The interview with our candidate seemed to be going well… the hiring authority was interested because the candidate had done exactly what they wanted and they were pleased.

The salary range the company had was $80,000-$85,000 a year and since the candidate was only making $73,000, it was going to be good for everyone.

We had discussed money with our candidate and explained that with the salary range of the company and them offering him $80,000, while he was making $73,000, it would be a nice bump in earnings… in the initial part of our presentation of the job to him, he agreed…

But when he got into the final offer stage, he got greedy and literally told the hiring authority that when they made him an offer, he had done his research on the Internet and was worth a $90,000 salary…

Our client had offered $80,000 thinking they were giving him a very generous raise and when he came back with this comment, the hiring authority was taken off guard… the hiring authority  said “well, the best we can offer is $80,000 because that’s what the job is worth… this is a very good company and you would do well to be here.” The candidate stated again that since he found his value on the Internet was $90,000, he was going to stick to that figure.

We are still trying now to patch this thing together. In this market, it is unlikely that anyone is going to go from $73,000 a year to $90,000 a year just because a salary survey on the Internet says the person is worth $90,000. The hiring authority didn’t know whether he was disappointed in the candidate because the candidate was  passing up a good opportunity or that the candidate was foolish enough to believe a salary survey on the Internet was going to be his reason for wanting that much of a raise.

Our candidate did a poor job… he got greedy… he thought that since the  interviewing process had been going so well, a $17,000 salary increase was in order.. and his reasoning, “well I saw on the Internet” made it even more awkward.

We are still trying to get these folks back together… trying to get the candidate to understand that no one has any intrinsic value… what you are “worth” is what you can get on the market and that going from $73,000 a year to $80,000 a year is not only reasonable in this market but an excellent opportunity especially with such a quality company.

Our plea to the hiring authority is to beg for forgiveness on the part of the candidate for this lack of experience and changing jobs and negotiating a salary… we tried to chalk it up to inexperience and ignorance.

The lesson is that to go into any kind of negotiation and say something stupid like “well I saw that I’m worth $$$$ on the Internet.” isn’t going to get you very far.  No salary survey on the Internet should have anything to do with your getting a new job. Negotiate in good faith, but be smart about it. No hiring authority is going to pay any salary because of an Internet survey.