My current job leaves me with a lot of free time. I still have to be available, close to my computer and ready to jump on requests in a reasonable amount of time, but there's very little that's extremely urgent, and I work very efficiently, so most tasks don't take me as long as they're expected to. So that leaves me stuck in my home office doing nothing many days.
That's what brings me to this experiment: I've been bored and looking at job ads (not because I feel a pressing need to leave, but because I know someday I'll have to do something I find more fulfilling), and most of the types of positions that I'd consider getting into don't post what salary they're offering (they don't legally have to where I am).
I'm considering just blasting my resume out to a lot of these places and seeing whether any stick (as I'm sure a few will–I have an in-demand background right now) enough to get an interview, and asking every single one in the first interview, up-front, what they're offering, then countering with a, “looking at the job description, I was hoping for more” kind of message.
It may sound crazy, but I've never done that before, or ANY kind of salary negotiation, for that matter. I've had jobs where it was pretty obviously an hourly wage that was a clear industry standard, ones that were recommended by friends that already worked there and knew approximately what they were going to offer (which sounded good to me, as my standards were lower than they are now), and this one, which offered me more than what was listed on the job listing before I even asked.
My goal wouldn't be to leave (not unless I get offered a lot more somewhere else and feel certain it's a great fit for my personal goals), but a) to get comfortable with asking for what I want by practicing when I'm not under pressure to get a paycheque, b) to gage the reactions of interviewers when presented with the question, and c) to just add a little more pressure to businesses to raise their wages.
What do you think? I don't want to jump into it without seeing as many potential pitfalls as I can.