<p>Some history: </p>
<p>I graduated Magna Cum Laude with an BS in EE from a non-ivy school in 2011. For some reason I decided it was alright for me not to obtain any internships while in school. Obviously that was a poor decision, and I'm willing to accept it. </p>
<p>My intention from when I started engineering was to work in the defense industry, but only starting applying after I graduated. I ended up getting only ONE response during my 7-8 months of applying, In the meantime I was doing IT support work, and although I enjoyed it, I got into a bad rut in which I felt very poorly about myself because I didn't have a real engineering job.</p>
<p>Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I got an email from a recruiter for a non-defense company about an engineering position. I was fed up with getting no response form defense companies, so I decided to branch out and apply. In the pre-screeing interview one of the first questions the HR girl asked me was what kind of salary I was looking. I didn't want to answer, but she insisted, so I told her that I though somewhere between $50k-60k was fair. She asked me if I wanted to continue pursuing the position because they usually start their engineers at $40-45k. I said yes because my thinking at that point was I needed some type of engineering position even if it was "low" paying. Thinking back now, is this a technique that HR professionals use to make the applicant think they are being an offered a high amount when they are given an offer?</p>
<p>I ended up getting an interview with the hiriing manager. The interview lasted about an hour, and then I was given a tour of the facilties. I had already really liked the company from researching it, but after meeting with the hiring manager and seeing where I would work, I was really impressed and really wanted to work there. The next business day I was offered the job, and I pretty much said yes immediately. They offered me $50k, so after hearing $40-45k initially and reading that they were a stingy company regarding salries I thought I was being given a generous offer. I had spent so much time worrying about the interview process, that I didin't even think about the offer process. I wasn't aware that you are suppose to ask for more everytime. I was so worried about ruining this opportunity that I thought asking for more money would result in them taking back the offer, when in reality that is not how it works...</p>
<p>This post may make me seem as selfish, but I'm not trying to be. I'm just worried I severly undervalued myself. Your starting salary seems to severly affect your future salary at the any company. I have read that this company mostly does 2-3% salary raises. What are my options? I'm obviously not going to be compaining about my current salary in the coming months, I just need to know what I should do.</p>
<p>It’s your first job. Consider it a the entire situation a learning experience. Had you used a recruiter, you might have paid out more in a fee. Also, job offers are not always negotiable. If you really need the job, you take a little less. You can negotiate yourself right out of a position. The next guy they interview might be willing to take the job for less and be equally qualified. So I don’t think you made a mistake. </p>
<p>What you now do is that you learn as much as you can on the job and when you start looking for other positions, find out what they pay. That is where your mistake was with this whole deal. You aren’t supposed to always ask for more every time. You are supposed to know what a position is worth and about how much you are worth on the market and what your spread is. By walking into a job interview and not knowing that, you put yourself to a disadvantage. Next time it’ll be easier because you know what your base line is and you do the research to see what the top rates are at a company. </p>
<p>But, no, you are not always supposed to ask more every time. I guarantee you that has cost people jobs, especially in this job environment. I know I won’t pay more. If someone is an aggressive negotiatior, he is off my list. I don’t want to hire someone who is actively looking for more and will feel underpaid and looking for another job right up front.</p>
<p>I think you did just fine. The HR woman (not girl) wasn’t trying to low ball you, she was tyring to be honest with you. It looks like they really wanted you and offered you 50K. If you have asked for 70K+, I don’t think they would have interviewed you. I am a hiring manager. I always want to know what people are expecting. If I was prepared to pay 60k for a position (that’s what other people are getting paid), if someone said they wanted 80, I would have just let that person go, if someone said they were expecting 50, I would have offered 55-60K (room for raise). Truth of the matter is people compare their comepnsation. If I offered someone 50K when other people were getting paid 60K, that person would be very upset later on when he found out.</p>
<p>It sounds like the right job for you. Take the job and be happy.</p>
<p>You guys are right. I am thinking too far into it.</p>
<p>They offer tuition reimbursment, so I’ll go back to school and see where I go from there.</p>
<p>you did well.</p>
<p>it’s tough to get into the defense field without a clearance, but you can’t get a clearance without being in the field. It’s very frustrating. The contractors probably bring on their entry level hires from college recruitment, and put them through the clearance process.</p>
<p>It sounds like you did pretty well. I usually believe it is good to negotiate for higher salary, but since you were unemployed, you possessed very little leverage for negotiations. When I was going through initial recruitment and got two offers, each company was willing to negotiate a higher salary since I had the leverage of another offer; that said, the company that fit me better wound up giving me a higher salary than the other company, so I didn’t have any room to negotiate.</p>
<p>In the future, you do have leverage, presuming you stay at your job. If you get recruited (entirely possible!), the fact that you already have a job will give you a LOT of leverage in salary negotiations. Generally speaking, especially early in the process, it’s best to avoid the subject of expected salary (if you must, then just give a range so that you don’t run into the issues the posters above mentioned). I was recruited a few months ago, and when they gave me an offer, I weighed my options before requesting roughly 25% more. They ended up meeting me squarely in the middle, which is what I was hoping for; I wound up remaining at my current company, but it was a good experience, especially with regard to salary negotiations.</p>
<p>My experience, including hearsay, has been that you’re not going to lose an offer because you negotiate; you just might not get anything extra by negotiating, and you might set a bad tone off the bat if you ask for the moon and begrudgingly accept something much less.</p>
<p>I took a new job last year, and I tried asking for more (I am not new to the job market). It didn’t work out, and at first the hiring manager seemed offended that I had asked. I told her nothing ventured, nothing gained! 
She laughed, I got the job … and I would ask for more in the future, too. You never know, because it might work out.</p>
<p>wait guys so if im asked about my expected salary, what should i say?</p>
<p>should i say anything within the range? if i dont know the range, how can i ask for more?</p>
<p>Conventional wisdom is to avoid giving a number until AFTER you get a number from the company. I typically use a generic “I am flexible” type response; if they push further, I’ll give a pretty wide range. For you, I would give a range unless they specifically and explicitly state that you need to give them a number, in which case I would ask for something about 5% higher than what you actually hope to get. But really, try to use a range if at all possible!</p>