FORMAL HR INTERVIEW (3RD ROUND??)

dranzer01

thanks for all advices - im new to all this three step interviews as ive been contracting for 5 years and prior to that it was only ever two step inteviews and then an offer (on the advertised role)

so basically i initially said to hr (60-70k for example)... when i had the final interview with hr she confirmed to me what my salary range is and thats when i bumped it up to (65-70k for example)


she has now called me and said ('her notes showed i initially stated 60k , for example and we only have sign off for 60k, would i be happy with that')... shot myself in the foot... didnt really think that was going to come up; but hey... ive now been offered - 

JReacher1

dranzer01 said:

thanks for all advices - im new to all this three step interviews as ive been contracting for 5 years and prior to that it was only ever two step inteviews and then an offer (on the advertised role)

so basically i initially said to hr (60-70k for example)... when i had the final interview with hr she confirmed to me what my salary range is and thats when i bumped it up to (65-70k for example)


she has now called me and said ('her notes showed i initially stated 60k , for example and we only have sign off for 60k, would i be happy with that')... shot myself in the foot... didnt really think that was going to come up; but hey... ive now been offered - 

Ask for something non monetary e.g, you’ll take £60k but you want an extra five holiday days a year. 

I’ve had success with things like this before. Remember now they’ve offered you the job you’re in quite a strong position. 

I would also benchmark the role in the market e.g. how much do jobs like this pay at competitors. If £60k is competitive that is fine but if in other companies £60k would be low then you could use this to negotiate up. 

Sandtree

dranzer01 said:

thanks for all advices - im new to all this three step interviews as ive been contracting for 5 years and prior to that it was only ever two step inteviews and then an offer (on the advertised role)

so basically i initially said to hr (60-70k for example)... when i had the final interview with hr she confirmed to me what my salary range is and thats when i bumped it up to (65-70k for example)


she has now called me and said ('her notes showed i initially stated 60k , for example and we only have sign off for 60k, would i be happy with that')... shot myself in the foot... didnt really think that was going to come up; but hey... ive now been offered - 

What was the salary advertised for the role? if it was £60-70k then I'd be highly surprised if they only have £60k signed off. People always apply asking for the upper end and more people will apply asking for more than the upper end than will apply asking for the lower end.

Salary/day rate is always a difficult thing as your skills/knowledge won't vary between different roles you apply for but how applicable they are will, how stressful/challenging the role is will etc. I know I've been put forward for a role at one rate and after the interview I've asked for more than that because what on paper was a basic role has turned out to be in a real mess so I upped what I was asking for.

Contracting or Perm makes little difference, both can involve multiple interviews and discussions on money

dranzer01

there was no salary advertised - even on linkedin no salary advertised - 

On the first very initial call she said to me what salary am i looking for/range and i said 60k-70k (example) - further down i said 65k and thats when she referred back to her notes 

Sandtree

dranzer01 said:

there was no salary advertised - even on linkedin no salary advertised - 

On the first very initial call she said to me what salary am i looking for/range and i said 60k-70k (example) - further down i said 65k and thats when she referred back to her notes 

Why did you change your mind?

As I say, in my case its because the ad was a generic run of the mill role but in the interview they said it was to deal with a giant mess they were in. As such its going to demand more of time, more of my skills, probably evenings/weekends, stress etc and thats fine but it has to be reflected in my pay.

If you learnt something about the role, company, situation etc that made you feel you need more monies for your time/effort then thats fine... if its just a change of heart well technically that too is fine but I suspect they'll play hardball more... ultimately you can just call their bluff and say thats what you'll work for and they may get the approval and offer it or retract the offer and give it to someone who'll do it for £60k... I've won and lost at this game but its easier to be brave when you don't instantly need a job.

dranzer01

i think because i was thinking of my expenses and bills and realised that I needed higher (and i thought it would have passed to be honest... i thought they would have seen my cv and interviewing and thought to themselves, 'yeah lets offer him above his minimum salary'.... instead it was what i stated as the bare minimum 

dranzer01

can a past employer give a bad reference? or is it only a (he worked here from this date and this date) and thats it....?

lincroft1710

dranzer01 said:

can a past employer give a bad reference? or is it only a (he worked here from this date and this date) and thats it....?

An employer can give a less than favourable reference, but it must be truthful. E.g. if you persistently arrived late for work, then it would be OK to say "Dranzer01 was not very punctual".

But as you implied, most employers tend to give non-comital references these days

Sandtree

dranzer01 said:

can a past employer give a bad reference? or is it only a (he worked here from this date and this date) and thats it....?

Urban myth says they can't, they can obviously write whatever they want however you would potentially be able to sue them for liable if you were unhappy with it... clearly you'd only win the case if you managed to convince the judge it was a dishonest appraisal BUT... whats in it for your former employer?  They'd need to be rather petty to risk all the problems it could cause by saying something negative, even if justified, just to save another random company from having you as an employee.

These days, particularly in large firms, references are generally given only by HR. They often will be purely factual and rarely go beyond stating start date, end date, last job title held and maybe method of termination (resignation, redundancy etc). All the other fields about were they a good employee, would you have them back again etc etc are just ignored.

isplumm

dranzer01 said:

i think because i was thinking of my expenses and bills and realised that I needed higher (and i thought it would have passed to be honest... i thought they would have seen my cv and interviewing and thought to themselves, 'yeah lets offer him above his minimum salary'.... instead it was what i stated as the bare minimum 

I think in this market I would take the role - unless you are already working - cause its a bit dire out there!