8 steps to the salary you deserve

5. Recalculate your current salary. If the interviewer asks you the old "What's your salary now?" question, know that she is looking to keep the offer as low as possible. What she will do is figure out a percentage bump, based on your current salary, that she thinks will satisfy you. If you can't sidestep the salary question, round up: add in what you would guess would be your raise in the current year, plus any bonus, and use that number to reflect your current salary. It's not lying. It's projecting. It is kosher to reasonably estimate up based on your anticipated income. One of The Girls Who Call Us recently got a job offer after revealing her actual salary to a prospective employer. Before she accepted the offer, she got an unanticipated 10 per cent salary hike at her current job -- and now the salary at the new job was lower than the old one. But don't go nutty inflating your current salary. If you overinflate, it will be as obvious as double-D breast implants. Hint: never reveal your actual current salary to a headhunter, no matter what they say; they will report it to their client! If asked, say politely: "I'm looking for something in the $50K range."

6. If they ask you for a number, try not to give it. We've both hired people who spat out a number that was well below -- as much as $20K -- what we were authorized to offer. We though, "Great: they're happy, we're happy. Problem solved." If asked what salary you are looking for, say, "Well, I've done some homework on this, and teh range seems to be between $2 [your bottom number] and $5 [your Happy Number + 10 per cent]. What's the range you have budgeted for this position?"

7. When they make an offer, don't accept immediately. Thank them for the offer; don't show disappointment or glee. Tell them that you will go home, crunch some numbers, and get back to them. Usually they will give you a deadline. Chances are the number will be lower than what you want. Be prepared to go back and tell them your Happy Number. Use common sense -- if your Happy Number is 40 per cent higher than their offer, you are not in the same ballpark, and you might have to counter with your middle number plus 10 per cent wiggle room. They will tell you they need "to crunch the numbers" and will come back again to you with something probably five or 10 per cent lower than the number you gave them.

8. Be prepared to walk away if they don't come close to your deal-breaker number. If you are not happy with your salary, you will be anxious and unhappy -- never a great place to start a new life. But before you walk away from a job you think you are dying to have because they are offering you less than you currently make, ask about the other benefits that might make up for a lower salary: bonuses, health insurance, flex spending, pension plans, profit sharing, car allowances, moving expenses, stock options, and salary reviews at intervals of less than a year. At that point, feel free to ask for the moon -- you've got nothing to lose.

Money isn't everything. Don't leave a job you are really happy with for $5K or $10K more unless you are sure that the new position is one you really want. It might sound like a lot of money, and so it is, but if you divide it by 12, the financial impact isn't worth leaving a job you adore. Conversely, to not take a job that you think is perfect for you because it pays less than the job you have currently and feel lukewarm about is equally self-defeating. You can't put a price on day-to-day happiness.

Page 2 of 2

Excerpted from The Big Sister's Guide to the World of Work: The Inside Rules Every Working Girl Must Know by Marcelle DiFalco and Jocelyn Greenky Herz. Copyright 2005 by Marcelle DiFalco and Jocelyn Greenky Herz. Excerpted with permission from Fireside Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.