To think salary is very low for this job ad

Unfortunately we are heading towards a modern day serfism where you toil for the privilege of a roof over your head and some cheap food and clothing. All the while the 1% get richer.

@Jobseeker0
AHH I think from your update project management? So...top tip. Everyone forgets that the NHS needs businesses analysts, project coordinators, IT roles etc (and admin staff of course). Go to NHS jobs, type a location and outter travel limit and maybe 'project' in the search term. You can then set up a search and it'll email you when things come up. The NHS is transparent with pay and the recruitment process is very regimented (loads information online about this). Most trusts make heavy use of the apprenticeship levy so once your in you can work your way up. Also (see my previous post), if you need to move the NHS is nationwide.....

I would be interested in what you consider too demanding. Two graduate trainees who look similar on paper can be worlds apart attitudinally and in terms of the quality and volume of their work. Unsurprisingly, those are the people you think of first in terms of opportunities to progress.

I would be tempted to go for an interview and give it your best shot. If they offer it to you - tell them you would really love the job but you need 35k.
If you impressed the right people enough they may go to HR and say this is the right person, we need this person - but we can't hook them in on 25k. Nothing ventured, nothing gained ?

Everyone says that minimum wage is "low" - and I get that it is not "high" but worth realising where it started from.

When it started in the late nineties, it was (IIRC) £4.00 per hour - and broadly equated to the wages that, for example, cleaners would have been earning before it came in - so a total of £8,000 per year.

Average full time earnings at the time were about £20k, so NMW was 40% of the average.

Now - average earnings are 38k.
NMW is just over £24k FTE - so 63% of average earnings.

That is a big proportional increase.

What it also means is that a huge proportion of jobs pay the NMW, and also there is flattening of pay progression.

My 1993 graduate salary in 1993 was £8k per year, which is about £17k now.

More and more jobs, especially charity jobs, are advertising shit salaries for jobs that paid more even 5 years ago. I've even seen jobs that would normally be well paid being advertised as full time volunteer roles. Its a piss take.
I blame Rachel Reeves.

It is low for London but I also think it’s being made to sound more important/senior that it is- it’s essentially an admin role and 25k is about standard for that.

@SalmonOnFinnCrisp
Yes the relationship between pay and other costs haa meant real stagnation in living standards in the last 30 years. And no wages have not kept up.
But politely te statement that People in their 50s were earning this as a grad salary 30 YEARS ago is just not true.
I know this because I am that cohort I earnt £12600 (with a master's and very niche/specialist training in a ludicrously competitive industry). Husband earnt 10k. The only people I new earning more went into grad schemes in investment banking or trainee management consultants in McKinsey etc. Maybe the civil service fast stream was a bit more generous?
If you want decent starting salaries and fast earning progression those big consultancies and investment banks are still the way to go. Word of warning though... I've watched people being eaten up by those companies, burn out, breakdowns, relationships fucked, trapped in an attendant lifestyle that costs a fortune with very little intrinsic job satisfaction.
There's a middle ground... Choose a career that doesn't have too low an earning ceiling that can be done outside of London. Make best effort to progress as quickly as possible whilst in London then move....
Op, what kind of field do you want to work in?

Salaries are shit for many jobs now.

That's an absolute joke. I earn double that, looking after dogs in my home for people that don't like kennels. It's piss easy, I have no one to report to, no commuting costs, and I can choose my own annual leave etc. I would never work for a company again.

It sounds like glorified admin, something a good A Level school leaver could have covered in the late 70s / 80s and then done day release to get a degree / professional qualification by their late 20s to earn 25-30K. Of course, sexism was rife then, so young women would have found it harder to progress. If you had recruited a graduate trainee on a professional training scheme, you may have expected them to muck in on preparing bids, treasury tagging etc., but you wouldn’t have expected them to cover for a receptionist unless it was an absolutely tiny firm or start up.

My role paid that 30 years ago. I went to uni but had no specific experience.

Full time minimum wage is 25k so unless this is a job that you’d only do for say a year before being promoted, it’s shit wages.

Subsidising people in work with tax credits etc has really fucked up wage growth. If you work full time, you shouldn’t need topping up (with the exception of childcare subsidies which have a fixed end date)

Just had this recently - invited for call for what sounded like a senior role, managing global teams and client portfolio based in London - expected it’d be at least £55k for what they were asking in the skills and experience expectations but no salary listed on job ad - just competitive - top salary was £47k - politely said it didn’t meet my expectation

Yes, sort of presented as project manager, but then at the end they say you're the replacement receptionist!

At least they posted a salary! Most jobs don't and just go with whoever they can pay the least.

It does seem that due to the huge climb in minimum wage which is affecting the small to medium businesses a lot that now semi skilled roles are paid pretty much the same.

Also the more qualified roles are paid a lot lower. We have strict salary scales and if the difference between entry level jobs and mine was the same I would be on around £8k a year more than I am. Obviously no company regardless off how big can possibly increase salaries up the scale in line with minimum wage increases which is fine but it makes sense why salaries are so low for graduates/college leavers.

If someone sends me their CV and I’m impressed and we’re not hiring, I’ll take a call with them in case anything changes then we have ideas for who might be able to fill the role.

We do but we’re not a big company. If you’re going to do that I’d target companies with a small headcount

Google suggests that’s getting on for double the average hourly rate in 1997. I certainly wasn’t earning that whilst temping.

But I don’t generally disagree. I left my admin job in a private company in 2009 earning just shy of 30k.

I now earn the same (for a TT only job so FTE is prob 37) for harder job. But not a graduate role. I work in education.

Also VP isn’t always as senior as it sounds in a big bank

I hate to say this, but if you were a man and they suggested you applied for that role they would do it.
there’s research done on how men put themselves forward for roles they’re not qualified for but women are too honest / lacking in confidence so don’t

DH and I were way better off when I was on maternity/career break from 2006-2010. He was on around £40k so a decent amount then but we could afford to spend best part of half on holidays abroad. I can't believe how easy we found things then really compared to now where we both earn good money (not close to 6 figures but more than that between us). Lockdown hit us though and we still are paying off some debts from them (serves us right for spending on hols rather than saving i guess!)

I think my DC have chosen ok, a clinical service that is taking on lots of new functions, then accounts for the other one but it is so hard out there generally. I don't know how long it'll take DS1 to get a new job though even in a finance role.

This seems to be an issue across several industries unfortunately. My DH and I both work in different areas of media and salaries haven’t moved much since the early noughties when we started.

In real terms with the cost of living our salaries have almost gone backwards, despite promotions and career progression. It’s very annoying.