That's the point where you quote a wildly inflated salary with a straight face.
"My last salary was $300,000. Yes, seriously. Is that too high for you? We can discuss this further in negotiations, I'm flexible"
"My last salary was $300,000. Yes, seriously. Is that too high for you? We can discuss this further in negotiations, I'm flexible"
To figure out what number you should cite, look in a mirror. Keep saying bigger numbers. Don't stop until you've got a sheepish grin on your face.
i'm a startup co-founder, i hire all the time.
if i asked someone what their salary requirements are and they said 200k or 300k i'd immediately interview them to see if they're worth that much. i would take it as a personal challenge to see if i could stump them, and if i couldn't, i'd start negotiating their salary on the spot.
some people get paid MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! how the hell d'ya you think they got that much? they asked for it!
people who don't want to "reveal" their salary requirements like it's some big huge secret have probably never hired anyone in their life.
when it comes to this kind of topic on HN, sometimes i feel like i'm taking crazy pills.
If you want $200k but are making $150, just say you are looking for a salary around $200k. If they ask again how much you make presently, you can say "I negotiated my present salary years ago, it's not relevant to the value I provide now, I'm sure you understand".
I'm not going to be pushed into lying and making things up out of expediency. YMMV.
i have not, and i would never in a million years ask someone what they currently make. why would i ever do that? what's the point? you might as well ask them about the size of their genitalia.
the range of bullshit answers you will receive, even from the lowest level of positions, just means you're only fooling yourself if you ask these kinds of questions. just ask for what they want. lying about that won't benefit them, it will only benefit me.
Most engineers want to "stay within the rules", which is why they get walked on.
(I'm not for one second saying you do that, personally)
pushing social boundaries is practiced by all sorts of different people.
Pushing social boundaries is typically not practiced by engineers.
They hired me. I would have refused any offer less than I was asking for. Lesson learned: if they want you they will pay at least market rate.
I also "negotiated" (negotiated, hell. I just asked for it) a raise well above what they offered a year later at my first review.
here's another one: "how will you pay for yourself in 6 months?"
i'm no longer technically competent enough to stump an extremely talented engineer on a technical question. not really sure where you get the 'superiority' language, since i would be out of business if i didn't hire employees who were 'superior' to me.
again - sometimes i feel like i'm taking crazy pills around here.
There's a lot of context that made me assume you were talking about stumping them on technical questions. This is Hacker News and the topic of how to do technical interviews is a frequent focus.
Do people know enough about what you do and how you do it to give this answer at interview stage?
these are just nuts-and-bolts dollars-and-cents conversations people have when hiring non-engineering professionals or executives.
you can talk about all of the above without actually stating how much money you made. it's moot. it's irrelevant. what matters is what they accomplished, if they are enthusiastic about doing the same for our startup, and how much money/compensation they need to feel good about it. i am trying to make people feel good about working for me! the first step is to have an honest conversation about everyone's needs (maybe requirements is a better word).
When you hit "sheepish grin"...go up another two steps. Then practice saying it with a straight face. This is probably closer to your actual market value.