WIBU..to go to this job interview knowing I can’t accept the job?

[xSummerStarsx]

…If offered, obviously!

I FINALLY have an interview at my dream company. I have been applying for roles there for the last 2 or 3 years and have always been gutted as haven’t managed to get an interview.

Until now! I saw a job advertised a couple of weeks ago, it is a drop in ‘responsibility’ and I am slightly over-qualified so I knew it would probably be a pay decrease but applied anyway as you never know (salary wasn’t stated on advert, just said ‘dependant on experience.’)

I got a phone call last week to say I have an interview and that she would email me the details, great.

On the email it stated the salary and it is a 6k salary drop. I just cannot afford to take that sort of drop. However, I really would like to go to the interview so I can FINALLY get in front of these people and meet them. I’m hoping if they meet and like me, that they may keep me in mind if I apply for roles in future, or if a more ‘suitable’ role comes up?

WIBU to go, knowing that I can’t accept the position if offered to me? I know I’d be a ‘time waster’ but I don’t see how else I’m ever going to get an interview for this place!

[OnlyLovers]

I agree with Emma: go to the interview, don't ring them in advance and say you're 'desperate' and don't worry about 'time-wasting'.

But, OP, are you asking us again because you still want to be told to go to the interview? That's the impression I'm getting.

[DaleTremont]

Go!!! Then if you get an offer, let them know your salary expectations. They may meet it - great. If they don't, that's when you firmly and politely state that you would love to work for them for the right salary,and who knows they may have other yet to be advertised roles, or bear you in mind for future ones.

Think big, think like a man, be ambitious. Don't apologise, and know your worth.

[Kerberos]

Go. Do the interview. Negotiate salary later. If there's no wriggle room then at least you've made contact and will be the first in line if a more senior role comes up.

It also depends on how much the £6k is as a percentage of your current salary.

[xSummerStarsx]

To the posters saying why am I still asking. I guess because I’m genuinely unsure. The advice has hardly been unanimous has it? A lot of posters saying ‘Don’t go, you will be wasting their time and it will count against you.’ And then other posters saying ‘Go to the interview, you won’t waste their time/ annoy them.’

I don’t want to annoy them, or waste their time. Though I guess as another poster said, I have nothing to lose, it’s not like I’ve ever had a job there, hell, even an interview so maybe I shouldn’t care if I put their backs up by declining if offered the position.

[NameChange30]

At some point you have to make up your own mind love, we can't make it for you!

And lol at expecting MNers to be unanimous

[Hobbes8]

Do you want them to remember you as someone who impressed them at interview, but was so wanted by their current employer that they were persuaded to stay in their current job? Or as someone who rang them and said it wasn't enough money and they couldn't be bothered to turn up?

[Butkin1]

I think you should go.. Of course the possible drop in salary really depends on the percentage and not the amount. 6 grand off 60 grand isn't as tough as 6 grand off 20 as you know.

When we're hiring people we consider the salary negotiation to be just part of the process. If everybody was perfect and didn't need to negotiate then we'd only interview one person but this isn't how it works.

I'd say 1/3rd of candidates turn us down after interview. It's just part of life - if both sides aren't happy then best to say so before you start the job but not before the interview.

If you really want more money then you could tell the interviewers what your base demand would be. They can then factor that into their selection process.

I wouldn't over think it.. I don't think you're wasting their time..

What does set our alarm bells ringing though are people who make lots of other (minor) demands on packages. Just recently a candidate kept on hammering away about petty things like cigarette breaks, length of lunch breaks etc. Gave us the impression they weren't really committed...

[DarthVadersTailor]

OP I would certainly attend the interview with the view of simply introducing yourself and making an impression with your dream company. If an offer is made you can certainly try to negotiate salary and if it turns out to be too much of a drop then you simply say that although you would be willing to take a drop but that this drop is too much, if they really want you they can then either come back with another offer in terms of salary or maybe even another post. And if they don't then you tried and hopefully would have stuck in their minds for the future.

I hear what you're saying on where you are in your career and taking too much of a drop seems detrimental but it's a case of dream job vs salary, you need to figure out which is more important to you and ultimately go with that. But purely for the experience and the chance to make an impression I would attend the interview personally on the chance that the interviewer may see that potential in you not just for the role you're applying for but other positions coming up. And I always think that any interview practice is always quite valuable in itself especially if you've not had much recently!!!

[Busybuzzybumblebee]

As someone who works in HR I would be pretty annoyed if I offered someone the role only for them to turn it down, you know the salary, you know you can't live on it. You're taking an interview spot from someone else who can work for them on those conditions and if you'd wasted my time I wouldn't consider you for another role, I'd think you were unreliable

[Alexjoy]

Go to the interview.

Knock them out with your skills.

Negotiate the 6k more in salary.

Get promoted after a year, soon you'll be running the company!

