People applying for a job advertised at X to X salary and saying they want 3x more at interview

[diditbark]

This is causing me so many headaches at the moment.

We're advertising for some fairly junior admin positions. Salary band clearly stated in ad, including what the top of band is.

So many people are applying and requesting a min of far more. Say the top of band is £26k and people are applying with required salary £40k.

Bear in mind myself and those shortlisting and interviewing have zero authority to go over top of band.

We also have scenarios where people apply saying they want circa the top of band, but when offered the position after interview say they cannot possibly accept for X figure £10k higher than advertised.

Is anyone else coming across this a lot? Obviously times are hard, inflation is a bastard, many people are underpaid. But there's zero room for us to negotiate ten grand over the top of band.

I’m NHS and have always had this. I guess if it’s ramped up then the job market must be pretty crap out there?

It's likely as you've mentioned to be because of the COL. Someone desperate will come along and snap it up at the advertised salary, but entry level salaries just don't support a family now

It's not NHS. I get that it's not a wage to support a family and it's certainly not - it's just above entry level.

But us on the team dealing with the recruitment have no authority whatsoever to agree to a higher salary, so it's basically a time wasting exercise.

Do we suggest that the ad is amended to say to not apply if you will not accept the pay band, as there is no room for negotiation? I thought publishing a pay band itself was clear enough.

We've literally had someone request £65k when top of band is under £30k.

How much is rent where you are? Bear in mind that if the salary doesn't even cover living costs, then the employer is basically freeloading, and relying on the employee to subsidise them. Some salary bands are massively out of touch with reality...

Feed it back to whoever sets the salary bands?

I guess depends on what qualifications you’re asking for and where you are in the U.K. plus whether the bands are keeping track with like for like positions. Cost of living is biting hard - also rentals often ask for the salary to be a multiple of the monthly rent, which can be extortionate even for house shares now.

totally - make clear both in ad and when you offer an interview that there is room to negotiate outside the specified band, so please do not accept an interview if this is not for you....

Good luck!!

Are you benchmarking correctly?

Not quite the same scenario, but I work in a senior position in IT and have had some approaches that are quite frankly laughable - asking for somebody with my skills / experience at less than a third of my current salary.

I am invariably polite when rejecting, but do always feel like adding 'good luck in your search for a unicorn who apparently works for the fun of it'.

What qualifications are needed for the role? If it requires a degree then £26k is low for the grade above entry level. Grad roles at my company are £30k and obviously more for the grade above. £26k just isn’t much nowadays, especially when some experience is wanted. I do think £65k is unrealistic of people though when the pay band is quoted, but I wouldn’t have though in the £30k range was unreasonable for people to want to negotiate.

I did ask for more money in my new role but it was less than £1k.

It was actually on here that advised it as I was taking such a big drop in wages and it said starting salary between x-y depending on experience/qualifications.
As I had more than all of the experience and qualifications needed then I hoped they’d put me on a higher salary but they refused.

I think asking for a small increase is ok but what they’re asking for is taking the mick.

Is this one of the jobs which asks for the earth in the description?

The reality is normally different but I read the job descriptions and think the wage must be 50k+

No, it's asks for C in English Maths Science GCSE, working knowledge of Microsoft 365, esp Excel. It's not a role asking for a min 2.1 from an RG uni.

It's just above entry level. To go over the top of band would be nearing the level of the people line managing the role.

Yes it's not a fabulous salary. But we have zero scope for increase. Zero. I'm not the CEO or AD, we have no budget influence. I get times are hard, they are for me too.

But we're now going to have to re-advertise and do another round of interviews because we can't offer the salary people are asking for. I've asked HR to be more specific on the max, I.e please don't apply if you won't accept the salary band.

I would say if it is advertised as an entry level role only requiring GCSEs and Microsoft application knowledge, people asking for 10k+ over the salary band when they are also aware of the salary range is very unreasonable of them

I would double check if the advertisement is definitely showing the correct band or whether it's actually showing the band to the applicants at all. It might look different to applicants than the poster

If that isn't the issue I would also check the line of communication - is there a recruiter they're talking to first? Perhaps the recruiter is saying something that implies the salary can be negotiated or saying something incorrect about the job.

I find it weird people are asking for 60k for a mid-high 20k role without something being amiss. I'm job hunting at the moment and if I can see a salary range and the highest is well below what I want I don't apply at all... just common sense!

Going by the pay band I’m guessing it’s public sector of some kind?

Sounds like the role needs a market forces pay uplift, and the whole team needs a job evaluation.

It really isn’t ok for public sector employers to expect people to work for less than they can live on.

Go onto the job websites and search for the job as if you were an applicant, to check that it actually says what it is supposed to say.

Entry level jobs aren't supposed to support a family they're for a new graduate to get their toes wet in the pool that is the work place.

I can see both sides, and in your case you coukd just add a question to the application form of "will you be able to accept thr job if offered in the salary range of £x to £y"

However, I have also seen the other side of the coin, where I was on the interview panel for a new sub-department leader role, and the panel was me, my Line Manager and his Director. I was the most junior member of the panel and we interviewed 4 people. 2 of them were basically unappointable and barely ticked all the "essential" boxes, 1 was just about a scrape-by maybe-appointable but wasn't much better. The 4th blew us out of the water by how well they understood the challenges, and their experience and skills and charisma. But when we offered them the job they said they couldn't accept unless it was the next salary band up. We ended up putting together a business case for the additional budget demonstrating the difference that would be made if we could do that, and we were successful. It was very much the right thing to do.

Whereabouts in the country are the roles based?

It’s for a junior position are over qualified / experienced people applying either way 10 grand more is a lot just non the applicants

If this is happening frequently, there is something wrong with your recruitment process.
Your short list, should contain people who could do the job and are prepared to do it at the salary advertised.

Good point. Loads of job adverts these days say £competitive without giving a number and you don't find out the grade/pay band limits until after interview. Are your HR department stripping out this vital info from the advert?

Can you offer part time and remote?

65 k for a entry level position that’s bloody laughable what a chancer

If Part/ full time remote I will apply even though I have plenty of experience

This.

We've literally had someone request £65k when top of band is under £30k.

🤔🤣