Job Offer - Asking for more money

Legacy_user

Morning

How would you go about asking for an increase in base salary when you were offered a job? I got offered a new position yesterday, and while I have no issues with the company / role, the salary offered is slightly lower than I would ideally like (it's roughly a 10k cut from my previous role).

The role has been offered direct from the company and in the past I've always gone through agents, so I'm not sure on the protocol for negotiating in this situation.

Any help / advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Judith_W

Did they state a pay scale when you applied or have they just offered a salary cold?

As you are currently on more you are in a strong position just to politely say, you've been thinking about the salary and although you would be interested in taking the role, you were concerned about the salary. Are they prepared to review this as you are currently on significantly more.

If they say no because you don't have enough experience in this field for example, perhaps ask if there could be a review after 6 months with a guaranteed review of x if you meet a pre-set criteria.

I think be 'honest' and state that this is a significant drop and is there anything they can do. Some businesses work on pay grades and there is very little wiggle room, but others are very sneaky and everyone is on very different levels and its about what you manage to negotiate when you start. Take their offer as an opening gambit.

System

The pay scale was quoted as 'competitive' in the advert.

As I'm not currently working they may think that this offer is better than nothing, but TBH I'm not that desperate to take a job right away and am willing to wait for the right role at the right salary.

It is a very small company (around 30 people) so I'm not sure how much wriggle room there will be. But they do seem keen as I was offered the role within 3 hours of the interview, which was very surprising.

Slinky

Do they know what you were earning before?

Wyndham

I'd just say what you were earning before. I've just done this, I work in HE and am moving jobs, and while the new job is the same scale, I'm currently at the top of it, and it's policy to appoint to the bottom, which in my case was a significant drop. I've ended up in the middle, which I'm more than happy with as the new job will result in lower outgoings. I didn't argue for top fo the scale and really don't think I'd have got it, but meeting halfway allows both sides to save face.

londoner1998

TamaChan wrote: »

The pay scale was quoted as 'competitive' in the advert.

As I'm not currently working they may think that this offer is better than nothing, but TBH I'm not that desperate to take a job right away and am willing to wait for the right role at the right salary.

It is a very small company (around 30 people) so I'm not sure how much wriggle room there will be. But they do seem keen as I was offered the role within 3 hours of the interview, which was very surprising.

I have just been in the same situation: when they phoned me with the offer and quoted the salary, I imnediately said that I was really happy to be offered the role, but that the salary was 'disappointing'. She said that's what they have (even though they advertised the salary as 'Dependant on experience') and I very nicely said I needed to think about it, as as much as I wanted the role, I was on bigger money before and needed to consider all factors. I followed up with an email stating that I fulfilled not only all the essential but also the desirable skills and came with plenty of experience with their direct competitor, and made it clear what I wanted, but also I was prepared to negotiate within a certain range as I was keen on the role. I ended up walking away and declining the offer, as like you, I need money but the role was only for six months and wouldn't teach me anything new, plus would bring down my value in the market. The clincher for me was that they refuse to negotiate: they said that's the budget they had for that position and that was it. That is not 'dependant on experience' in my opinion. But i have no regrets.

My husband followed the same negotiation in March when he got offered a new job and got two points above the initial offer, just what he wanted.

In the end the decision is up to you and your circumstances, but unless you really need money coming in to pay the bills straight away, I wouldn't go for 10K less that you used to get, unless they are huge incentives in other areas you really value: job satisfaction, flexi-time, ...

System

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System

To come back to this after a few months. The role with the reduced salary did not work out, the role offered was not the role I ended up doing and as they are a small company there was no room to move into another area. I now find myself in a position of looking for new work, and have had a new job offer however, they are offering the same salary as my current employer. The result of taking the reduced salary role is that I have effectively reduced my value in the market as Londoner 1998 pointed out above.

While I was happy with the money for the old role, I am obviously looking to increase my market value now and am now in the same position of negotiating salary, with the potential of increased costs. Next time I would think twice before taking such a reduced offer.

kennyfong

Thanks for sharing the experience and the result. You have my sympathy and the best you can do is prove yourself in the new role, then ask for the money you're worth. Also keep looking out for new roles and you might be able to find something better.