Joe Grimm's News Jobs Café: Ask the recruiter

Competing job offers?

strong>Q: Great idea, blogging the questions/answers into an archive. I've spent hours on here reading. Thank you.

My question: How do you negotiate between two interested parties without losing out?

My situation: I think there's an old Chinese proverb that says, "A man who chases two snakes, catches neither."

I have "Job A" almost locked up. We've been talking, I've done several phone interviews and tests and they want to conduct a final in-person interview/orientation next week.

"Job B" has recently contacted me and wants to start the interview process with them.

And I just saw some postings, we'll call them "Job C" and "Job D," that I'm also very interested in (but haven't applied.)

I've recently finished my graduate degree with a year of real job experience under my belt. (Hence, I'm below the tranditional "MUST HAVE AT LEAST TWO YEARS EXPERIENCE" that just about every job description requires.) So gambling on negotiating offers, higher wages, perks, etc. makes me anxious since I have limited real-time experience.

As anyone would, I'd like get paid more than they're willing to pay. But getting these companies into a bidding war or burning a potential future employer could be dangerous. I'm not sure when to say, "I do have other parties interested" and not make it sound like a threat. And I'm not sure if I should or how to use multiple offers to my benefit.

Potential Employee A

A: I've been played, and I don't like it.

I also know of a few people who have played one company against another and met with disaster. One was fired for lying about a mythical competing offer. Another was suspended for the same thing. Someone else was advised to take the other offer -- which he really didn't want  -- and another played two companies against each other and last two offers and one job in the same day.

You're playing with fire.

The main prize here is the job, not the marginal difference between one offer and another. Why risk getting the reputation as a player and showing your eventual employer that you're not quite as interested in the job as they had thought? The truly successful people I know don't do this.

As for your situation, Jobs C and D don't exist. They're ads. Apply for them as insurance while you're waiting to hear from A and B, but don't use them as leverage, unless you'd rather go there. If you'd rather have Job A than Job B, I hope you get it, accept it and are happy. If you'd prefer Job B, try to get Employer A to give you time to see if you can get Job B.

For almost every job that gets filled, more than one candidate is considered. How would you feel if the employer said, "Well, we like you, but Candidate B is also good but willing to work for less."

None of us wants to get screwed, but keep your eye on the prize

Stagnating in my part-time job?

Q: I graduated three years ago with a degree in communications. Prior to graduation I took a part time job as a reporter for our local paper, a major daily. It was a good break, but since that time, I have remained part time. I am a hard worker, and good reporter. I believe I am passed over for the few full time positions that come along, meantime, I make a meager income, with few benefits. I am relatively happy living in the city in which I live, have friends, and like the paper, however my career is going nowhere. Any advice? What are my chances of moving up in the same paper, and what are my chances of getting a great full time job if I continue to stagnate as a part-time employee?
Jennifer

A: You need to have a serious sit-down with your editors. Ask them: "Am I qualified for the openings we get here? If I am, what will it take for me to have a serious shot at the next spot that comes open? If I am not, what do I need to do? Can I do it here?"

Your case reminds me of the time we offered a position to a local journalist, but told her that the position would not lead to a full-time reporting spot at the Free Press, that we would instead hire people from other papers that had more rigorous reporting experience than she would get in the position we were offering. She turned us down. Instead, she said, she would go get the reporting experience we were looking for. She got it, came back and is one of our go-to reporters today.

In a sense, you may be in a velvet coffin. Comfortable, but without a ghost of a chance for the position you crave. Put your editors on the line and ask them. Then be prepared to leave if you need to.

Bird in the hand always better?

Q: As a reporter with just a couple of years of experience at small dailies under my belt, I've been interviewing with a fairly large newspaper and quite frankly it's the type of job I've wanted since graduation.

Their interview process is lengthy -- a series of phone interviews with various editors -- after which they make a decision on whether to fly a candidate in for a personal interview. Having completed two such interviews, I was told I was one of two candidates for the job and was asked to start looking at my schedule to find a couple of days in order to travel. While waiting for this newspaper to make a decision on my application -- whether they want me to for a personal interview or not -- I also interviewed with two other newspaper editors -- also good jobs, but jobs that do not pay as much as the "dream job."

