Washington Business Journal - by Jennifer Nycz-Conner Staff Reporter
When Robert Williamson finished his master’s in business administration in the early 1990s at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, he believed his shiny new credential came complete with the promise of a job for life.
“That’s not been the case,” said Williamson, who asked that his name be changed due to a continuing job search. “It’s been disappointing, and quite frankly I’m embarrassed, if not ashamed … that I’m out of work.”
Williamson, a management consultant who moved his family to the Washington area in 2002 from the San Francisco area, once had a minimum salary requirement of $200,000. He scaled it back when he entered government consulting and is about to lower it again, after being laid off from BearingPoint Inc.
Although job candidates have always dodged the inevitable salary question presented by hiring managers, their reasons for doing so are changing with the slowing economy. When employers were struggling to find talent, job candidates would typically avoid giving an opening number to negotiate a higher salary. But now that companies are slowing hiring — and in some cases laying off people — the pendulum has swung toward employers. Applicants who are willing to take a pay cut are afraid of getting screened out on salary alone. They are worried less about gaining salary increases — and more about just getting a salary.
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