[wallijonn]

You go to fill out an employment application and it asks what you will settle for, or you need to give a salary history or a salary that you will settle for (manadatory) - how do deal with that?

Do employers just look at those that will settle for $5.15 an hour? Do they not even bother looking at resumes with salaries beyond minimum wage?

 

[averydonovan]

When I was in a position as an Assistant Manager and I had to search through applications looking for more promising candidates (I didn't have to do this very often luckily) I'd look for reasonable amounts of salary or wage requests. Obviously I was searching for ambitious people, but their salary requirements could tell the difference between ambition and arrogance. $50,000/yr for an entry level position may show some ambition considering I worked for a commission-based job, but it also shows some arrogance to expect that much at first. And a person who wants only minimum wage is on the oppossite end, certainly not arrogant but not neccessarily ambitious either. There is a balance somewhere, and it is individual to the qualifications of each applicant. If the person who wanted the $50K/yr had just graduated from college or a university with a 4-year degree then that is more reasonable. And the guy wanting minimum wage could have just graduated high school, so he may be right to only expect minimum wage although one would hope he'd want more. There is too much variance to give a rule of thumb.

 

[jpelg]

It's a ploy. A gauge to determine who is desperate enough to work for the low wages/salaries they are offering. If you bid too high, you won't get asked for the interview. Too low, and you may find yourself in a low-paying job and still looking for something else while you work there. But if you really need a job, and this company is a real option, you have to comply (usually leaving it blank results in a non-response also).

 

[spaceman]

In the past, I just put "open for discussion" if they asked a specific question regarding salary/salary history.

 

[FalconP]

I think it's a device to test whether the applicant is familar with the trade or not, whether he or she has researched the job beforehand -- clueless people give clueless figures.

More imputs from those in management positions?

 

[fractus2]

I think that is one of the questions you need to prepare for when you get an interview. If it's on the application then you have time to some research on what the going rate is, what others in that position have been paid, and do some soul searching on the min that you would work for.