The Next Time A Recruiter Pings You, Ask Them How Much You’re Worth

Two problems, one solution

If you’re an engineer living in the Valley, you’re probably faced with a myriad of problems:

Problem: you get pinged by recruiters twice a week for a position with some (usually unnamed) hot startup.

Problem: you’re not really sure how much your skills are actually worth. You feel like you might be underpaid, but you don’t know enough to know if you should try to negotiate.

Problem: what an engineer is worth in the Valley keeps changing, usually in the upward direction to the tune of about 15% per year. (Okay, so this one isn’t much of a problem.)

Here’s how to hit those birds with one stone.

First, the next few times a recruiter pings you, send them a response like the following:

“Hey Elliot,

I appreciate you reaching out to me about this opportunity. Luckily, I’m quite happy at {{COMPANY.NAME}} and am not currently looking for other positions.

I do have one question for you. Right now, what would a typical salary range look like (at a well-funded startup) for someone with my background and level of experience?

Ryan

Second, after you do that a few times you’ll have a good idea of what the market is. You’ll probably get a range, rather than a number. (You may get outlier responses if the recruiter considers you for a too-junior position.)

When you’re ready to bring up the topic of salary and— and you should if you’re being underpaid at least 5% below the market range — there are a couple points that may be helpful.

First, you should point out that considering market compensation on an ongoing basis, rather than just at hiring, is a best-in-class HR process (see, eg, Netflix).

Second, you should frame your raise request in terms of “what’s fair.” It’s difficult for a manager to make a counterargument — does the company not value fairness? do they think that paying the market rate is somehow unfair?

Good luck!