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August - 2006 - issue > Ten Silly Reasons
10 Silly Reasons Techies give during Salary Negotiation
Sanjeev Jain
Monday, September 10, 2012
“If I have to shift to Bangalore I need double the salary”
Sunitha,
HR Manager,
CrimsonLogic.


During one of our recruitment drives, I came across this person who actually convinced us not to have any more recruitment drives there. We were into the final rounds of negotiating salaries with the candidates we’d shortlisted, and to our surprise all of them were expecting at least 75 to 100 percent hike in their salaries. I tried probing one guy as to why his expectations were so high and he gave a queer excuse: “If I need to shift to Bangalore my expenses will naturally go up. I need to wear branded clothes, need money to go to pubs and buy hi-fi gadgets.”

Wisecrack: When HR managers probe you for demanding higher salaries, tell them you need to live up to Bangalore’s reputation. If not here, where else?




“Not comfortable with Bangalore weather.”
Saji Anthony,
HR Executive,
ANZ Information Technology


We had a candidate who said he wanted a higher salary as he was sending his wife to look after his home back in his hometown. For us this was not a reason to demand higher wages. Back in their hometown, the cost of living was a lot cheaper. He could do a lot more with the money he saved here. Finally, we were stumped to hear him say that his wife was going back to her hometown because she did not like the city’s weather.

Wisecrack: Bangalore’s salubrious climate is legendary, so anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t wise!




“Higher Salary = More Dowry”
Ramachandran P,
Human Resources,
MResult Services Pvt Ltd


Once, a techie in his mid 20s cleared all our technical rounds for a middle level IT position. I called him for the HR round to fix the compensation. In the process he asked for an unreasonable amount stating, “ “Earlier my father lost an opportunity to cash in on dowry because of my low salary, but this time we don’t want to miss out. The more money I earn, the more I can negotiate for dowry.”

Wisecrack: As dowry is banned in India, get techies who demand higher salaries with an aim at dowry arrested. No Pain, No Gain!



“One after another member to look after.”
Srigowra. S,
HR Manager,
Comat Technologies Private Limited

Not very long ago, we had an employee who asked for a hike in salary, as he was getting married and had to support a family. Keeping employees benefit in mind, we hiked the salary. Six months later he came back with another request for a hike in salary. When we inquired, he said his wife was pregnant and that he needed to support one more member in the family.

Wisecrack: Techies remember, salary hike is linked to your professional performance, not personal accomplishment.




“Loyalty factor counts. No Discounts”
Jasmit Singh,
HR,
Coreobjects India Private Limited


We were recently interviewing a person for a senior position. His skills were good and befitting our company. As the interview progressed, we arrived at a discussion on his salary. The techie demanded a 70-plus percent hike in salary. I was taken aback. I asked him the logic behind this, especially when the industry average itself was half of what he was asking for. He said, “I worked for my previous employer for 6 years, and thus the premium I should get is 70-plus percent.

Wisecrack: Don’t play the loyalty card. People will find out what made you stay in the company for that long a time.



“I’ll get a 20% hike during appraisal. Give me more.”
Seema Kiran,
HR Manager,
Intersoft KK


“During one of our routine interviews, a techie came with a strange demand that shocked us out of our wits. He said he was expecting a 20 percent hike in his annual appraisal and wanted us to pay 30 percent more than that, a 50 percent hike to join us. This demand was unjustified and we just dropped him. At a time when the industry standard itself was between 15 and 20 percent, his demand was way beyond what we could afford.

Wisecrack: Greed thrills... and kills careers.



“Three girlfriends, salary not enough.”
Suresh. R.
General Manager, People management,
Tarang Software


Recently, we were interviewing a person for the post of a junior techie. Albeit a fresher with little skills, we still called him in for an interview. After studying the candidate I offered him Rs. 9,000. Instantly, he started bargaining and said he was upset and wanted a higher salary for his own personal reasons. When I pressed him to reveal the reason for not accepting our salary offer, he gave an answer, which to my utter dismay, was one of the wildest reasons I have come across in my life. He said he had three girlfriends in Bangalore and the salary we offered was insufficient to pander to their needs.

Wisecrack: Don’t have three girlfriends but have three important skills to negotiate a hike.



“I need to protect myself for the future.”
Vikas Saxena,
Vice Prsident HR,
Valtech India


This is as weird as it gets. One of our tech leaders with 6.5 years of experience came to me and requested a hike in salary. When asked why, he said he wanted to protect himself from unforeseen future events. On insisting further he said he wanted more salary as the government may ask the IT companies to stop paying salaries to the techies as it had already skyrocketed. His logic was that when the government could raise the prices of fuel such as petrol and diesel despite promising it wouldn’t, there was no guarantee the government wouldn’t ask IT companies to stop paying salaries to techies. When I refused to give in to his demands, he quit the company only to come back three days later. We refused to take him back.

Wisecrack: If techies don’t earn well, who would pay heavy taxes to the government?



“I have many overheads and can’t do with what you are offering.”
Padmakar D.P.
HR Manager,
Neo IT


One of the techie’s we hired included all his overheads in demand for higher salary. He had borrowed a lot of money from housing and car loan companies, not to mention availing even personal loans. While demanding a wage revision, he was calculating the massive premium he had to pay to these finance firms, by arm-twisting us into accepting his demands. We refused to be cowed down and showed him the door.

Wisecrack: No Company is run for charity. If you expect companies to look after your burden as well, better ask for something else from the company.



Petrol price is increasing, so please hike my salary
Sunitha Katta,
Manager HR,
i2 Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.


About four months ago, one of our bright engineers came to me with a demand for hiking his salary. We found nothing unusual in that as many people do that. But we were taken aback as his demand was linked to the hike in petrol prices. Petrol prices rise every now and then and we don’t see any reason in keeping pace with it.

Wisecrack: Sometimes petrol prices have been reduced after some hike, so will the techies accept lesser salary then?

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