The dreaded "salary requirement" part of job applications (nyc edition)

[ceebeeRN]

I don't know about you, but I know always hate the salary requirement part because I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by either lowballing or highballing it. I don't want to be taken advantage of financially or appear uninformed if I put in a salary that is too low and I dont want to be overlooked if I put one that is too high. What I usually do is put a range and then I would also imply that I am flexible.

So for example, I would write: $35-$40/hour but open to negotiation.

In the NYC metropolitan area,

what would be an acceptable range for a RN in a ambulatory care center?

I know a regular office RN would make about $25 an hour, give or take, so I suppose a RN in an ambulatory care center would make more than that? maybe $30? I don't know.

Also, I always wonder, what is the proper place to include your request? .Since I don't always include a cover letter, I usually put it at the very end of my resume for the jobs that ask for a salary requirement.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

In my experience, for a new RN without specialized experience applying for a general staff position, the desired salary section is just perfunctory. These companies already have established pay scales, and the room for negotiation is often rather limited. I really don't see that it's a considered factor when offering an interview.

Now, if you were coming into a specialized field with extensive past experience/qualifications of applying for a more selective position, such as management, the desired salary would be more important, as there is more room for negotiation in those areas.

So I really wouldn't agonize over what to put there. If you can write in "negotiable" then do that, but many automated applications only accept numeric responses. So choose a middle of the road salary and leave it at that. If you get offered the position, your salary is going to be whatever they offer you based on their pay scale, regardless of what you list as your desired salary.

ETA: When I moved from Maine to NJ, I had no idea what to expect as far as salary. I think I listed $25/hr as my desired salary, because that's the number I needed to be financially comfortable given my new expense costs. When I got a position, the pay started at significantly more than that because that's what the hospital's pay scale listed. A good, established company isn't going to take advantage of employees by offering them the lowest salary possible.

[babyNP., APRN]

I would put "negotiable" in the range and just leave it. Most places already have you at a fixed rate based on your experience anyway.

edit: if, as Ashley said, it only accepts numerics, I would put $0 and then add somewhere in the free-text of the app (or in your resume) that it's negotiable.

[ceebeeRN]

Thanks for the great advice! This would be a change of pace for me so I am not extensively experienced in the area that I am applying for since I currently do home care as well as as Long term care, so I guess

There was no formal application form..The office just asked for a resume along with a salary requirement. Some places go so far as to write sometime like: "applicants who do not include a salary requirement will not be considered" etc, so that's why I usually try to come up with some kind of reasonable figure.

[ceebeeRN]

Yea..I always add negotiable.you're absolutely right about the experience pay scale...so i never understand why employers even ask about a salary requirement. just another thing for applicants to stress about I guess lol.

Even though the company knows how much they are willing to offer, I don't want to appear as if I GROSSLY underestimate or underestimate the value of my work by putting down some inane number