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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that you should put the damn salary on the job description!!!

50 replies

TheSeventhHorcrux · 03/04/2013 20:08

About 80% of job adverts I've found don't have the salary on them normally with "salary to be discussed", "salary negotiable" or "salary dependant on experience".
Surely when you are advertising for a job you know roughly what you are willing to pay and it would save bother later if you just put that on the ad rather than wasting time reading applications that may have different salary expectations?
I always assume that the salary is ridiculously low and they just don't want to put people off - and don't bother to apply.
AIBU to think that you should put a rough idea of the salary on adverts?

OP posts:
TiggyD · 03/04/2013 20:09

If the salary was good they would tell people about it.

AThingInYourLife · 03/04/2013 20:10

I agree with Tiggy.

It's irritating.

KenAdams · 03/04/2013 20:13

YADNBU. It's hard to know what level the job is without a salary too.

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow · 03/04/2013 20:15

if they don't put the salary, its low.

Blankiefan · 03/04/2013 20:16

Sometimes the salary isn't stated because it's a range. Our salaries have a really wide range - if I advertise a role at £27-£40k depending on experience, it just upsets someone to be offerred £27K; even if it's above what they earned previously. Thus, a pay bump can become demotivational...

You may disagree but this is why we often don't state a salary on roles we advertised.

RatPants · 03/04/2013 20:16

Agreed. I wouldn't bother applying for anything which don't clearly state how much the salary was. Obviously they are being vague for a reason!

Original poster
TheSeventhHorcrux · 03/04/2013 20:17

I applied once - and it turned out that they wanted me to work for free in exchange for sharing their house in London.

So I've not had the best of experiences...

OP posts:
TravelinColour · 03/04/2013 20:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

janelikesjam · 03/04/2013 20:19

Totally.

And can I just add one more thing (am I in bad mood today). What about when you are trying to buy tickets for an event or service, and you go online to buy them. You hunt about the web page looking for the price, but it is nowhere to be seen. Do the idiots think we'll somehow not notice this. I had this problem recently, some theme park, impossible to find price until I got to checkout.

Oodsigma · 03/04/2013 20:20

At the bottom end of the pay market often advertises as 'above minimum wage' which is usually less than 10p over. Angry

AThingInYourLife · 03/04/2013 20:22

"Our salaries have a really wide range - if I advertise a role at £27-£40k depending on experience, it just upsets someone to be offerred £27K; even if it's above what they earned previously. Thus, a pay bump can become demotivational...

Why not put the salary floor on at least?

Make it clear there is room for negotiation, but that you see the job as being worth at least X.

Otherwise you are at risk of losing good applicants so you can keep weaker ones.

Blankiefan · 03/04/2013 20:26

"Why not put the salary floor on at least?"

There are definitely pros and cons of any approach. Just explaining why some companies do this (and it's not always because of a low salary)...

Original poster
TheSeventhHorcrux · 03/04/2013 20:26

Oodsigma - ahh yes, the "above minimum wage" trick. Can't be that much more else they would just say!

OP posts:
foslady · 03/04/2013 20:26

I was asked to state what wage I would work for after being told 150 people had applied and they were keen to take my application further. When I asked for industry standard and explained why I was worth it, suddenly they weren't so keen......wish I'd stuck to my guns and told them I don't do reverse auctions........

Original poster
TheSeventhHorcrux · 03/04/2013 20:27

I'm not a fan of the applicant having to state their salary expectations first either.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheSeventhHorcrux · 03/04/2013 20:29

xpost sorry

OP posts:
Ruffello · 03/04/2013 20:29

Unfortunately, with so many people chasing so few jobs, employers don't need to try very hard..

stubbornstains · 03/04/2013 20:30

To the general jobseeking public it just smacks of contempt for them, along with expecting an individually tailored CV for each application, and then not even sending a letter of acknowledgment for said application.

Re: not getting prices till you arrive at the online checkout;- I have abandoned online transactions at the last moment so many times over this...

And while we're on a rant, did you know that First Great Western do not mention ANYWHERE on their enormous website that children under 5 travel for free? Presumably so that parents will get confused and actually buy tickets for their 3 year olds Angry

(here endeth the wine and PMT-fuelled digressionBlush)

MajaBiene · 03/04/2013 20:30

I only apply for public sector jobs with clear salary bands now.

Flossiechops · 03/04/2013 20:35

My dh applied for a job which didn't state the salary. (This was very strange to me having worked in the public sector all my life where salary is clear) During the interview they asked him what sort of salary he was looking for. It seems that the company pay their workers what they feel they are individually worth not a blanket salary - I guess this has advantages and disadvantage. Dh got the job and was offered the salary he wanted, he has just had his first salary review and they are renegotiating his salary which has been dependent upon his performance over the past 8 months.

Iamsparklyknickers · 03/04/2013 20:42

YANBU, although for a job I like the look of (or think I could do) I'll happily dictate my salary expectations without shame. You don't ask you don't get I suppose, at least I can put not hearing anything down to being overpriced rather than anything crappy about my application/CV.

On balance I'd rather not sit in an interview already thinking they're under-offering but desperate for a job so grinning and baring it.

javabean · 03/04/2013 20:46

It's standard practice in my industry not to put salaries on job ads. Not because the jobs are badly paid, but because salaries vary so much depending on experience.

That said, I'd never be the first to name a price, I always get the employer to make the first move. And I aim higher than I want so there's room for negotiation.

redskyatnight · 03/04/2013 20:48

Having recently job hunted, the other downside of job adverts with no salary is not being able to understand what "level" of person is wanted. I do a job that essentially the advert would read the same whether it was for a very junior person or very experienced - the salary at least gives you an idea whether you are massively over or underqualified for what might be wanted.

ILikeBirds · 03/04/2013 20:50

YANBU

There's plenty of evidence too that wage secrecy disadvantages women more than men

emsyj · 03/04/2013 20:53

All this means is "Salary = whatever we can get away with paying you". I hate this secrecy regarding salary - this is a major contributor to the equal pay problem, companies don't want you to know (a) what they're paying anyone else (whether it be more because they're better or more because they asked for it) or (b) what they would be willing to pay you if you insisted on it.

Very inarticulate as I have had several glasses of wine, but you get the gist...