Q: How do I handle the question, ”What kind of salary are you looking for?”
B.K., Washington, D.C.
A: That’s a tough one, and
an obviously important one. You don’t want to low-ball yourself, giving
the impression you have a low opinion of your work and then feeling
like a chump, or seem over-priced and greedy.
It’s usually
reasonable to expect to get a raise when you make a move. Start with
what you’re making now, and look for an increase that is somewhat
larger than what you’d expect to get in your next couple years at your
current job. Some say you shouldn’t move for less than a 15-percent
bump. Unless you’re moving solely for a dramatically better opportunity
or location, you’re probably doing it to make more than if you stayed
put, right?
Get a cost-of-living comparison, too. A buck doesn’t go as far in Los Angeles
as it does in Louisiana, so get a handle on what you need to make just to
stay even. Whoa! Sound complicated? It’s not. Use a cost-of-living
calculator to see how the money translates from one city to another.
Money magazine has a good online cost-of-living calculator that will
do the work for you. You can use that calculator to figure out what
you’d need to make in that new city to achieve a 15-percent increase in
real income, too.
This may help you set a floor, but where is the ceiling?
If they ask what you’d like to be paid in that position, ask them
what they are paying people with your level of experience. It’s a fair
question. Expect to get a minimum or ask for a range.
Ask other people at the paper who have jobs and experience similar
to your own what the paper is paying. Don’t ask them for their own
salaries, but ask about the range.
An online source of salary data is The Newspaper Guild. This union
lists top minimums for just more than a hundred daily papers where it
has contracts. The list is here.
The Editor & Publisher Yearbook, available at the reference desk of most libraries, carries the list.
”Top minimum” is contractual language that requires some
explanation. A top minimum is the minimum amount someone at the top of
the scale can be paid. Oops, there’s another phrase that needs some
explanation: ”top of the scale.” The scale is based on years of
professional experience — at that or another newspaper. The scale
gives workers raises until they reach the top year for which raises are
automatic — usually between three and six years, depending on the
contract.
So, at a newspaper where automatic wage increases stop happening at
five years of experience, the top of the scale is five years. If the
top minimum at that newspaper is $800 a week, then everyone with five
or more years of full-time professional experience should be paid at
least $800. Newspapers are free to pay more than the minimum and do.
As you negotiate salary, don’t forget other considerations that
might be just as important to you but easier for the paper to provide.
What about vacation time? Moving expenses? Development opportunities?
Retirement savings? Papers are unlikely to provide anything other than
the standard options, but you need to know what they are to consider
the package.
Save detailed questions about pay and benefits for later in the
interview process — even until after you have an offer. Asking about
pay, benefits and vacations too early can make editors think that you’re
jumping the gun and that journalism is a secondary consideration.
Read more about negotiating here.
