Lowering salary expectations?

moomin82

Just wondering if any of you are lowering your salary expectations in your job search and if so, by how much?

Last year I was earning £28,000 per annum in a Project Coordinator role but as the job market is so quiet I have started to apply to anything including Admin jobs paying £18,000 a year or even lower.

Will I be doing more harm in my career accepting a very low salary?

Advice would be most appreciated.

mizzbiz

I don't know if you're doing your career any harm but i'm in exactly the same position, even to the point that until last September I was on the same salary as you.

Since I was made redundant, I have had two temp jobs @ £7 ph. Totally demoralising but it pays the bills.

A word of warning though - when i'm applying for lower jobs, they see straight away that I was in a senior management post (can't avoid this as my references clearly state this) and it's really putting people off. I'm trying to tone it down without lying but employers can see straight through it.

Before I left my last post, we advertised for a receptionist in the local paper and had hundreds and hundreds of applications. Any apps from well qualified or experienced people went in the bin as it was thought they were too good for the job and wouldn't stick it out. We were basically advertising for a moron and wouldn't take anything more. We had applications from software designers, legal secretaries, you name it. We considered none of them.

I find that potential employers are doing exactly this to me, and I have heard the feedback so many times in the last year that i'm overqualified, will get bored and leave or, in one case when I went for a position that in my previous post would have been my subordinate, that i'd be going for the managers job in no time!

So i'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I hope you have more luck than me as now I can't even get a temp job (my agency have 2 jobs in the area!) and i've had to sign on for JSA as of Monday this week.

Liz_the_Whizz

hi moomin,

It's a tricky one. Starting salary is of course often determined by what you currently earn, as employers will not want to pay over the odds when recruiting.

But at the same time, you musn't price yourself out of a job, especially when starting salaries are easing down in an employers' market.

I would try to apply for roles of similar status, within £5k of your current/last salary. As mizzbiz said, dropping a notch or two on the admin ladder means you will look overqualified and desperate, plus employers will know that you will move on swiftly once the worst of the recession is over.

Keep going, something suitable will turn up sooner or later.

henm01

I had the same problem as you but I have just accepted a job at £18k when I was earning nearer £30k.
The new job is on a contract for 9 months, so I am sure that made things slightly easier for the employer as they are not too worried if I up and leave.

I have taken the job with a view to something is better than nothing. I'm not worried about it ruining my career as I'm sure any future employers will realise the job market is so flat.

Good luck.

horsechestnut

Whist you are waiting could you do some voluntary work?
This helps the charity, gives you different experience and shows that you aren't afraid of hard work. A lower paid job from your original one then looks like a step up (as you have been working for free!) It can also be an introduction to employers that you might never otherwise consider.
This has worked for me in the past.