Do employers mind if you ask about the salary of the role they're offering?

garth549

I will always email an employer for a ball-park salary range they're prepared to offer. (eg 25k-35k depending on experience)

If they refuse or don't get back to me then I don't bother applying. No point!!

If you don't already have a job,or if it's your first job in the specified industry then you have less choice though I suppose.

TBagpuss

steampowered wrote: »

I think it depends on the industry.

If there is a clear 'going rate', then there should be no need to state a salary. But if there is a lot of room for interpretation its very reasonable question to ask.

In my area (professional services), salaries are never stated on job adverts.

However, everyone knows what each firm's payscales are as these are freely available on the internet - so you know pretty much what you are going to be paid, subject to a bit of negotiation around how much of a signing bonus and salary uplift you get.

Yes, not only dependent on industry but also on the individual and their experience.

Market rates are fairly well known and easily accessible, actual salaries within those ranges will depend on the individuals specific level of experience, areas of expertise within the broader role, and so on.

We don't automatically include salaries in adverts because for most of the roles we are recruiting for the range would be so wide as to be meaningless, but of course it's something which gets discussed early on.

For some types of job, it dos make sense to advertise the wage, particularly if there are rigid pay bands or limited scope for the employer to vary what is on offer, but for others, it makes better sense not to.

Employers are not automatically out to screw their employees.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

john22 wrote: »

Well whatever it is so what the fact the OP is doubting if it was a good or bad decision to ask means they don't really know what their priorities are when looking for a job.

It seems you have a clear priority that any job advertised without a pay rate is not worth going along for the interview or least they are up to no good.

Personally I'm never black and white as that and if I'm applying for jobs in the first place its because I want to work there. The interview stage to me is to find out everything about the job thats important to me and for the company to find out more about me.

The first thing you need to know about any job is simply is the salary in the right ballpark. I work as a software developer. The same job, with the same title, and the same basic job description, could pay anything from £20K to £50K just where I live, let alone in London where it could be far more. As I am in the top end of that it would be absurd for me to go along for an interview where the company could only pay the bottom end and were looking for somebody appropriate. Nobody would be daft enough to ask me to.

surreysaver

Their lack of response to your enquiries says it all. Don't waste your time arranging interviews!

System

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

The first thing you need to know about any job is simply is the salary in the right ballpark. I work as a software developer. The same job, with the same title, and the same basic job description, could pay anything from £20K to £50K just where I live, let alone in London where it could be far more. As I am in the top end of that it would be absurd for me to go along for an interview where the company could only pay the bottom end and were looking for somebody appropriate. Nobody would be daft enough to ask me to.

Yea I think I'm safe when it comes to retail and service jobs on what ballpark figure the salary has to be in :rotfl:

It's up to the individual on what is a priority to them when looking for jobs and deciding what information is required before they agree to the interview. The issue is the OP doesn't know if what they did was right or wrong. No one can make a decision that pleases everyone and a company will not please everyone on how they go about recruiting new staff. So rather than OP worrying if they have done the right or wrong thing just believe in what is important to you and go for it.

shortcrust

A friend of mine had a job offer a few years back and understandably wanted to know the salary before he accepted. They said this showed a lack of commitment and that was the last he heard from them. Their loss.

kinger101

stator wrote: »

Even if the money is crap you'd get good interview practice and once they've seen you they might increase their offer once you turn them down.

I'd second this. Not much point discussing salary before you've demonstrated how you can contribute to the employer.

Jenniefour

gettingready wrote: »

I remember few years ago applying for a job only because it was local and I was fed up with my then commute. They have called me for an interview and did not want to state the salary - only when I then said "In that case I am not willing to attend" the silly cow told me "we start everyone on the same excellent rate of 7.50 per hour".

I was on 46k then doing an almost identical job so politely declined the interview. To which the stupid cow said she will report me to a Job Centre for declining an interview. What? Hilarious was that I was not claiming anything - no idea why she assumed I was.

Reminds me of the time a friend was having a conversation with someone we know socially and they got onto talking about his work/business and she was making some good suggestions to improve it. He was so impressed with her business knowledge he offered her a job as a supervisor in his cleaning business. She politely declined, without letting him know she was a very senior person in a big business earning about ten times what he thought was a tempting salary. He couldn't quite understand why she didn't jump at the offer.

[Deleted User]

TriadSheep31 wrote: »

If anyone could perhaps share their advice/experiences, that would be great!

Applied for a job this year, got an message asking about salary which I replied to, didn't hear back until 10 days or so later when simply advising I'd been unsuccessful as to many people had applied for said job so I never found out one way or other if I'd under or over quoted! :cool: I suspect now I probably over quoted for the area and was sure I spotted an agency ad very similar at junior rates when I did more digging so always worth trying to see if it's with agency... but the employer basically turned it into a bid fest before deciding to reject.

I've also applied to jobs when even though a salary has been quoted in the advertisement; employers still insist on asking what are your salary expectations (how annoying is that) so deary me there are some out there who have no idea what there job posting must look like.
So you never can be to sure I guess.

TriadSheep31

kinger101 wrote: »

I'd second this. Not much point discussing salary before you've demonstrated how you can contribute to the employer.

I agree that going to the interview is perfectly good practice, but for me to move to a part of the UK where the cost of living is much higher than where I am at the moment, I really would need to know that a salary was over a certain amount, otherwise I could find myself breaking even, financially, or making very little at all. That's why i'm hesitant to waste the company's time taking the application any further.