Cover Letter Tip #7

Salary Information

If at all possible, avoid listing any salary requirements in the cover letter. Wait until a job is offered before negotiating salary, or in some cases, this is discussed in more depth in the interview. However, in bad economic conditions, or for companies on a tight budget, they may request that you include salary information in the cover letter (or at least in the application). This can be a tough thing to handle, but the reality is if the company has a tight budget that they cannot get around, and you want more than they can offer, it is best to move on and not waste each others time.  It can be frustrating to get to the point of a job offer only to receive a low offer, or to find that there is not a fit based on salary. So if it is necessary to include your desired income in the cover letter, try and provide a range as opposed to an exact amount (and if they provide a range in the job description then just use a variation of that). Now when I say variation, don’t low ball yourself. If the range provided is from $45,000 - $55,000 and you would like to make $50,000, then give a range of $50,000 - $55,000.