FINANCIAL ANALYST: Employer

FINANCIAL ANALYST: ROLEPLAYING SCRIPT FOR EMPLOYER,
Mrs. Powers

It is October 2007. You are the Senior Vice President for Human Resources at Worldwide Finance (WF), the pre-eminent financial services consultants to Fortune 50 companies. Worldwide Finance has its headquarters in Boston with offices throughout the world.

Every year, WF hires 10 people graduating with BS in business and finance to meet the ever-growing demands of their business partners. Bentley University’s excellent reputation makes this campus a primary source for recruitment. Moreover, some of WF’s most successful executives are Bentley University graduates.

Because of Worldwide Finance’s reputation, you are swamped with applicants for these ten positions. You have already interviewed three dozen applicants who will be awarded their business degrees in the spring of 2008. You’ve been hiring for these positions for five years now and know the type person who would fit well in the culture and share the values of WF. Every once in awhile, an applicant comes along who shows you something special and you know immediately that this person would be of great value to WF for many, many years and you soften on driving a hard financial bargain because of the person’s exceptional potential. You’re never quite sure what that ‘something special’ is, but you know it when you see it and you see it in Ms. Tuli.

You interviewed Ms. Tuli yesterday. You were impressed with her poise and her work ethic as revealed when she discussed her internship experience at a downtown Boston bank, her community service work at Sandra’s Lodge, and her 3.8 GPA. She has exactly the qualities WF seeks in its newly hired staff. At the end of the interview you offered her a job as an entry level financial analyst and asked her to return today to set her salary and start date.

As the consummate human resources professional, you offer competitive salaries. Www.wageproject.org tells you that for the job title financial analyst 1, the salary range is $47,000-$60,000 with a median salary of $53,000 for the Boston office. The benefits for this position add another $24,000 to the compensation package.

Because WF is such a desirable employer and so many business school graduates want to work for you, WF typically pays new hires at the low end of the salary range. Last year, WF’s starting salary for this position was $48,000. You do not see any reason to start with an offer any higher than that especially with the country in a prolonged economic recession. In fact, three people have already accepted offers at that salary. The WF benefits package for this position is approximately $15,000.

Ms. Tuli is your last meeting of the day. You have to leave in 15 minutes to get to the seminar in which you are the featured speaker.

When you and Ms. Tuli sit down to talk, your opening lines to her are:

“We’re so pleased that you want to work for Worldwide Finance. You’ll be a wonderful addition to our team.

We have just a couple details to settle and you can sign our contract and we’ll see you after graduation.

I am authorized to offer you a starting salary of $48,000. You will be entitled to the standard benefits package all new employees get and we’d like you to start work in the Boston headquarters on June 1, 2008.

If that’s okay with you, please read over this contract, sign it and you’ll be one of the WF family!”

See how she reacts. Listen to her. Write down what points might persuade you to raise this offer. Write down what language she might use would make you hold the line and not raise her starting salary and why. Write down what objections you would have if she wants more money. Discuss thoughtfully with her because you want her to accept your job offer.

In this discussion, see what is the lowest starting salary that you can get her to accept and get her to accept a specific salary in the 15 minutes before you have to leave.

Remember, you made her a job offer because you were very impressed with her. Now it's time to get her to work at Worldwide Finance.

Good luck!