I applied for a Data Scientist position in a company in Germany, and I found out that the salary expectation I've stated in my application (it was required) is 10K below what the company usually pays people with profiles similar to me.
Now, I'm supposed to have a phone interview with the HR in a few days, and I wonder if/how I can say that my salary expectation should be 10K more than what I stated in my application?!
Would it be considered as an amateur/naive move?
I found out that the salary expectation I've stated in my application (it was required) is 10K below what the company usually pays people with profiles similar to me
Other people's salaries should not be a factor in your negotiations. However, knowing that your potential employer may be willing to pay more than you've asked for can be.
I wonder if/how I can say that my salary expectation should be 10K more than what I stated in my application?
Now is not the best time to do this. You have stated the lower bound of your desired salary in the application, but it does not mean you must stick to that number.
Attend the HR interview and all subsequent interviews when/if they follow. Get a better understanding of the job requirements, responsibilities, and challenges, of other benefits and perks available to you, of how well you think you and your potential employer fit each other, and whether they really want you (and therefore are willing to negotiate further).
If in the course of these interviews you are asked to confirm your salary requirements, you can choose to either to try and defer answering such question until later in the interviewing stage, or, if they absolutely insist, state your "updated" figure.
When/if the job offer comes, and it does not already state your desired X + 10K salary, then you can propose a counter-offer with the higher salary; at that point you should have better arguments supporting it than saying "oh, sorry, I made a typo".
I wonder if/how I can say that my salary expectation should be 10K more than what I stated in my application?
Seems to me that you already stated a number. Your move is already done.
Saying "oh, I intended to write X+10k in my application" would not be a recommended move.
You should have tried to find about that average salary for your profile before making an offer; unfortunately in this situation you found it afterwards, so there is nothing you can do to revert that.
You certainly can revise your previous figure to be 10k higher - you've not even reached the offer stage yet so no-one is committed to anything but you need to be aware that you'll be doing so from a relatively weak position and that you might be risking your chances of getting the job by doing so.
If you decide to try this the best time to do so is after you've had the interview (or at the end) and you've had chance to impress them, this increases the chances that they will be willing to consider you at the higher rate and also gives you a tenuous but viable opening to interject the higher figure in:
After learning more about the role and the sort of work I'd be doing I'm very excited by the prospect but I underestimated the complexity/responsibility and I'd have to revise my minimum salary to be Y instead of X
Given that you are taking away what a benefit for them (employee at huge discount) it may be wiser to make Y be slightly less than X+10k (perhaps X+8k) since that way they are still getting you "cheaper" than comparable candidates and therefore that still gives you an edge over others and they can still feel like they are "winning" as it were.
If it gets you 10k more, it's not an amateur / naïve move. And they are going to hire you as a Data Scientist, not as a salary negotiator. In the end, the company will offer you what they think you're worth.
“Now about the salary... I think what I filled out in the form was much too low. I was advised to put in a really low number to get an interview, but then I thought about it and it seems that was really bad advice, and I should get an offer for what I’m worth”.
Worst case answer “and what if we told you you are not worth more than you stated?” Your answer: “That would be unfortunate, because I would have to look for a better paying position elsewhere”. Yes, you are not in a good position. Doesn’t mean you can’t try.
