should I interview for a job where the salary I want is technically possible but not likely?

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

Recently I have been looking for a new position because my current project was canceled due to a product decision.

I heard of a company from a friend of a friend. She said it was a great place to work. I looked it up and there were positions available with my skillset and in my expected salary range. So excitedly, I applied.

During the first-round screening with HR, the HR rep asked my salary expectations. I replied that my minimum was $170,000. Their posted range was $133,000-$200,000. I have been doing this level of work for five or so years and have a lot of experience in the industry in general.

She replied: “They like to start hire people at $150,000-$165,000 so they can grow in the role. It takes signatures otherwise.”
Me: “Well, my minimum is 170,000 so it sounds like this isn’t the role for me.”
Her: “165K is close to 170K.”
Me: “But it’s not $170,000. What would I need to do to be qualified for $170,000?”
Her: “If the interview goes great.”
Me: “But what would be the skills they’re looking for to make the interview go great?”
Her: “I don’t know, please talk to the hiring manager.’

Fair enough. I get scheduled to talk with the hiring manager. It goes well from my point of view and he asked if I had any questions at the end. I explained the difference between the salary range presented and the actual salary range. He says, “They like to bring people in at mid-range.” He says he’s never actually hired in anyone at a higher range but he knows that it’s been done. I then ask him what skills would differentiate for him between a mid-level and a high-level in the position. He’s clearly unprepared for the question and says the interview has to go well but also lists a bunch of vague skills that all people doing this work do, just at varying levels. I asked if the technical portion of the interview, which was the next step, would be able to differentiate this, and he assured me the answer was yes. That was a poor question on my part; I should have asked how.

As a woman in a male-dominated industry who has received multiple lower job offers than what I’ve applied to (always with the promise in six months that I’ll be promoted to the actual title), “if the interview goes well” feels like a vibe check rather than a proxy for skillset and experience.

They moved me on to the technical assessment but that would be hours of my time. I didn’t outright withdraw but I did ask HR whether the $170,000 was truly possible in my case. They have my resume, the hiring manager has met me, and I hope they know their rubric better than they’re communicating.

Next time should I just stop when they say they don’t want to meet my minimum even if it is technically possible? Was I wrong for wanting some indication on their part that I am in contention for my minimum salary before proceeding with the technical assessment? I understand the most likely outcome is them withdrawing the assessment, and I am fine with that.

I would handle it differently.

It was reasonable to start by asking what it takes to be hired at the higher end of the pay range. But when they wouldn’t answer clearly — and when you were hearing signs of resistance (like “we like to start people lower”) — at that point it made sense to just very bluntly distill the situation down to what really matters:

“I want to be transparent with you that I wouldn’t accept an offer for less than $170,000. Knowing that, does it make sense for us to keep talking?”

This isn’t foolproof. You risk them saying “yes, we should continue to talk” and then coming back and offering you less than your minimum anyway. If they want to keep talking, that’s not a promise that they’re open to the higher end of the range; it’s just an indicator that they want to keep you in the pool and keep their options open in case you end up being head and shoulders above all their other candidates, or in case they don’t end up with anyone else plausible. But you’ll have made it clear where you stand.

That said, the hiring manager saying “I’ve never actually hired in anyone at a higher range but I know that it’s been done” is not very encouraging. That’s basically saying, “It’s possible in theory, but unlikely in reality.”

So at that point you need to decide if you want to keep talking. There’s not a perfect formula to figure out if it makes sense to invest your time after that. Probably not, but if you walk away, it’s possible that you’re walking away from a job that would have offered what you wanted in the end. Frustratingly, at that point it’s really about reading the cues you’re getting — tone, hesitations, the exact way they choose to say something, the vibe you’ve gotten more broadly, what you know about this company in general — and that’s far more art than science.