I know, I know, super early days, but what would you do?

[Ethicaldebacle]

I have two, 3rd round interviews this week, plus two other first rounds lined up. Plus other two that should materialise into a 3rd round and a first round but they're being slow.

So overall my pipeline isn't that terrible. I started applying the 29th of April, and so far have applied for 28 jobs. So theoretically 5:1 to first round interview ratio which isn't terrible.

Anywho... To my surprise salaries are higher than I originally expected, and I was most certainly underpaid in my previous role. (Last year salaries plummeted but they clearly have recovered).

One of the 3rd rounds the salary is actually out of the benchmark because of how low it is. It's still more than I made in my previous role, but just about the same a role I was in 2 years ago.

I really like the company, and the HM, and we're financially stable, so to me it almost feels greedy, but at the same time, I don't want to miss on £££.

All companies have more or less the same amount of potential growth, but this company is the one where I can see wanting to have the HM as a mentor.

Obviously it's all hypothetical, but one of those things that are "nice" to think about.

I would stop using phrases such as "pipeline".

If you uttered that word in any interview I was conducting, I'd fail you so fast your head would spin.

I work in sales adjacent fields, so to us it's a "normal" buzzword.

Account manager here, pipeline is a word I hear at least once a day, and if I was hiring someone into a sales adjacent role, I'd expect to hear it in the interview at least once too.

That aside, if the one you are keen on is the lowest paid, could you use the benchmarking you have done to negotiate, highlighting that other companies salaries are clearly improving, and to tempt you on board they need to do the same (if they offer it to you of course).

PS, you're clearly doing something right, I've been job hunting since Christmas when redundancies were announced at my place and I've not had anywhere near your success. What is your secret?

I would say I started leveraging ChatGPT a bit more, BUT I barely used it for the interviews I'm having this week.

Two interviews came through "networking" via online communities and reaching out to the HM on LinkedIn. Another one, the recruiter reached out to me (via LI).

Also for the first time I'm only applying for jobs where I see myself working. One of the interviews I have lined up (one of the slow ones), is really for mere practice. In the past, I've applied for anything that I could more or less do and paid the bare minimum, so slightly different approach this time.

Feel free to send me a DM, happy to give more personalised advice :) . To many what I do is a strong match for an AM (albeit not in my industry).

Your question is: should you go to the 3rd round interview for the role that isn;t offering such a good salary?

I would. And if they offer, and if you prefer them, use other potential offers to leverage an increase in pay.

I wouldn't accept an offer from them without going through final rounds with other companies that might offer more. But you're in sales. You know how to negotiate! I'd hope they would expect you to. You tell them why you like them best. You tell them what you can offer them. You tell them you have other offers and if they can match them, then you will sign.

If they can't you need to seriously think whether going for a company you like, for less money is less stressful than earning more, especially with the current CoL.

Very well put!

My idea was to negotiate a bit more to get as close as possible to the middle of the range I provided.

I would still take the offer while the others are "cooking". Unfortunately, the other top contender needs a 4th round. Both do now that I think about it, but the one with the lower pay is more a "blessing" type (not actual decision maker), whereas the other one is a proper 4rd one with senior management / exec level.

Both would still bleed into next week, but I forsee a week between both offers.

The big BUT (for the higher paying one) is that I didn't necessarily click with the HM, but that could just be a perception thing.