"Desired Hourly Rate of Pay"? Is this a trick question?

cooljammer00

So I'm looking at the online application for Toys R Us. One of the questions is how much I want to get paid an hour. What is the "right" answer, here? This is as a member of the sales team, so think...disaffected youth just working there on weekends or something.

edit: Minimum wage in my state is $7.25, mind you.

Unknown

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MushroomStick

My sister just got hired at Toys R Us a few weeks ago and was basically offered minimum wage, take it or leave it. Just a heads up in case you didn't know - Anyone getting hired at TRU right now is probably only getting seasonal work and will be let go after Christmas.

EWom

What my old manager told me at CVS is that they do that, so that people can low ball themselves. They want the job, and they don't want to scare the hiring people off by putting some huge number. So even if they have 20 years experience in retail, and they'll usually end up putting less than what they actually feel they deserve.

Say Toys'R'Us can hire you at 9$ hour max, if you have the previous experience to warrent 9$ an hour, but they ask you what you think you should be making, and you say min wage is 7.25 but you put $8 an hour. They'll probably give you the 8$ an hour, then tell you that they had to fight to get it for you.

So yes, it's a trick question.

Deusfaux

any job that's ever had that I find, has admitted it's irrelevant, and they have their own system (your position, MAYBE your experience) to determine what to pay you.

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Acebgd12

I filled out the same application a couple years ago for the same job at TRU and got the job. I think I put $9? It didn't actually matter. Just don't put something ridiculous.

Thundyrkatz

Put "Negotiable" Then discuss it at the end of the interview.

Mmmm... Cocks...

Thundyrkatz wrote: »

Put "Negotiable" Then discuss it at the end of the interview.

The trick answer for the trick question, I like.

NotYou

Thundyrkatz wrote: »

Put "Negotiable" Then discuss it at the end of the interview.

I had a professor at school who said to never put this on an app. It makes you look like you don't know what you're worth

Just be honest about what's the best you could hope they would give you.

MushroomStick

NotYou wrote: »

Thundyrkatz wrote: »

Put "Negotiable" Then discuss it at the end of the interview.

I had a professor at school who said to never put this on an app. It makes you look like you don't know what you're worth

Just be honest about what's the best you could hope they would give you.

This is to be a cashier or something at Toys R Us, not a career.

bowen

Mmmm... Cocks... wrote: »

Thundyrkatz wrote: »

Put "Negotiable" Then discuss it at the end of the interview.

The trick answer for the trick question, I like.

You can do this for any job by the way.

For future job lookers, do some research on how much people make in the field you're going in. Then when you go in you have a good idea if they're lowballing you, giving a great wage, or being dicks.

For instance, you look up and find that an sales rep in the area is pulling in $40K plus commission. You go in for the interview and you put negotiable on the app. Then he asks, "So, how much do you think?" you can say, "Well, I'm open for negotiation on this, how much would you be willing to pay someone with my experience?"

If he tries to trap you again, always upsell yourself by at least 10-15%. They will always try to pay less than what you quote so if you quote what you find, you'll often get paid less. It's worked for me, anyways.

Darkewolfe

I always answer "negotiable" on any paperwork like that. Salary requirements are for after the interview.

bowen

NotYou wrote: »

Thundyrkatz wrote: »

Put "Negotiable" Then discuss it at the end of the interview.

I had a professor at school who said to never put this on an app. It makes you look like you don't know what you're worth

Just be honest about what's the best you could hope they would give you.

You may also end up lowballing yourself from a company that pays it's employees a mint.

Maybe you're from NY and you've made $50,000 in your field and find a job in San Fran and put $80,000 for your cost of living increase and that's what salary.com told you. But maybe that company pays employees $120,000. You've just lowballed yourself by a shit ton.

Rikushix

In a way it's the hardest question in a job application, because there ISN'T a "right answer". You never know whether you're lowballing yourself or not.

Darkewolfe

I don't know if it's as applicable in an hourly situation, either, but often times you want to have more of a conversation about anticipated job duties before negotiating a salary. You might only be worth $70k/yr for the basic title you're applying for, but then you could discover that you might be doing supplementary work with another skill, increasing your value.

bowen

Darkewolfe wrote: »

I don't know if it's as applicable in an hourly situation, either, but often times you want to have more of a conversation about anticipated job duties before negotiating a salary. You might only be worth $70k/yr for the basic title you're applying for, but then you could discover that you might be doing supplementary work with another skill, increasing your value.

This guy.

ChopperDave

When it comes to negotiating a salary, the first party to give a number loses. This is why most companies now ask you to give a figure on your application.

I second writing "negotiable" and waiting until the interview before you discuss salary.

Dark_Side

I have always just put a hyphen mark in there and left it blank. Negotiable works too. You can talk pay when you get into the interview and have a better idea of the workload, expectations, and benefits.

cooljammer00

Yeah, the application has the space to fill it out (in the format of 0.00, without a dollar sign)

Not sure if I can put negotiable, but I'll give it a shot.

tardcore

Maybe this will help: Toys R Us just called me for a position and told me what they pay.
(I live in Georgia)

Day position (customer service) pays around $7.90 while overnight stock pays $8.65.

The Black Hunter

Maybe go through and ask one of the employees on the sly what they earn.

be honest with them about why you are asking etc.

MichaelLC

tardcore wrote: »

Maybe this will help: Toys R Us just called me for a position and told me what they pay.
(I live in Georgia)

Day position (customer service) pays around $7.90 while overnight stock pays $8.65.

I'd take the overnight stock if it works for your life.

jedikuonji

While I don't work for Toys R Us, the place I do work for has this section as well. I think how your answer is received largely depends on who's reading the application. When I'm looking over apps with my boss, sometimes the desired wage is 50 to 100% higher than what we offer. It gives us a good laugh, but it doesn't stop us from calling people with a good application. We can't offer them that much, but the worst outcome is the person says they aren't interested in accepting our pay rate.

Al_wat

I always put a ridiculous number here. Like if I know for a fact the place is going to pay... for example, $12 an hour, I'll still put $25.

I don't know if this is the smartest thing to do, but thats what I do. I've never had to do this when applying to a job I really wanted though.

Feels Good Man

When applying for a job as a cashier at Michael's I put the minimum wage level in that slot



during my interview the boss saw that and smiled and said "Well we pay a bit more than that"




a bit more was fucking right. $7.50 an hour

Tomanta

Figure out how much Bill Gates makes an hour. Double it. Add "OBO".

Unknown

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