How to Answer the “Salary Expectation” Question for Freshers

“What is your salary expectation” is one of the toughest interview question to answer, especially as a fresher. The interviewer wants to know what your salary expectation is, in form of a figure or a range. The problem is, as a fresher you have no idea what the market looks like or what the standard salary for that specific position is.

This blog will help you answer the salary expectation question and increase your chances of being offered the job. So let’s see the right way of answering this question. We will also look into different tools you could use to estimate the average market salary.

Also read – How to Answer “Why should we hire you?” as a Fresher

Salary Expectation Answer – Initial Stages of Interview

It is best to not discuss any salary expectations during the initial stages of the interview. If you enquire about the salary range too early the interviewer might think you are more concerned about the money rather than the opportunity. So avoid that.

If the interviewer brings it up during an initial call, it is best to not state any salary figure. There can be two critical implications if you do tell them a figure.

• It might be too expensive, and they’ll realize they can’t afford you.
• It might be too little, and HR might think you are not confident about your skill.

Now even though you might hit the jackpot and get it just right, it is still not the best way to go. During the initial stages, your priority should be showcasing your skills and your interest in taking up that job. So instead you can say something along the lines

“My salary expectations are similar to the industry standards and what you would generally pay a fresher for this role”

For more detailed answer templates for salary expectations, you can check out this blog.

Salary Expectation Answer – Final Stages of Interview

Well, firstly congratulations! You have reached the final stages. At this point, the salary expectation question is bound to come up. By this stage, you should have done your research. You should know the standard salary for that position, in that location, for someone with your experience. 

• If the company had mentioned their salary range in their job description you can compare it with your findings. If it falls under the industry standards then you can consider it as a pretty good offer. In case it is considerably lower than the industry standard instead of directly rejecting it, ask why it is so and if there are any other perks or bonuses.

• Let’s say this will be the first discussion in that regard, it is best to hear their offer first. Don’t be the first one to throw a figure. If they ask about your expectations first, let them know that your expectations align with industry standards and don’t have a particular figure in mind. Hear them out and carry the discussion forward from there.

If you are a fresher and have no experience there’s a good chance that they might not offer you a one-year contract directly. There will probably be a probation period which might last anywhere from 3-6 months. You learn the different tools and skills needed also get used to the pace of work.  During this time you might rather receive a reduced stipend rather than a full-time salary.

Tools for standard industry salary research.

Payscale

Payscale is a free tool you can use to get an estimated market value of a certain job profile. It will give you options for salary comparison for your current job, for a new job offer, or just exploring. If you have a job offer and are looking to compare it, you will be asked questions such as expected job title, years, city, salary type (hourly, monthly, commissions), expected salary, skills/specialty, type of employer, benefits, and your education.

If you are just exploring it will ask all the same questions except salary type, expected salary, and benefits.

In the end, you will get a result that shows the market range and the median value.

Paycheck.in

It is also a free tool. When you go to the homepage it will ask you to fill out a salary survey. It will ask you various questions about your education, employment status, hometown, etc. This process takes 10-15 min.

Or you can skip that process and click on “ check your pay, salary, or income with sales calculator”. Then you just need to fill in the “find the occupation” from dropbox. Next, enter in years of work experience. Similar to Payscale it will give you a range from a low to a high number and also the median.

One drawback here was that I wasn’t able to find certain job descriptions in dropbox.

LinkedIn salary

LinkedIn salary is a free tool provided to you if you have a LinkedIn account. So in case, you don’t have an account you will need to create one.

You will need to fill in the job title or a specific company and the location as well. Then it will show the result in a bar graph format. It will show the range and the base salary which is the median. Additionally, it gives examples of salaries offered by companies for the same job profile in the region you have selected and for other regions as well.

Glassdoor

Glassdoor great tool for company research and to read company reviews from current and former employees of an organization. Once you go to the homepage you will need to log in using an email id. After that select Salaries in the menu bar and choose “Discover Salaries”. Over here you will need to select a job title or a company and a location. Then similar to LinkedIn it will show you a bar graph representation of the range of salary and the median. As you scroll down it will show you the average salary for similar related positions and then show the salaries company-wise as well.

If you use LinkedIn salary or Glassdoor for salary research as a fresher, it is important to remember that the median salary includes the experienced employee’s salaries as well. So to get an average of an entry-level job for a fresher you will want to consider the lower end of the range.

Conclusion

As a fresher, you don’t have a benchmark for the value of your skills and experience. You are stuck in a dilemma. You don’t want to overvalue yourself to the interviewer but also don’t want to undervalue your services either. But with the right tools and putting in the time to research you can fix that problem.

Although it may be difficult to answer the “salary expectation” question in a way that leaves the hiring manager satisfied, it is something that can be overcome with practice. You must know how to answer this question before the job interview process. So, be sure to practice your responses and have a few different ways to answer this question. 

Answering the question of what is your salary expectation can be one of the key things that you need to do to land a job. Whether you are a fresher or have experience, you need to approach the question with care as it is a sensitive issue. You have to be careful and answer this question in a way that doesn’t lead the recruiter to think you are greedy and also in a way that doesn’t lead you to lose out on a good opportunity.

If you have any other ideas or insights about the blog, please leave them in the comments section below. We would love to hear them. Thank you for reading, and good luck!