How to Mention Salary Requirements in a Cover Letter

It's difficult to broach the subject of salary requirements in a cover letter. Writing a cover letter with salary requirements included can make you seem over-confident, which is something that you want to avoid when writing a cover letter. In this article, we'll show you how to include salary requirements in a cover letter without seeming too forward.

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# Is it Necessary to Mention Salary Requirements
# When to Include Salary Requirements in a Cover Letter
# How to Mention Salary Requirements in a Cover Letter
# How to Mention Salary History in a Cover Letter
# How to Mention Salary Requirements in a PDF Cover Letter

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Is it Necessary to Mention Salary Requirements

The short answer is no. It's not strictly necessary to mention salary requirements in a cover letter, but there's no rule that says that you can't mention your salary history in a cover letter if you wanted to. Some job adverts don't actually mention a salary or payrate at all, and its these ones that you need to be cautious applying for. A company that's not upfront about how much they're willing to pay their employees might not be the company for you. Though it is possible that the salary is quite high, and they don't want to advertise it.

If a company does mention a salary bracket in their job advert, it wouldn't be strange for you to mention your previous salary history in your cover letter, or even briefly mention the amount they've said they're looking to pay the right applicant per year.

When to Include Salary Requirements in a Cover Letter

There are several instances when you should include salary requirements in a cover letter:

If an employer asks you to
If it's required in the job application
If you're open to the negotiation of a salary
If it's a managerial position that has included a salary range
If the job advert is full-time but does not specify a salary and is a position of high standing in a company

A quick example of how to include salary requirements in a cover letter can be found below:

"In regards to the information supplied on your job advert, I can see that the range you are offering is between £20,000 and £30,000 depending on experience. I hope to discuss this further with you, as you can see by the information I've supplied that I am a fairly experienced individual with several years in this field of work.

I hope to hear from you soon to discuss my application.

Kind regards,
XXXX XXXX"

In this example, you can see that no demands are being made, and the applicant is simply ensuring that the potential employer is aware of the salary that was listed on the job advert. By mentioning their experience, the applicant is also inviting the potential employer to check over their cover letter and CV for previous positions that relate to the job role. This may help the applicant later on, when the salary is being negotiated.

How to Mention Salary Requirements in a Cover Letter

Similarly to knowing when to mention salary requirements in a cover letter, it's also important to know how to include salary requirements in a cover letter. When you're mentioning any salary requirements you have, you need to be cautious. It can be off-putting to mention salaries to an employer who hasn't asked for your requirements.

If the salary is mentioned in the job advert, then you are free to bring it up in your cover letter. This is usually mentioned near the end of the letter, before your closing statement, but after your skills and experiences. For example:

"My salary requirements are XXXX, this was the amount that I was paid in my last job role. I hope that you will consider this knowing that I am open to negotiation.

I look forward to discussing my application with you further.

Yours truly,
XXXX XXXX."

In this example, though it could be considered rather forward of the applicant to announce their salary, they also give a reason why it's that specific amount. Employers recognise that it's natural for an applicant to want to be paid around the same amount they were offered in their last position. No applicant wants to work for a company that would be paying them less than their previous position paid them, especially if they haven't handed in their notice to that job yet.

How to Mention Salary History in a Cover Letter

Mentioning salary history in a cover letter is slightly different to announcing your salary requirements in a cover letter. You could include an itemised list of previous salaries either in your cover letter or on a separate document. If you're looking to simply add a small paragraph that mentions your previous history, you might try simply including how much you're paid at your current or most recent position.

"In my current role at XXXX, I earn £45,000 per annum. I can see that your advertised job offers a similar rate, and I hope that we can negotiate an agreeable form of compensation at a latter date if you were to consider me for this position."

Something like this retains a good amount of professionalism, while also mentioning your salary history without it seeming too forward. This is one of the best ways to mention salary history in a cover letter.

How to Mention Salary Requirements in a PDF Cover Letter

After learning the tips about how to mention salary requirements, you can free download our PDF cover letter template in this page and edit it with Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor Wondershare PDFelement Wondershare PDFelement, a powerful PDF editor. You can make changes to all the contents in the template with this tool.