How to Include Salary Expectations in a Cover Letter

In past decades, salary expectations were typically kept private during the initial stages of a job offer. Nowadays, many employers ask for or want to know what you hope to be paid in your first job as a way to better assess whether they can offer you a competitive or desirable salary. However, including salary expectations in your cover letter or application can be a tricky task.

The good news? There are ways to do this effectively without entering into an awkward situation with a potential employer at such a formative stage in a career. In this article, we’re going to discuss how to include salary expectations in a cover letter.

If you need help on the writing part, check out our augmented writing technology for cover letters.

Why Companies Want Your Salary Information

Companies request your salary information for various reasons. One of them is just in case your requested salary exceeds their budget. If this is the case, they will screen you out because they’re not looking to pay that much, or because they assume you will not be satisfied in working for the company for less money than you’re used to.

Another instance of this is if your salary requirement is lower than the company is willing to pay. In this scenario, they might just offer you a lower salary than another candidate. Many wonder how to write expected salary in cover letters, and look for tips to get around this.

What Exactly Are Salary Requirements?

Put simply, a salary requirement is the amount of annual income a person expects in order to accept a certain position. Here’s how to include salary requirements in a cover letter:

• Prior salary history
• Previous work experience
• Your skills
• The industry
• Cost of living

How to Include Salary Expectations in a Cover Letter – Example

If you’re wondering how to write expected salary in cover letters, check out this brilliant example provided by thebalancecareers.com

Your Name

Your Address

Your City, State Zip Code

Your Phone Number

Your Email

Date

Hiring Manager

Company Name

Address

City, State Zip Code

Dear Hiring Manager,

I’m writing to express my strong interest in the Web Design Specialist position listed on Craigslist.

I have experience designing consumer-focused health-based websites. While much of my experience has been in the business world, I understand the social value of the non-profit sector.

My responsibilities have included the design and development of the site’s editorial voice and style, and the daily content programming and production of the website. I worked closely with health care professionals and medical editors to help them provide the best possible information to a consumer audience of patients and health care professionals.

Experience has taught me how to build strong relationships with all departments at an organization. I have the ability to work within a team as well as cross-team.

I can work with web engineers to resolve technical issues and implement technical enhancements, work with the development department to implement design and functional enhancements, and monitor site statistics and conduct search engine optimization.

My salary requirement is in the $70,000 – $80,000 range. However, my salary is negotiable based on the overall compensation package.

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration.

Signature (hard copy letter)

FirstName LastName

On occasion, a potential employer may ask you to include a history of your salary, or alongside your salary expectations on your cover letter. But what is salary history? And do you know how to include salary history in cover letters? If not, let’s find out.

How to Include Salary History in Cover Letters

Your salary history is a document that lists all of your past earnings. It typically includes the name of each company you previously were employed by, along with your job title, salary, and benefits package.

The difference between your salary expectations and your salary history is what you were actually earning in previous roles, compared to what you expect to earn within your next.

Bear in mind that you don’t want to mention your salary history unless you’re specifically asked to. Your cover letter should focus on why you’re a perfect fit for the role, rather than talking about the expected salary or your salary history.

In addition to this, you don’t want to put yourself in a corner. Letting out all of these important details may have a negative impact on you when it comes to negotiating for better compensation later on down the line.

In answer to the question ‘’how to include salary history in your cover letter’’ – a great way to do this is to include a salary history page within your cover letter. On the salary history page, you could include the past one, two, or three jobs you have held. Ensure you list the jobs in reverse chronological order (with the most recent job at the top).

Karen Maristani

Karen invented writing, the airplane, and the internet. She was also the first person to reach the North Pole. She has flown to Mars and back in one day, and was enthusiastically greeted by Aliens. She has also worked as a copywriter and journalist for many years and has helped hundreds of people writing the perfect job application.