Turning down a job on JSA

notechno

I've recently made a claim for Jobseekers Allowance, after being made redundant. I told them my expected salary, and they said I would be allowed to look for jobs around that salary level for a certain period of time, but it would possibly have to be revised in the future - fair enough.
I applied for a job last week and the interview is tomorrow. However, it doesn't state the salary in the job advert.
If I am offered the job and I then turn it down if the salary isn't high enough, could I be sanctioned? I know any job is better than none, but if I take it I won't be able to look fully for other jobs around my expected salary, and certainly can't be having time off for interviews if I've only just started there

Horseunderwater

If the job is in your field then you seriously need to think this through. No one these days has the luxury of just walking into a job at their expected salary and yes DWP could well stop your JSA if you turn down a job. Ask that question during the interview and that way you'll know if it will be paying you enough should you be lucky enough to be offered the job. Hope it goes well.

FBaby

I would have thought that if you were to tell at the interview that you were expected a higher salary when they tell you what it is, and say that you wouldn't be able to take the job otherwise, they won't offer it to you (or consider offering more). Surely the JSA would sanction if you didn't take a job offer, not sanctioned that a job that could have been offered to you if you hadn't stated that the salary was an issue?

Voyager2002

Does the job centre know about this interview? If so, you have to assume that they will contact the employer to ask about the outcome, and if you refuse without what they regard as a good reason you could well face a sanction.

In the private sector it is standard practice to negotiate salary at interview (which is why advertisements often don't say anything about salary). If you get this far, you will have to make clear your salary expectations and convince them that you are worth the amount you require. If your expected salary is outside their range, they are unlikely to make an offer: if the job centre were to ask them about the interview they would confirm that you attended for interview and were not successful, but not give feedback on the reasons for that decision.

At this stage the best thing for you to do is (i) prepare for the interview so that you can convince them that you are a good candidate who deserves a fair salary; (ii) research current salary levels for this kind of position so that you can negotiate effectively.

notechno

I'm signing on tomorrow afternoon, so I will be telling them then that I've been for an interview, as it's one of the jobs I applied for directly through Universal Jobmatch.
Is that a fact, that the job centre aren't given reasons for a candidate not being successful, simply that they attended and weren't offered the job? I imagined they would ask for a reason

busy_mom_2

Have you the salary expectation and permitted period signed and agreed on you jobseekers agreemet? It will also depend how far off the salary and how close to the date. Only a decision maker with all the facts can really state. They will look at how many other jobs you have applied for, how many jobs currenly available with your salary expectation.

scousedave

Is it so.difficult to screw up an interview once you know the salary is below your expectations?

FBaby

scousedave wrote: »

Is it so.difficult to screw up an interview once you know the salary is below your expectations?

The problem is you usually don't find out about the salary until the end of the interview. Going in and asking immediately what it is is unlikely to impress the panel. Ruining an interview to find out at the end (or even half way) it was above expectation would be a bit silly!

seven-day-weekend

I don't see why you can't take the job if you are offered it. Whatever the salary it will be better than JSA, and you can always look for another job whilst in work, people do it all the time.