Job offer at lower than advertised grade, negotiations

Jazzking

Hi there,

I recently applied for a Grade 7 post within my current organisation (my current job is a Grade 5 but was due to be regraded to a 6)

I was offered the new job but due to lack of experience in line managing staff (it was only a "desirable" on the person spec and I ticked 95% of all other reqs) it was offered to me on a Grade 6.

Due to the better prospects of career progression in the new job (and it's generally better than my current one) I accepted it although negotiated an extra £1.5k over the start salary for that grade. When negotiating, my future line manager said that she suspected there would be some questions asked if I'd have jumped straight from a 5 to a 7 but I know if I was an external candidate they probably wouldn't have had a problem!

However, having accepted this now, I'm on £5.5k less than the start salary of a Grade 7, got 5 days less holiday a year and don't have the opportunity to be in a better pension scheme (lots of things change when you get to a Grade 7!)

My job I'm leaving has been advertised at a 6, the new job has had the job spec amended to have it as a 6 and now I'm thinking did I sell myself short by accepting the new one at a 6 when I think I should have easily got it at a 7...

Can I negotiate it back up to a 7 when I start (3rd Sept) or should I try and sort out a formalised progrssion plan to work towards being Grade 7 material? Unfortunately the job is fixed term until July 08, but it's likely to be renewed - maybe I shouldn't rock the boat when I start and just hold out for the renewal in July 08?

Help!!

Lazy_Runner

Has the job description changed from when the role was at a 5 to when it is a 6?

If it has changed, are you doing all the things in the new job description as part of your current job?

You may be better off hanging tight for the year, getting the people management experience but raise the issue in 6 months.

Lakeuk

As suggested get description for grade 7 role for your new job as well as for grade 6 role you'll be classed as and whilst in the job over the next six months gather evidence that you perform regularly/consistantly everything on the grade 7 profile. Bring it all up at you next review.

Jazzking

Thanks both.

@Lazy Runner - My current job has changed from when it was a 5, but the actual workI've been carriying out has been at the level of a 6.


@Lakeuk - Basically they changed the grade 7 description so that where it said managing of budgets (which I do currently) it now says "monitoring" of budgets. They also reduced my responsibility from what I'm doing now in "processing and authorising expenditure" down to just "processing..."
The other main change is the grade 6 role in the new job wouldn't be line managing 2 staff, it would just be supervising them...

I guess I'll just try and work towards it quickly once I start and try and work my way back up to what I should be on. I just wondered if it would be better to try and raise things like this at the start rather than let it simmer for 6 months...