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

In that case, Busy, you should have stated the salary in the advert. All the jobs that say "competitive salary" or whatever really fuck me off. Just bloody give a ballpark figure so I know whether to spend 4 hours writing an application form/tailoring my CV/covering letter or whether your idea of a competitive salary is worlds away from mine. This secret salary business where they don't tell you and you aren't allowed to ask at interview is really annoying. Everyone has financial responsibilities and this idea that you have to want the job just for its merits alone and the salary is irrelevant is totally unrealistic.

Slightly unrelated point, OP, but I bleeding well hope you're not at the pinnacle of your career in your late 20s!

And I think you should go for the interview because you love the company.

[Alexjoy]

Just thinking what DaleTremont said, and it's made me think that a guy wouldn't even consider not going to this interview.

No offence to HR, but it's dog eat dog, even more so in today's world where job opportunities are slim pickings. You never know toll you've tried, OP.

[PurpleDaisies]

I think the stated salary is really important - as others have said £6k on £60k isn't that much but if they want somebody for £20k that's a different story.

The discrepancy between the ad's "salary negotiable" and latest communication where they say what they want to pay gives you a great excuse to phone and check what the situation is. I agree with busy that it is daft to go to an interview when you know you'll have to turn down the job and I'd be pretty pissed off if I was the hr manager.

[HopefulHamster]

Go for it! You just don't know, if you wow them they may be able to stretch if further. If you talk to them you will make more of an impression than declining over the phone.

[DaleTremont]

Busy, people turn down roles all the time for numerous reasons. When I've recruited for roles myself, I always have a backup candidate in mind. I would expect a certain amount of negotiation to follow an offer, whether it be for salary, hours, location, whatever.

The OP isn't there to make HR's life easier, she's out to get the best job she can for the best salary she can negotiate.

[musicmaiden]

DaleTremont is spot on.

You don't want to be listening to the HR people on here – lol at "I would be pretty annoyed if I offered someone the role only for them to turn it down" - this happens all the time in the real world! The candidate's current employer may offer more to get the person to stay, or the candidate decides that, based on talking to their interviewers and finding out more about the role/seeing the company/doing the commute/thinking again about the salary, etc, that the job isn't for them after all.

A job interview is just as much for a candidate to find out more about the company and role as it is for the company to get the right person.

[PausingFlatly]

This circle can be squared, though.

Turn up, do the interview.

At the end, bring up the salary problem.

You've showcased yourself for the future. You've explained how you could do more for them right now than the role as they advertised it.

And you haven't let them waste time on the offer/rejection cycle, because they can bear your position in mind when deciding whether to offer.

GO TO THE INTERVIEW!

[grumpysquash]

A really important aspect of attending the interview is for you to find out whether it really is your dream company or not, regardless of whether they offer you the position.
You will know whether or not it is worth trying to negotiate and/or apply for positions in the future.

[OnlyLovers]

As someone who works in HR I would be pretty annoyed if I offered someone the role only for them to turn it down

Do you work for HR in a parallel universe, Busy? I don't work in HR but have been on a few interview panels and hear a lot from my DP, who manages a team of people, about interviewing/hiring. I've experienced and heard about many more than one candidate turning a job down.

It's a two-way process and, just as an employer has the right to turn down an interviewee, the interviewee has the right to 'take up' an interview place and then turn down the job.

[wowfudge]

OP what is so amazing about this organisation that you are desperate to work for them? I'd like to understand that before I give my two penneth.

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

I have interviewed people who had more experinece than the job required, were currently paid more than the job offered. You just never know... Some were successful, some were not. We recruit for positions but also to create a pipeline of candidates for succession planning within the organisation. Some people made it clear they had their eyes on progression and sometimes this was well received and sometimes not!!

Go to the interview!!! You applied based on the wording of the advert. You have not wasted their time.

[Busybuzzybumblebee]

Obviously people turn down roles and part of the interview process is to see if the company is a good fit for candidate and other way around but to go to the interview knowing full well you're not going to take it is frankly a waste of everyone's time.

Going to an interview and deciding the role is not right or the company isn't suitable is fine, going knowing you can't take the drop in pay is pointless, particularly if you want them to hire you in the future.

And I always put a salary bracket when advertising for whoever claimed i didn't

[rollonthesummer]

going knowing you can't take the drop in pay is pointless, particularly if you want them to hire you in the future.

This, tbh, though it would alaso depend on pay.

If your job is currently paying £50k and this is paying £44k-there's probably more scope for an increase somewhere along the line. If you're currently paid £15k and this is paying £9k, then it sounds like there's not much future in that role.

[Littlef00t]

My DH has twice accepted a job at lower pay, and once a furth commute because it was an 'in' to where he wanted to be. Both times within a year he was on more money than he was in the role he left.

You say it's your dream company. Have you worked out exactly how much or month youd be less off by. Tax eats a lot so although it may be £300 which is a lot, if there's career progression and the salary is negotioable, it's at least worth an interview.