Both of the secondary newspapers are ready to fly me in for an interview, and while they have other candidates, I feel confident I would be offered a job if I followed through.

Should I stall the two newspapers while I wait for my primary choice in newspapers to make a decision? I don't feel comfortable traveling at their expense when I would likely take another job if it is offered. What is the viewpoint from the editor's perspective?

A: A good question -- and a good position to be in. A bird in the hand is not always better than the one in the bush. In this case, you don't have anything in hand, except a lot of confidence and a long career in front of you.

It seems that your best bet is to hold the secondary papers at bay for a while, saving them the expense of flying you out for a trip that might be fruitless, and giving you time to concentrate on your first choice.

Should the big job not pan out, you might still have a shot at those other papers, and you seem to have the confidence you'll get more nibbles, in any event.

As you do this, treat everyone well because there is a high likelihood you'll be talking to these editors again -- either for a second shot at the prime paper in a few years, or to arrange for an interview trip to the secondary papers. Don't make your secondary peoples feel second-rate, and don't string them along, even if that means you'll have to pass on immediate opportunities. You can be sufficiently vague by telling them that you're interested, but can't come visit right now and that you'll call back in a month. If they tell you they need to fill the opening before then, tell them you understand and that they should go ahead with it. If you call them in a month, you may find that the opening is still there, but at least you haven't been the one to slow them down.

Time between jobs?

Q: I want to give at least two weeks notice to my current employer and have at least 1 week off before I start my new position. How do I go about this and get what I want without jeopardizing the job offer?

Thank you,
C. S.

A: This should be very manageable. Your negotiating window on a job offer is the time between when they propose and when you say "I do." (In marriage, the negotiating never stops.)

To negotiate your start date with a modest request like this, just lay it on the line:

"Oh, thanks so much! I'm really excited by this offer. It's what I've wanted. I need to give my present employer two more weeks, and then I need another week or so to get there."

If you need 10 days, ask for 10. Don't put an unreasonable demand on your moving time that means you'll be asking for more time once you start. No employer wants to have a departing employee leave with no notice; no reasonable employer demands that a new hire have just a weekend between jobs.

Nine times out of 10, this kind of request is routine and handled without a blink.

Congratulations on the new job!

How do we talk money?

Q: How do I handle the question, ''What kind of salary are you looking for?''

B.K., Washington, D.C.

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 feeling like a chump, or seem over-priced and greedy.

A: Let's deal with minimums, first.

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 few 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 LA as it does in La., 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 on-line 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 that 15-percent increase, too.

Establishing a floor for your salary needs might keep you from starving, but it won't necessarily keep you from looking like a chump. To do that, you need more information about what the place pays. There are ways to do that.

Answer a question with a question. When they ask what you want, ask them what they are paying people with your level of experience. It's a fair question. Expect to get a minimum or 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 on-line 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.

If you have trouble getting the information there, try the Editor & Publisher Yearbook, available at the reference desk of most libraries. The yearbook also lists starting pay for many newspapers.
''Top minimum'' 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 first can make editors think you're jumping the gun and that journalism is a secondary consideration.

To read more about negotiating, go here.

What if ad asks salary?

Q: What is the best way to answer an ad that asks you to fax your salary requirement?

K. E.

A: Don't do it. You'll either lowball yourself, or be way too high. My guess is that the company that asked you to do this also said very little about itself. Your salary requirements are negotiable. They depend on the type of work, area of the country, opportunities for advancement, bonus and benefit packages and lots of other details.

Personally, I don't like to talk about money with candidates until I'm first comfortable that they're qualified to work at my newspaper. You should feel the same way about employers. Salary requirement is not a qualification.

I'd ignore the question. If they can't deal with that, look elsewhere.

Imagine how they would feel if your first question was: "So, how much do you pay?''

If you decide you want to tell them your requirements, I'd offer a range with your minimum at the bottom. Offering a single figure makes it a ceiling, rather than a floor.

For more advice on negotiating, go here.