Recruiter asking me for compensation expectations as L3 at Google. What should I say?
My recruiter is asking me for compensation expectations as L3 at Google (I've already passed hiring committee). I have 3 yoe, and am aiming for a Seattle position. Is it a good idea to respond with hard numbers (highballing it) or should I just wait to see what they give me?
At least 200k.
Which location are you working at currently?
Currently Seattle (planning on staying in the Seattle region)
I’m a recruiter. Salaries are in general negotiable. You could say e.g. “Between 150k and 180k”, giving them some room, too. A pay increase for you would be nice but please consider that purpose/impact of the new job and your own happiness should be way more important!
Definitely consider the whole package OP, not only the compensation part. Opportunities for growth, purpose, impact, work life balance, fringe benefits, and so on are all very important. If anything, you getting along with your new team will be the most impactful factor in your happiness at the new company, not some extra dollars in your pockets.
That's BS if you say between X and Y, only the lower number matters. For OP, do your due diligence and research the salary range for that location and level. Come up with 2 numbers. The higher number is your dream TC: you will accept that TC without conditions. This number is public. The lower number is your baseline. You will reject any TC below that. This number is private. Give the recruiter your dream TC. If they offer less, negotiate. if the final offer is higher that your baseline, accept. Also read about anchoring.
Spend an hour or two reading up on salary negotiation. This literally will be the few hours with the biggest long term ROI at this stage of your career. Say that you get an extra 5% in compensation now by negotiating, you'll carry that 5% extra for each future salary negotiation, so it literally follows you for the rest of your career. Generally, for a negotiation to have good outcomes for you, you need to have a BATNA and be willing to walk away from the negotiation table. Typically, that means competing offers, but it could also be that you're happy staying in your current role. Good luck, and don't make the first move by telling them what you want to make or how much you make.
Would giving a high ball number not be a wise first move?
No, it's not. Imagine it from the company's perspective. The company has a lot of new grads and junior engineers that all want to join Google. They have a massive hiring pipeline, tons of programs to get more people in their pipeline (university recruiting, presence in conferences, event sponsorship, etc.). From their perspective, all of these entry-level engineers are fungible. The only reason for you not to be "just a generic entry-level candidate" is for you to be an outlier in some way that's relevant to the company and that they know about it. It's unlikely that it's your case. Now if you start with an outlandish number, say that you tell them "I want a $500k comp package, a Bentley and a chauffeur," they'll just shrug and move on to the next candidate. If you say a high ball number (from your perspective) that's lower than what they'd give you, then you just sold yourself short.
Say you're not willing to discuss compensation at this early stage. They don't even know if they want to hire you, how can they know how much you're worth? This early negotiation is a trick to keep salaries low. Don't fall for it.
I’m in the same situation as OP but I made the mistake of disclosing my current salary :( When I asked for time to think, the recruiter just said she would try to get something higher that this. This didn’t sound good to me so later I did some research and sent her the exact numbers I wanted. Damn guess I am making one too many mistakes. Btw OP when you say 230$ TC how is that broken up? Do you include any one time bonus as part of your TC?
Normal base + rsu/4 + yearly bonus, no signing bonuses added
1 mil salary
"why don't we start with what you're thinking? I promise I won't be offended, I'd just like to see if our expectations are similar."
🎄fiddy