Potential Low Paid Job On Horizon - Need Advice Please!

I_Can_Haz_Job?

Hi there

I have been on JSA six months to the day and applying for a minimum of four jobs a day and losing my mind and will to live, to be honest. I managed to find a zero hours self employed teaching job but had to give it up as the £18 before tax that I made with my one lesson a week really affected my JSA. Crackers system!

Today I had a really positive response to an application I made to a very local English school (it's a two minute walk from home!).
I chatted with the director the morning on the phone and he said my CV is impressive. I've been volunteering for much of my unemployment - mainly teaching ESOL classes - and he was very happy about that. We are both aware that the job I've gone for (admin) is below my skillset but he was enthusiastic and said the could expand my role.

The issue is - it is a tiny school, very little money. My last job paid £30k and of course I'm not expecting that! All I want is to get off benefits, afford rent and bills and feed myself. All my debts have been cleared thanks to redundancy money so all my money would be purely living expenses.

He's asked me to go away and think about what my asking salary would be and a face to face interview is coming up this week.
I live in London and my monthly living costs (bare minimum) reach around £1100 - so this works out to £15kpa considering tax/NI. I would also like to go wild and get me one of those pensions I've heard talk of

I've done some research and other companies pay between £16k and £20k for the role (Admissions Assistant) which is fine by me. If the school offers me under £15k I would still take it and just budget - but does anyone know how low an if there is a cut off point/threshold in obtaining Working Tax Credit/HB and CT Benefit?

I think any job is better than nothing but I'm worried about being stuck with covering my rent (£725), CT (£90) and bills (around 100) and living on fresh air! Right now I would sell my soul to get off JSA but I don't want to be in a worse off position.

Thanks in advance

NYM

Wouldn't you be best basing your salary requirements on what you need to service your outgoings ?

If you sell yourself too cheaply (relying on top ups from the State) your prospective employer would not be impressed.

RAS

Bear in mind that you may not be able to get any support for housing costs.

Check the Local Housing Allowance in your area and your entitlement given your age.

Go to www.turn2us.org.uk for the calculations.

And check out whether you can get the 4 week run on in LHA support.

I_Can_Haz_Job?

It's crazy how low my standards have dropped in the last 6 months! All my snobbery has truly gone out of the window and I've been going for coffee shop jobs I did when I was 18! It would be fabulous to be completely off benefits - my confidence has been battered by all the applications that have gone unanswered. I've got a couple of days to mull it over but I don't want to scare the school off by being too expensive to hire. I'll see how the face to face interview goes - I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up but it's difficult as it's such a lovely little job!

Jobseeeker

If the range for admin assistant is £16-£20k, say £20k. If you go too low they think you're not confident about your ability to do the job.

Could you then also do teaching English in the evenings?

I think the cutoff for WTC is about £13k now.

missapril75

So there may be problems in going too low or too high.

There's a possibility of expanding the role. Would it be possible to suggest somewhere in the middle with add-ons/higher rate for when your role is actually expanded? Like a higher duties allowance?

NYM

I_Can_Haz_Job? wrote: »

It's crazy how low my standards have dropped in the last 6 months! All my snobbery has truly gone out of the window and I've been going for coffee shop jobs I did when I was 18! It would be fabulous to be completely off benefits - my confidence has been battered by all the applications that have gone unanswered. I've got a couple of days to mull it over but I don't want to scare the school off by being too expensive to hire. I'll see how the face to face interview goes - I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up but it's difficult as it's such a lovely little job!

I know you said you'd sell your soul for a job but what you really need to do is sell your skills. If you price yourself too low there is a strong possibility they may believe you're exaggerating your suitability for the job.

Tell them you believe you are worth '£ X.00' however you appreciate they are a small school and attracting candidates with your skills is likely to be out of their reach you would be happy to compromise and accept '£Y.00'

Good luck with whatever you choose to do

BigAunty

How old are you and do you live in your own self contained flat? The reason I ask is that under 35s only get the shared accommodation rate of HB/Local Housing Allowance so it's not going to make much of an impact if your rent is much higher than the LHA rate and you qualify for HB.

Basically any sum above the LHA limit that you are paying in rent, you will just have to find yourself. You may need to move somewhere cheaper? (Yes, I know you are in London where even grotty bedsits in outerzones have a queue of people applying for them).

To help you firm up your budget, download the MSE budget planner and work through the site to identify where to slash your outgoings (cheapest tariffs, cheapest groceries, frugal recipes, etc).

You've identified a monthly spend of £1100 for subsistence living and have already outlined £915 in basic bills without any spending on travel, food, social, haircuts, and other normal expenses so it looks like your basic accommodation costs (rent/CT) may swallow up around two thirds of your potential future income, this is an unsustainable sum without the prop of benefits.

Can't help you with your salary negotiations - it doesn't help if you aren't comparing like with like and it sounds like they are seeking a bargain so market value goes out of the window.

Perhaps if they offer a poor salary (12k or so) then you could think about accepting it and negotiating that they reduce the hours down to say, 25-30, and this gives you a bit more dignity and perhaps a chance to do some casual work on top if you find that you don't get much in the way of HB, council tax discount, working tax credits (need 30 hours to qualify for WTC). The Turn2us online benefit calculator will help you to model different scenarios.