Got and interview for a job which didnt list salary?

bap98189 · 19 November 2009 at 11:49AM

Of course you can. although they most likely won't have an answer. It is quite common for companies to advertise for a position and decide the salary offered later on depending on the calibre of people they get applying. Take sales potitions for example, you might decide to give the job to someone young but enthusiastic, or to an experienced salesman who will have years of experience and bring a whole raft of contacts. Obviously you would have to offer a higher salary to the guy with the experience, so it can't be fixed in advance.

If the advert is a bit hazy, I would phone them up and see if you can talk to someone about exactly what this job entails. That way you will have a better idea if this is something you are actually interested in and you also get yourself known to the company in advance of the interview. And try not to just ring HR, see if you can talk to the person who actually will be responsible for the potition. At the very least it shows you have a real interest and some initiative.

SandC · 19 November 2009 at 12:44PM

This needn't be negative, it means it's highly likely you can negotiate and that could go in your favour. They say it's a large band - well that's good, surely? I mean of course they have an upper level in mind but they are not gonig to divulge that because that would then be the salary that you expect. Every business would like to pay a bit less than their max if the new employee is happy with that after all. It's up to you to do your research and find out the industry averages for this kind of job and then put a value on yourself. Sometimes, companies like you to work before the interview stage - that in itself tells them something about the applicant wouldn't you think?

Just as likely the scenario above as the salary being below what's expected - think positive, get active and go for it.

Berkshiregirl · 19 November 2009 at 5:11PM

Agreed, you shouldn't be too worried they won't give you the salary range.

You could call up again and explain you've no idea of what the salary range is, give a ball park for what you're on and what you're looking for and ask if that's within the range. It doesn't have to be precise figures if you don't want to show your hand.

For example, if it's paying £30k and you're on £40k they can let you know the role is less well paid than you're currently on. If the other way round they can confirm it would pay more than you're on.

bristol_pilot · 19 November 2009 at 8:33PM

My experience is that organisations that do not advertise at least the salary range (max/min) are poor payers. I wouldn't waste a day's holiday plus a long drive on this one.

SandC · 20 November 2009 at 9:56AM

My company doesn't publish any salary range cos there is no salary range - they pay what they think someone is worth and what the job is worth. With some positions they compare existing staff of course but with others it's very much open for negotation. They will have a figure in mind but it's never set in stone.

tvwatcher · 21 November 2009 at 6:01PM

I was in a similar position recently whereby I applied for a job that I saw on Gumtree.

On my email / cover letter I asked for a more complete job desc and salary details, the response I got was an invite to interview???

Prior to attending the interview, I once again emailed asking for further details to which I recieved an email asking me to confirm my attendance, but nothing else.

Anyway on going into interview I discovered that the position I was going into was a new role, as the company was fairly recently established and were going through expansion plans.

They asked me what salary i would be looking for as they hadnt thought about it prior to the interview process.

On reflecting on the size of the company I went for middle of the range and asked for 35 - 40k.

Anyway I eventually got the job with a base of 35k and bonus of additional 5k performance dependant. Whilst happy I got the job as it is a great opportunity, I cant help feeling I possibly sold myself short and should have overstated my expectations and been prepared to negotiate.

Anyway just thought worth sharing.

And moral of the story - Go for the interview, have a salary range in mind, if asked for your expectations add slightly more to what you think the job is worth, and be prepared to negotiate. Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

EL.Smith · 22 November 2009 at 1:45AM

My advice would be to think about your current salary and think about the additional expense of commuting to the new job (as I think you've meantioned it's further away than your current job) e.g. annual additional petrol/ train ticket/ etc. Then if they ask you what your salary expectations would be during the interview you have an idea of what is equivalent to what you are currently on. That way if you just told them your current salary (and they offered to match it) you would be worse off after having to travel further to the new job. Of course, I hope the new job is a set up the career ladder for you and that you get offered a better salary than your last position.

As an aside, I went to a job interview last friday which was a position that did not advertise the salary. Whilst in the interview they asked me what my salary expectations would be... I'm a recent graduate and have only managed to get part-time jobs since I finished uni so I don't really have a point of reference for what a full time position of this type should pay. I just said I'd expect a fair rate of pay for a graduate and that I would expect it to be over the threshold of when you start repayments on your student loan. It's very difficult to answer that question when you don't have a current salary to get them to match or better.

Got and interview for a job which didnt list salary?

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