How to ask for the top offered salary - job application related

[donotknowhownottomind]

Hi

I am currently on 21K and went for an interview for a role which is similar but I would say broader and more challenging. It was advertised as up to 30K according to qualifications etc.

The interview went well and they told me they really liked me and had been looking for months and to expect a call. They had a couple of other candidates to see.

They also asked me what I am earning currently. I said 21K but I should have said that my current boss has asked me to stay and is upping my salary (not sure by how much, will find out on Monday).

If and when they do offer me the job, due to my being on 21K now, I don’t think they will offer me 30K.

However, this is what I want and need. When they don’t offer me 30, what justification can I give for wanting and needing that much without sounding pushy.

I think my experience warrants 30 (how long is a piece of string) but I am also a single parent to three on tax credits, so I really need to earn more and receive less in credits before I become ineligible. I wouldn’t tell them all that, but that’s the general situation.

I am prepared to carry on looking for another job if I don’t get the 30, but I don’t know how to imply that. Any advice appreciated 😊!

OP MN isn’t the best place to ask for this sort of advice. For some reason when it comes down to it MNers are always advised to be over cautious. It’s female socialisation in action. Ignore this. There are probably better forums to take This too, ones with more men who play this game a lot better than women do.

Ask for £30K say its what you know you can demand in the market. You can do this

I've always always said I was on 5k more than I was for every new role. it's never not paid off -maybe I've just been lucky but it's made a hell of a difference over the last 5 job moves now!

you can be honest and say you applied because of the advert up to 30 and this is what you are looking for in your next role. worst case scenario they will say they cant meet that but can give you x amount. then you can decide

worst case scenario they will say they cant meet that but can give you x amount. then you can decide

Yep

I have never told a new employer my current salary. There is no requirement to do so, or obligation.

This is why it’s illegal to ask you your current salary in some countries (Australia I think) as it disadvantages women in particular.
At my employer you have a starting salary which is 90% of the advertised salary but then you get the full salary after a year as long as everything is going well. I convinced my boss to pay me the full rate from day one.

when a job is advertised with a salary of up to £30k that is not saying the starting salary could be as high as £30k, it is that the top increment on the pay scale for that job band is £30k and you won't normally get to that level till you have had 5 years of incremental pay rises. they won't bed intending for you to start on any more than about £25k.

once I was successful in negotiating a starting salary at the top of the range advertised. I then found at the end of the year that everyone else got a pay rise and I didn't because I was already at the top of my pay scale.

obviously the extra money was nice and I still got more overall than I would have if i started lower in the payscale but I realised then that no amount of negotiation can actually make a company value a role higher than the price they are willing to pay

They don’t do banding - they decide what to pay, and the advert states that for the “right person” they will pay as much as 30K right now.

Whether or not I am the “right person” in their eyes, I don’t know.

A lot of salaries are determined by how well off the company is IMO, not the worth it lack of worth of the person.

The fact that I was asked makes me think that yes they will offer something low. That’s ok, but I may well move on and look for something else. Having honed my negotiating skills with the help of this thread .

If they offer me the job that is.

or not it

I agree with @IWorkAtTheCheescakeFactory and never once have I advised the Op to lie but rather to know her worth.

I've always asked for the top salary advertised and also got it every time I've been offered the role (when I've been offered a lesser amount to start with). If they've advertised £30k as the top salary for the role then they will be willing to pay it. All the stuff on this thread about top of the pay banding is irrelevant!

You only make a decent jump in pay when you move jobs. If you stay in post you fall behind the market. You do not need to hand over a p45 either. Do not lie, but simply say what you are looking for.

What happened OP? Did they give you the 30k?

Haven’t heard anything yet so I think they must have preferred one of the two candidates after me. Will update when I know .

As in I have heard nothing about the job at all.

Sorry to hear that OP

That's a pity Op but good experience, so hopefully if you don't get this one, you'll get the next.

Go ahead and ask for £30k explaining that you applied on that basis, you clearly have the necessary skills and experience and you have already been offered a rise to stay in your present job. (Don't mention needing the money because of the 3 DCs though). If asked what is the minimum you would accept just reiterate that you believe you are worth the £30k mentioned in the advert. Good luck!

You never know what timescale they were seeing the others on.

If they do come back, I would have no hesitation in asking for 30k, and evidencing it. I work somewhere with wildly unequal pay, and if they have 30k in their budget for that role, they are able to pay you that: I see every day that the people who demand the money get it and those who don’t, don’t. And it is very often a gender issue.

Hi all

Need some more advice please .

The interview people have come back to me and asked me to go the second part of the interview (which I didn’t know about).

At my current job I have been offered 23K. They need to know if I am going to stay or not over the next couple of days.

Would it be reasonable for me to get back to the first people and ask them what kind of pay scale they are looking at generally?

The problem is that my current job need to know before I know whether the interview people want me or how much money they are offering.

I could take the leap and give my notice to my current job and know that if this other job doesn’t work out, I will carry on looking in any case.

I’d say yes to the current role definitely. Treat the potential new role completely separately. You don’t know how long recruitment could take and you don’t want to burn bridges where you currently are. Good luck.

Does your current job know you are interviewing? Sorry, you’ve probably said. If this is a retention offer, then you’re quite entitled to tell them you’re not in a position to decide yet. They are putting pressure on you for their own benefit.

Accept offer from current role. (Unless this ties you into a long notice period for new contract?) if new job offers you £30k you can then give notice to current job.

Why do you need to give notice?