Negotiating a low job offer

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Ja7188 wrote: »

What reason do you have for thinking the HR lady is a liar?

From what I can tell, you've been on a high salary for your last three roles and unless you can point to a reason for this, as cited by getmore4less, why should they offer you more? If there's no particular reason, you may find that you need to take the view that you've been in a fortunate position with your last few jobs and that this run of fortune may have come to an end...

Well it hasn't, because he can just stay where he is on the higher salary.

He doesn't need a reason for them to offer him more. He might want more just because he can't be bothered to move otherwise. It's up to them to decide if they want him and no skin off his nose if they don't.

westbridgfordguy

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

It sounds just like they don't have the budget to pay what you want.

There's no point arguing about whether your expectations are reasonable. You are not going to move for less than them, whether they are reasonable or unreasonable. You are certainly not going to move for less than you are on. Tell them that, and that as far as you are concerned that's an end of the matter unless they meet your expectations which will be whatever you are on now plus X.

Next time discuss this up front maybe.

I politely chased the HR lady up at lunchtime today, she said that she has fedback my comments to the Directors and would get an answer back by no later then Wednesday. Which probably means they are now in the process of offering the role to another candidate.

Really exasperating given in the first interview I told them what I was currently earning as an upwards point for negotiations then when the offer came in it was a grand less then this.

The warning bells were there when the advert appeared on Indeed without any salary range, should have bailed at that point.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

westbridgfordguy wrote: »

I politely chased the HR lady up at lunchtime today, she said that she has fedback my comments to the Directors and would get an answer back by no later then Wednesday. Which probably means they are now in the process of offering the role to another candidate.

Really exasperating given in the first interview I told them what I was currently earning as an upwards point for negotiations then when the offer came in it was a grand less then this.

The warning bells were there when the advert appeared on Indeed without any salary range, should have bailed at that point.

Not necessarily. if they offered you £1k under the figure you stated, they might just assume you are exaggerating and be trying to negotiate.

Instead of telling them what you were on, in future I would simply state what you are prepared to take. If you don't desperately want the job ask for more than you are prepared to take to leave room for negotiation on their part (or a nice bonus if they say yes). Whatever figure you first mention is the maximum they will offer, but asking for more might risk pricing yourself out. Generally even if you do name a figure above their budget they will try you with their maximum offer anyway, if they want you.

1886

It's really annoying when a job advertised doesn't have a salary. If you were to look on Sytner and Listers you would see between 40-60 jobs advertised, not one will have a salary.

I think what companies like to do nowadays is to whittle applicants down to a final few and then see who will take the lowest offer.

I remember somebody saying that you should look for a minimum of 10% more than your current salary to at least make the risk of moving on worth it and I think that's true

westbridgfordguy

1886 wrote: »

It's really annoying when a job advertised doesn't have a salary. If you were to look on Sytner and Listers you would see between 40-60 jobs advertised, not one will have a salary.

I think what companies like to do nowadays is to whittle applicants down to a final few and then see who will take the lowest offer.

I remember somebody saying that you should look for a minimum of 10% more than your current salary to at least make the risk of moving on worth it and I think that's true

During the first interview I broached the subject of salary range with the HR Manager and fed back that the job advert hadn't included a range, the HR Manager replied oh thank you , I'll check the advert, making out that this information mysteriously had disappeared from the advert but still didn't volunteer a figure. This was clearly a ploy as she knew the advert stated competitive salary which she was patently aware of.

As a rule if thumb I normally avoid adverts without salary details in for this very reason so can only blame myself in this instance.

ReadingTim

westbridgfordguy wrote: »

Really exasperating given in the first interview I told them what I was currently earning as an upwards point for negotiations then when the offer came in it was a grand less then this.

The warning bells were there when the advert appeared on Indeed without any salary range, should have bailed at that point.

No, this is the point where you negotiate, not bail. Those present at the interviews are seldom those tasked with preparing offer letters, so it's highly likely that your present salary info wasn't considered when the offer was made, or if it was, was disregarded as they may have thought you were inflating the current figure (there are those who do).

Finally, don't forget that any company wants to pay people as low a figure as they can reasonably get away with - businesses exist to make money for their owners/shareholders, not their staff.

A better response would have been to thank them for the offer, but to explain that this is less than you're currently on (which itself may be below market rate), and say that you're unable to accept a lower paying role than the one you're currently on. However, as you're keen to work for them, you would welcome a revised offer in the region of £xxx, should there by any room for negotiation.

Only if they say there's no room for negotiation, or that's their maximum offer do you then bail.

westbridgfordguy

ReadingTim wrote: »

No, this is the point where you negotiate, not bail. Those present at the interviews are seldom those tasked with preparing offer letters, so it's highly likely that your present salary info wasn't considered when the offer was made, or if it was, was disregarded as they may have thought you were inflating the current figure (there are those who do).

Finally, don't forget that any company wants to pay people as low a figure as they can reasonably get away with - businesses exist to make money for their owners/shareholders, not their staff.

A better response would have been to thank them for the offer, but to explain that this is less than you're currently on (which itself may be below market rate), and say that you're unable to accept a lower paying role than the one you're currently on. However, as you're keen to work for them, you would welcome a revised offer in the region of £xxx, should there by any room for negotiation.

Only if they say there's no room for negotiation, or that's their maximum offer do you then bail.

Thank you for the constructive advice; I did follow this and mentioned what my expectations would be and the HR Manager said that she would feed this back to the Directors.

Given that conversation was on Friday and it is now halfway through Tuesday I am assuming that they are now going round offering the role to cheaper candidates before they come back to me to say that they can't meet my pay expectations.

ReadingTim

I would suggest it's quite unwise on the part of a company to offer the same job to more than one person at a time, in case they both accept. Having then to rescind the offer equals serious egg on face.

They're probably trying to decide whether there's the scope to offer you more, or whether they're happy to lose you, and go through the same negotiation process with their 2nd choice candidate. And 3rd, and so on.

Gavin83

Maybe while you're their preferred candidate they don't think there's enough difference between you and the 2nd placed candidate to pay you much more. Therefore they're seeing if they'll accept a lower offer before coming back to you with more money. Up to you if you'd want to work for a company like this or not.

ReadingTim

Gavin83 wrote: »

they're seeing if they'll accept a lower offer before coming back to you with more money. Up to you if you'd want to work for a company like this or not.

Errrr...pretty much every profit-making company is a 'company like that' - it's called capitalism:

Employers want the maximum work for the minimum pay.

Employees want the maximum pay for the minimum work.