Salary expectations - unreasonable to ask for this?

[violetbunny]

I have an interview coming up for a role similar to what I do now, at the same level. I am anticipating that they may ask me what my salary expectations are.

My current employer will soon be moving locations, meaning that if I stayed in my current role I would be 5 minutes walk from work, instead of 30 mins drive which it what it is currently. Potential employer is located 40 mins drive from where I live.

Would I be unreasonable to ask for a slight pay rise vs what I get now, on the basis that if I stayed in my current role I'd have no commuting costs? Or would this be cheeky given my current work haven't even moved yet? I get a reasonably good salary in my current role so don't want to appear too greedy, but on the other hand I don't really want to end up worse off if I'm offered the role.

If it makes any difference, both my current role and the one I'm applying for provide a company car allowance which is fixed per month (regardless of how many miles I drive). I've been in my current role for 2 years.

Thanks

Salary expectations should be based on your value to your employer not your personal living costs. You have experience they will benefit from and if they want you they can pay for you.

You should name a starting figure of your current salary +10% or +£5k whichever is greater but if they say no to that accept +5%/+£3k.

I think it's always worth asking for more money and not being bashful about it. I would state your salary expectations based on the value of the job you do, and factor in the overall package you receive (any bonus, pension arrangements, healthcare, number of days leave etc). Don't make it about the commuting costs when discussing with them - that is your problem, not theirs, but keep those extra costs in mind when stating your salary expectations. If they ask you your current salary and question you on the gap between it and your new one, say something like 'I believe my expectations are in line with the contribution I will make in this role'. Or even 'I believe that my current salary package doesn't fully recognise the value that I add in the role.' As an interviewer I wouldn't think that someone was being greedy if they wanted to negotiate their salary upwards.

Good luck!

Ask for what you want - they're asking expectations not current salary.

Employers know that it is a hassle and a risk for an employee to move job so they expect that they'll have to make it worth your while.

Thanks for the advice, it all makes sense. I will have a re-think about how I approach it.

Do you know if you're currently being paid at the market rate? Use payscale.com or similar to check salaries for role, experience, location. Look at your current salary.

Ask for more than you want, because then there's room to negotiate downwards before you settle. Make sure you know what your absolute minimum is, but don't let them know. Don't go for too high that you price yourself out of the running - but that might be higher than you expect. I once said I wouldn't go to a job for less than about 25% more than the job I was currently in - I wasn't really interested in the job, and was expecting them just to say no. I was quite shocked they went to HR to try and get it signed off, and it was a very salutory lesson to me - I am now more ambitious than I once would have been when it comes to salary negotiations. (Still didn't take that job, though - it wasn't about the money.)

Ebearhug - I'm not in the UK but have looked at local salary surveys. The difficulty is that I'm in a very specialist role which doesn't ever feature in these guides. Salaries are published for related roles in my industry but the salaries vary widely

They publish data for related roles but the salary ranges are quite wide. I took a significant pay rise coming into my current role, so am finding it hard to work out

Whoops accidentally hit post too soon!
Needless to say it's really hard to get an idea of market rate, I think they will expect I need some kind of incentive to move, it's just hard to know how much to ask for. I will follow the advice on this thread, it's been a big help

If you can't find the market rate/there isn't a market rate, they are a sblind as you are - go big.

Was your previous role also related to this one? I'd probably base my expectations on the higher salary - I say this in having taken a salary cut when I got my current role (well, it was quite a bit more than unemployment), and a couple of years ago when I mentioned in a payrise meeting that it was really nice to have reached my previous highest salary again, my manager was really shocked. I realised that I should have negotiated my starting salary on my previous salary, not the current one at the time I got this job.

Bump! Just wanted to update that I was offered the job. They didn't end up asking about salary expectations in my interview in the end, but I did manage to negotiate a slight increase over what they offered initially. Overall it's a decent bump vs what I'm on now so I am pretty happy.

Thanks for all the advice, it was really helpful

Congratulations!

Congrats! :)