Can you ask about compensation during your first interview?

Dear Sam: Iam interviewing for jobs only to find out that the compensation is not even close to what I can afford to accept. Can I bring this up earlier in the interview process to save time?

— Sunni

Dear Sunni: It is best not to bring up salary during the first interview. The purpose of the first interview is to “sell” yourself to a hiring manager and to learn more about the company. Shifting the focus to salary can be considered presumptuous and can give the appearance that you only care about the money. Wait until you receive a job offer to start discussing salary, or at least until you are further into the process and the interviewer brings it up.

To try to mitigate this circumstance in the future, ensure you are doing your due diligence on websites like glassdoor and salary.com to know if the compensation level is in your desired range. At the very least, consider every interview the opportunity to build your network and open doors to other potential opportunities. You never know what could come of an interview, even if it doesn’t mean you land the job you’re going for at the time.

Dear Sam: Due to downsizing, I have recently found myself back in the market searching for a job. I have not had issues getting my resume noticed in the past. I have more than seven years of experience in outside sales and a chronological resume. Do you think I would get noticed by choice employers more quickly if I used a functional resume format as opposed to a chronological format?

— Lauren

Dear Lauren: Probably not. Functional resumes are rarely as effective because they leave the reader wondering what you did, when, and where. Functional formats should be resorted to only when you have little chance of getting past the screening process if you use the traditional and much more widely accepted reverse chronological format. These situations could include frequent job hops, limited related experience, significant employment gaps, and more.

You can certainly pull out some career highlights and organize those by functional area, creating a combination or hybrid format, but note where each was achieved. However, this can be a challenging resume as it requires some creativity in formatting and the ability to walk a fine line between focusing on your related and most relevant skills while also ensuring you are providing your target audience with the where-what-when they are seeking to understand.

Your qualifications summary should serve as the overview of your related and transferable skills and experiences; in that summary, you can pull out keywords that will focus on the areas you would likely highlight in a functional format. Instead of resorting to the functional structure, use great content, organization, formatting, achievements, and a strong qualifications summary to grab the reader’s attention.

Samantha Nolan is an Advanced Personal Branding Strategist and Career Expert, founder and CEO of Nolan Branding.

Do you have a resume, career, or job search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at dearsam@nolanbranding.com.

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