negotiating starting salary

[TecHNooB]

How should I go about this?

Some background without giving too much away:
Defense Company
Located ~40 minutes from Dallas, TX
~60,000 employees globally
Electrical Engineering position
Bachelor's degree

They seem very interested~

I'm aiming for at least 70

 

[eldorado99]

Experience would be a pretty big factor in your negotiation.

 

[KillerCharlie]

Hmm, Lockheed in Fort Worth, let's see

If you're fresh out of school 70k is probably a bit on the high side. Aerospace companies aren't known for paying big bucks (especially compared to other big companies that hire electrical engineers).

If you're out of school with no experience and holding out for 75k, they can always find someone who'll do it for less.

 

[guyver01]

How should I go about this?

Some background without giving too much away:
Defense Company
Located ~40 minutes from Dallas, TX
~60,000 employees globally
Electrical Engineering position
Bachelor's degree

They seem very interested~

I'm aiming for at least 70

You're aiming for 70... what are they offering?

If you have minimal experience, they can pretty much get anyone they want. In this economy, it's a hiring market with candidates aplenty.

If you have special skills, you might have SOME leverage to negotiate.
For example... if they're offering 68k.. and you want 70k... MAYBE.
But if they're offering 45k.. and you want 70k.. forget it.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Hmm, Lockheed, let's see

If you're fresh out of school 70k is probably a bit on the high side. Aerospace companies aren't known for paying big bucks (especially compared to other big companies that hire electrical engineers).

Really? Aerospace is known for high margins and salaries...

 

[pray4mojo]

lolol 70.

if you had a masters then maybe 70. everyone has a BS these days. unless youve been interning at this company for 3+ years i dont see you getting 70. prove me wrong though

 

[TecHNooB]

lolol 70.

if you had a masters then maybe 70. everyone has a BS these days. unless youve been interning at this company for 3+ years i dont see you getting 70. prove me wrong though

my friends have been getting 80 and they only have their bachelors D:

i'd like to get close. really wish i had gone to the fall job fair :\

 

[KillerCharlie]

Really? Aerospace is known for high margins and salaries...

my friends have been getting 80 and they only have their bachelors D:

i'd like to get close. really wish i had gone to the fall job fair :\

I'm an aerospace engineer (with a major defense contractor) so some of this is conjecture, but I guarantee you a new hire electrical engineer at Intel will get paid a lot more than a new hire electrical engineer at Lockheed.

Aerospace engineers don't get paid a lot compared to electrical engineers. From my estimate, average starting salary for aerospace engineers is maybe 65k. Maybe 70, for electrical isn't too far off.

 

[TecHNooB]

it's not lockheed and the work is very EE-centric. my resume was perfect fit

 

[bobsmith1492]

I'm an aerospace engineer (with a major defense contractor) so some of this is conjecture, but I guarantee you a new hire electrical engineer at Intel will get paid a lot more than a new hire electrical engineer at Lockheed.

Aerospace engineers don't get paid a lot compared to electrical engineers. From my estimate, average starting salary for aerospace engineers is maybe 65k. Maybe 70, for electrical isn't too far off.

Yeah, that's probably true but I'm in Michigan. Smiths (GE? GA?) and Eaton are high rollers compared to furniture and manufacturing support jobs or minor embedded applications...

 

[pray4mojo]

my friends have been getting 80 and they only have their bachelors D:

i'd like to get close. really wish i had gone to the fall job fair :\

well damn maybe i chose to be the wrong engineer and live in the wrong place. good luck to you.

 

[bobsmith1492]

well damn maybe i chose to be the wrong engineer and live in the wrong place. good luck to you.

I'm with you on that one. Good luck with the 70K OP.

 

[TecHNooB]

I'm with you on that one. Good luck with the 70K OP.

you think 70K is too much?

 

[Aharami]

what are they offering?

 

[bobsmith1492]

Honestly I don't know. If you're in IEEE they have a salary calculator you can try for your area. It's pretty slick but I can't vouch for it as it said I'm in the bottom 5% or so for my area... I think it exaggerates.

They're just people, too. The worst they can do is say no. More likely, if they're interested they'll offer you what they would have anyway or bump it up a bit.

 

[dbk]

what's the going rate?

 

[TecHNooB]

what's the going rate?

don't know yet, just need ideas to keep in the back of my mind incase the subject comes up

 

[tfinch2]

you think 70K is too much?

Did they make an initial offer? You can't negotiate anything until that happens first.

 

[Justin218]

I'm having trouble finding jobs above 40K-50K and I have a BSEE as well, maybe I just need to move

 

[KillerCharlie]

They've already given you an offer, right? If you haven't gotten an offer then this is all speculative. Usually the company decides they want to hire you and gives you an offer (including the salary). Then you can ask for more and see what they say. You can ask for as much as you want... at some point they'll draw the line and give you a final offer.

 

[skim milk]

70k seems high for a defense company

I'd guess your offer to be around 50-60k

 

[duragezic]

Aiming for at least 70k? That sounds a bit high for an area with not very high COL.

Sure it's good to aim higher but I don't see how a new grad has negotiating room, especially in this economy. Unless you have excellent academics, lots of good internship experience, and more, I don't think they will have to pay that much.

I think 60k is more in the ballpark for these jobs.

 

[CanOWorms]

I think that $70k is too much for that area, but you never know what can happen. I would imagine 60k would be more likely. $70k is what a BSEE would get in Silicon Valley.

 

[bas1c]

As requested by others; please tell us what the initial offer is.

 

[KillerCharlie]

it's not lockheed

Oops, I was close
I guess the only thing I was wrong on was that Lockheed has a lot more than 60k workers.