Can you really be successful applying for a job 3x your current salary?

[Wrongdissection]

I’ve seen a job advertised that I meet 95% of the criteria for. It’s not in my sector but I have very transferable skills. The only thing is, the advertised salary is over 3x my own. The role I do in my sector is pretty new but I thought my wage was pretty good although don’t have much to compare it to as it’s so new. This seems like an astronomical unachievable leap. Has anyone been successful applying for something that appears to be so significantly above their pay grade? The money would be quite literally life changing but also the job is right up my street!

[AdachiOljulo]

how undervalued are you in your current role?

a full time role paid at £15kpa should be very functional and task focused with little scope for demonstrating judgement or taking responsibility. there would be set procedures to follow.

a £45k role would require a very different skill set - it's not about working harder or doing more to get the higher salary. the role would have a lot more autonomy, judgement and prioritisation skills and probably some management too - very few people whose existing role is like the above will have had opportunities to demonstrate these skills professionally and consistently.

jumping to a £135kpa role from a £45kpa role is a different kind of leap. jobs are only paid at that kind of level for a limited list of reasons - the qualifications, experience and talent needed to do the role must be so rare that there is huge rivalry among competing employers to secure the people they need from a limited pool of potential. the job is likely to have so much responsibility that you would be expected to resign and maybe not work in the field again if something went catastrophically wrong on your watch, even if the mistake was made by one of your underlings. you would be expected to know everything that is going on under your authority, balance tricky competing goals and navigate complex issues, steering the activities of numerous people and avoiding risk factors that could lead to failure.

If you are being massively underpaid in your current role and you are being paid like a much more junior role while performing at a level closer to a more senior role, then you're in with a chance - so maybe just maybe if you are being paid £15k for a role that ought to be £23k then yes, or if being paid £40k for a role that ought to be £60k.

otherwise it would be hard to see how you could ever demonstrate the talents and experience needed for the next level in any recruitment process.

[stayingontherail]

It sounds like you have nothing to lose so put your hat in the ring. If you get it, you can be the one to answer this question for someone else in the future!

[PinkBuffalo]

Go for it! Like pp said you got nothing to lose!
Good luck OP!

[Ciunasbotharcailinbainne]

Can you talk to the recruiter if it’s being advertised through an agency? I’m in a similar boat right now and feel hugely undervalued and over worked but I’m not sure how to figure out what I should be paid. Lots of good advice from @AdachiOljulo

[GivenchyDahhling]

I’ve just jumped from £33k (with a temporary promotion (which included about 5k as a temporary promotion - teaching, TLR) to £68k in a senior leadership role. The responsibilities in my new role - I haven’t started it yet, will be starting when I come back from mat leave - are considerable. Line management, whole school responsibility, working across multiple sites as it’s a MAT. It’s a completely different type of position but even so, I was quite surprised just how substantial the pay increase is going to be and I considered it to be an unusually massive leap.

Tripling your salary for something you’re already doing suggests to me you’re being massively underpaid where you are now! Or, that there is more to this new job than you realise - a significant number of direct reports maybe?

[Wrongdissection]

Thank you for the replies. Trying to be descriptive without outing. The person spec is very brief in the potential job but as I say I meet 95% of the criteria they ask for. It’s very very similar to my current role in that the day to day work involves undertaking investigations into something that someone has complained about. (Very broadly). It asks for someone with experience of not only what I do now but what I do as a self employed sideline and experience of what I am covering in my ongoing masters. And someone with experience of working in the type of organisation I currently work for.

My friend said that perhaps my set of skills is probably more unusual than I actually credit myself with and that is why there is a premium for it.

I think I’m going to give it a bash and see where I get. If it’s not even past the first hurdle then I have lost nothing really!

[Wrongdissection]

Also probably worth mentioning that my current role is based on NHS pay scales and therefore quite likely to be underpaid when transposed into a different setting.