> 60% of jobs will tell you a salary range either on the ad or via the recruiter.
This is common in the US as well and makes your filtering job easier when it happens.
> The rest wont play the “you tell me first” game and just pass on you.
Are those employers you would want to work for? My heuristic is, probably not. In which case it costs you nothing to pass on them as well. But see further comment below.
> more offers is more leverage
Not necessarily. They're only leverage if you are actually interested in them. Otherwise they're not an actual alternative.
If there is an employer you really want to work for who literally won't give you an offer unless you tell them a number first, then you're in a buyer's market. But for anyone who has good tech skills it is rarely a buyer's market; you are a scarce resource and should value yourself accordingly.
Leverage is not defined as something you're interested in. That would be more like a BATNA.
Leverage is what someone else believes you're interested in.
In the US many jobs post a salary range, which can be not accurate or updated and apply to several levels of roles, "based on your experience" which puts you back at the negotiation table.
I've always found it odd american culture does not always embrace negotiating despite many of our core actions being based on it. Jobs, home purchases, following "rules" and "policies" are in many cases left to the personal discretion of the enforcer. Yet we dont teach people how to effectively negotiate. In the midwest especially the cultural coding is to view it as distasteful. The disservice is usually to the person with the lease leverage and the least information aka the little guy.
> Leverage is what someone else believes you're interested in.
If you're good enough at dissimulation to make a recruiter (who has a lot more experience at this than you do) believe you're interested in another offer when you're actually not, you probably don't need any of the advice in either the article or this discussion thread.
But if you're not that good at dissimulation, attempting it is shooting yourself in the foot. You're much better off being honest and only talking about other offers you have if you actually are interested in them.
> In the US many jobs post a salary range, which can be not accurate or updated and apply to several levels of roles, "based on your experience" which puts you back at the negotiation table.
Yes, posted salary ranges should not be taken as absolute. But they give you an idea of whether a company is worth your time to look at.
> I've always found it odd american culture does not always embrace negotiating despite many of our core actions being based on it.
I don't think it's "American culture" in general that doesn't embrace negotiating. It's more a certain segment of American middle class culture. I agree that it's both odd and a disadvantage to those who grow up in that culture.
I can't argue against "if you're that good at it". I do know most people lie and they lie a lot. Often at work.
If you've ever called in sick, pretended to be thrilled at someone's birthday gift (not family), told your boss you were stoked about a project that you certainly were not and felt believed -- tap into it!
> most people lie and they lie a lot. Often at work.
Yes, in situations which are nothing like job negotiations. Sure, people tell little white lies all the time, because the stakes are low and nobody has any real incentive to call them on it. (Calling in sick might be different if you do it often enough that your boss starts wondering what's going on.) Neither of those things are the case in job negotiations.
I've found either they tell you up front, or you have to go through the entire process and then at the end they fit you into their predefined bands and give you an offer somewhere in the middle of the band. The bands are not always about how well you interviewed, but can be about how good a story you make based on your previous experience (which probably won't be verified, so go for gold).
> Since more offers is more leverage
Also my experience. You get a number of offers, then go back to the company you like best and tell them what the market is paying.
Either they like you and will bump it up, or they're indifferent and will hold.
60% of jobs will tell you a salary range either on the ad or via the recruiter.
The rest wont play the “you tell me first” game and just pass on you.
Since more offers is more leverage it might be better to play their game individually to have a better overall position (more offers)