Negotiating salary via recruitment agency

[grahamr88]

I have an interview in a couple of weeks time, which I got through a recruitment agency.
They sent me an email with some general interview guidance, and one thing that stood out to me was that they suggested that I don't give a figure for my salary expectation, but instead leave that to them (the agent) as it's in their financial interest to negotiate the best salary for me.

I'm not sure whether to follow this advice or not; a recruitment agent will be far more experienced than me at negotiating a salary, however they don't really have any leverage - they're not going to turn down the job on my behalf if the salary is too low.
They can of course suggest to the employer that I'm unlikely to accept a salary below a certain threshold, and they do have the benefit of knowing the realistic salary expectation based on others that they have placed.

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's experiences of having salaries negotiated for them - was the offer towards the top of the salary range quoted for the job?

[grahamr88]

Thanks, that pretty much echoes my thoughts on the matter, I shall do it myself.

[grahamr88]

Thanks for the contrasting viewpoints, it seems it's not as clear cut as I thought.

The scenario I was envisaging was the interviewer asking me what my salary expectation was, and I'll need to know whether to negotiate it then, or leave until later/the agent.

I think I'll play it by ear; I know the sort of figure I'm after, and I also know the advertised salary range for the job, and I'd be happy even with the bottom end of that. I'd be even happier with more, of course.

This is my first experience with this agent, so I don't know how much I trust him yet. I'll give him a call tomorrow to have a chat about it, if he can convince me to let him negotiate my salary, then I guess that will prove his worth!