Random question but...

In Australia, when a potential employer sends you a job offer, are they almost expecting the salary to be negotiated? Or is it normally "take it or leave it"?

In other words, is it similar to buying a house, where you'd offer a price slightly lower than what you're really willing to pay, expecting the real estate agent to meet in the middle?

This is for an engineering job, and salary has not yet been discussed in the interview, although they did ask how much I'm currently on.

Any comments welcome.

Depends on the employer. If it's Govt, then they probably have a very strict budget and very little room for negotiation, but private sector is different. It also depends on the type of job and the amount of experience you have. If you are a graduate Macdonalds manager then you do not have possibility of negotiating a higher wage. Personally if you have < 5 years experience, you want the job and the $$ are OK then don't fuck about over 5/10K unless u really need the dough.

i hope you inflated it by at least 10k

From what i understand in engineering if your good and they want you, negotiate all you like! Just don't go overboard.

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Osama Bin Hooning
Senior Terrorist Operative
Perth-Wrx

Well I actually told the truth. I know it sounds stupid but I didn't feel comfortable padding it. =)

Thanks for your tips anyway. I might go back and ask for a bit more. Hehe.

better to ask for more at the start and work ya way down. just like buying a house or anything else.

Im no engineer, but I reckon if it was offered to you in the first place, and you believe in the work you are capable of, dont sell yourself short and maybe go back to them and say "lets trial 3 months at $ amount and then hit them up for a wage increase after the 3 months (reverse Psychology style). Then when you are worth your weight in gold and the industry picks up, you would have settled in nicely at that stage and may find they can't do without you and don't want to go down the road of losing you and start the searching process from scratch. But what do I know, Im in Sales

don't worry, i've been in engineering for 17years, everyone does it your new employer will come through with a higher offer than what your on to make it worth your while, usually around 5-10k, depending on what they think you're worth, experience etc

lotta factors in it, it can be negotiated, depends on employer, type of job, working environment in the economy etc.

i got asked what i was on and what other job offers i had at the time, and what salary i was after.

During a job interview, how do you answer to 'what salary are you expected?'

Just say the employer had in mind of 50k pa for your experiences, and you not knowing exactly what they want you tell them you expect about 40k pa.

You are pretty much 10k under what they was going to pay you. so they might take advantage of this and pay you 40k instead of the original 50k.

What if you say you expect 60k, which is way over their limit which can cause them to not hire you because you expect so high.

How do you know exactly what you are worth and/or the amount you expect them to pay you.

Side note: is it better to underate yourself so you have a higher chance of getting the job?

in the current climate, you would almost consider yourself lucky to be getting a job. A few years ago, I would have negotiated salary, I've dont it in the past with pay rises, asked for more etc... Now, I would just be happy to have a job.