????每一次成功的求職面試，肯定都會談到工資問題。長久以來，求職者們得到的標準建議一直都是：談工資要委婉含蓄點。

????再就業服務機構Challenger, Gray, and Christmas的CEO約翰·查林格建議，求職者們應該“讓雇主現報出一個數目——這個數目可能會超出你的預期。”職業和生活博客網站Brazen Careerist的佩內洛普·特倫克建議，“‘你的工資范圍是多少？’對這樣的問題，最好的答案，就是想盡辦法，‘我不告訴你。’”

????這通常會導致令人不舒服的、甚至敵對的懦夫博弈。如果你一直擔心這類對話，這里有一個好消息：我們可以給出更漂亮的回答。

????愛達荷大學（University of Idaho）近期的一份調查發現，以開玩笑的口氣提出百萬美元薪酬，實際上能讓之后公司開出的實際工資增加10%。研究測試情景中假設的求職者，是一位行政助理應試者，她上一份工作的工資是29,000美元。當被問及對新工作薪酬的期望時，她會以一種半是猶豫半是自嘲的口氣答道：“我當然想要百萬年薪，不過，我只希望能得到公平的待遇。”

????在這位求職者拒絕說出具體數字的情況中，雇主最終給出的平均工資約為32,500美元。但當這位求職者開玩笑地說出一百萬美元時，雇主給出的平均工資則約為36，200美元。

????在上述案例中，工資的增加其實是一種名為“錨定”的心理效應在起作用。愛達荷大學心理學教授、同時也是該項研究的負責人托德·索爾斯坦森說：“我們聽到一個數字時，不論是否與主題相關，我們都會固定在這個數字上，進而影響到我們的判斷。”

????但在開出具體條件之前，求職者應該考慮到可能出現的反彈。德州大學達拉斯分校（University of Texas at Dallas）經濟學教授、校談判中心主任雷切爾·科洛森警告說：“實際上，如果談判伙伴開出一個過于極端的條件，對方最常見的反應是停止談判。”

????在索爾斯坦森研究中有一個預設條件，即參與者們無權拒絕求職者，而是可以告訴求職者他們能提供多少工資。

????那么，求職者們到底應不應該拿高薪開玩笑，以期自己的實際工資能有所提高？科洛森稱，除非你能坦然接受可能失去工作機會的風險，否則別這么干。在推薦策略之前，她希望進行一項后續研究，量化相關的風險級別，例如，“有多少面試官會因為求職者的玩笑感到厭惡，進而雇傭別人？”

????不過，率先說出確切的數字還是能帶來回報。規避這個問題的標準建議是，忽略錨定的實際效果。

????科洛森說，信息才是關鍵。科洛森為本科生、MBA和高管教授談判策略已有18年之久。如果求職者了解到一個特定職位的工資范圍，并能給出一個雇主愿意支付的最高金額，那么，率先說出自己期望的具體工資額，肯定會對求職者自身有利。

????查林格依然建議謹慎行事。他說：“雇主千差萬別。根據雇主的工資結構，相同職位的工資水平有可能上下浮動20%。”

????There comes a point in every successful job interview when it's time to talk money. The standard advice to job applicants has long been to play it coy.

????John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, urges applicants to "let the employer name a salary first -- it may be higher than you expect." Penelope Trunk, founder of Brazen Careerist, advises that "the right answer to the question, 'What's your salary range?' is almost always some version of 'I'm not telling you.'"

????This often leads to an uncomfortable, even adversarial, game of chicken. If that's the sort of conversation you dread, here's good news: there are better alternatives.

????A recent study out of the University of Idaho found that making a joke about a million-dollar salary actually increased subsequent offer amounts by more than 10%.

????The hypothetical applicant in the study's test scenario was an administrative assistant candidate who had listed her last salary as $29,000. When asked what salary she wanted in the new job, she either demurred or quipped, "Well I'd?like?a million dollars, but really I just want what's fair."

????In the cases where the applicant declined to name any number, the average salary offer was about $32,500. When she joked about a million bucks, the average offer rose to almost $36,200.

????The increase is a function of a psychological effect known as "anchoring." "When we encounter a number -- even an irrelevant number -- we fixate on it, and it influences our judgment," says Todd Thorsteinson, a psychology professor at the University of Idaho and the study's author.

????But before you start throwing numbers around, you should consider the potential for backlash. "In practice, if one's negotiating partner opens with an offer that is too extreme, the most common response is to disengage from the negotiation," warns Rachel Croson, professor of economics at the University of Texas at Dallas and director of the school's Negotiations Center.

????Participants in Thorsteinson's study were not given the option to decline to hire the candidate, but were merely asked how much they would offer to pay her.

????So should job applicants make a high-salary joke in hopes of increasing compensation?

????Only if you're comfortable with the possibility that you might lose the job offer altogether, says Croson. Before recommending the strategy in general, she'd want to see a follow-up study that quantifies the level of risk involved -- for example, "what percentage of interviewers would be turned off by the joke and choose to find a different employee."

????Being the first to talk numbers can still pay off, though. The standard advice -- to dodge the question -- ignores the very real effects of anchoring.

????The key is information, says Croson, who has taught negotiation strategies to undergraduates, MBAs, and executives for 18 years. If an applicant knows the salary range for a given position and can name a number at or near the top of what a company is willing to pay, being the first to throw out a dollar figure is always to her advantage.

????Challenger still prefers to play it safe. "Companies are all over the map," he says. "The same position may pay 20% more or less, depending upon that company's specific salary structure."