Cost of living has to be a factor in how much you need to earn

 

[damiano]

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
Where is the job? Cost of living has to be a factor in how much you need to earn

 

[StageLeft]

$35k maybe? I mean fact is the job probably already has a pre-approved amount. If you overshoot you get no call back, if you undershoot chances are good you may get more anyway, and in this market it's better to be underpaid than notpaid.

 

[Zebo]

Sounds like 45-60K to me. But I'm a chemist so i really would'nt know. But my brother has a BS in CS and his first job was 70K as a unix system admin....I think MIS start a little less.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: bmacd
[
put "negotiable".

Another innocuous answer is "flexible, based on benefits". And nowadays, a couple thousand dollars worth of salary annually (pretax) is a poor tradeoff for a 401(k) with matching and a medical plan with good coverage.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: WileCoyote
in the D.C. metro area, you'd probably get $25-30k if you're lucky enough to beat out the other 200 people more qualified than you asking for the same amount.

25 - 30K for help desk support in the DC area? Ouch! This is bad when you consider other IT jobs pay: $75K for analyst positions, $85K+ for DBA positions and managers rake in $150K+. The cost of living in DC is not cheap. I live west of DC by about 25 miles and the townhomes are $270K in my neighborhood. Single family homes in the $430K+ range.

Paying $25K - $30K is only going to draw in the bottom of the line workers.

 

[GasX]

I have NEVER given a straight answer to this question.

A good answer: a competitive salary commensurate with my skills and experience.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
Sounds like 45-60K to me. But I'm a chemist so i really would'nt know. But my brother has a BS in CS and his first job was 70K as a unix system admin....I think MIS start a little less.

How many years did he have to play CounterStrike to get that?

 

[SlowSS]

Your salary would be depending on cost of living, education, experience and size of the company.
For job application, I normally write "Salary Negotiable" rather than putting down numbers.

At our company, you would probably be hired as either Level 1 or 2 depending on your experiece.
Level 1 which salary ranges from 38k - 48k and Level 2 ranges from 45k - 55k.

 

[Hoober]

Like the others have said, it depends on the size of the company and the cost of living in the area. The cost of living here is higher than the midwest, but not as much as the East Coast. You'd be lucky to make 30K.