To give the salary as reason for leaving a job (civil service)

[GreenyBlueEyes]

Hello everyone,

I am currently in a job that is not a good fit and it's making me quite unhappy and knocking my confidence so I've decided to leave. Nothing terrible has happened really, it's just a case of being in the wrong job. I've only been there for 9 months of a 3 year loan period (I'm civil service).

I've found a related role that I think will be much better in a dept that pays a lot more generously (5k pa higher) so have applied.

If i get to interview and am asked why i want to leave my current role early (apart from reasons for wanting the advertised job), would it be acceptable/ best to cite the higher salary as my reason? It is partly that. I would have some money left at the end of the month for one thing. I don't want to look flighty or a troublemaker by implicitly criticising my current position and it is a considerable rise.

Sorry if it's a silly question, I've just never moved before without it being on promotion or for another solid reason.

Thanks!

Thanks HedgeFund I appreciate that! It's so hard to convince myself I might be able to actually succeed again at another job and that moving on doesn't somehow confirm that I am useless!!

I'm pretty sure your current employer will realise you'll be getting more money in your new position.

Say the new job is a better fit. What you said, but positive.

Ooh I like that one, Francis!

For an external job it would be fine, but it's not right for an internal job, no. Especially as you are on secondment.

If you say it's the salary, what will you do if the first job offers you more when they find out - you'd have to admit you lied.

It's far better, in any situation, to find all the great things about the new job and say that attracted you and while you'll be sad to move on you feel this new roles suits you better for those reasons and that you have x, y, z to offer.

CH1, I don't think it is British prissiness about money. I am quite happy to negotiate hard on salary once the offer is made. However, if someone gives it as the primary reason in the interview, then as an interviewer I would assume they won't stay long because they are the sort to chase the money and sell themselves to the highest bidder once they got what they need from the role.

If we are talking a seniorish role, an employer would want someone who has an interest in the role and passion and ideas on where to take it. You don't want someone who just comes in for the pay check. It creates a bad first impression if they could not even pretend to be excited about the role.

Let's face it, all employers know people want more salary. They would know from the past salary whether this person is getting an uplift. It would be stating the bleeding obvious.

As a former civil servant I would say that I wanted to further my knowledge of jobs within the pay grade to progress my career. The Civil Service want staff who show an interest in progressing up the career ladder, staff who stay in the same job for years tend to get overlooked for progression & once they are at the top of their pay scale only receive minimal pay increases in the current financial climate. There is nothing wrong in wanting a higher salary but don't use it as one of your main reasons for applying for a new position, treat it as an added bonus to the new skills you will gain through the job.

Just say you always keep an eye out for suitable positions for career progression and as this one is a perfect fit for you it’s too good an opportunity to pass up.

It's usually a big no no to mention salary at an interview (unless you have been headhunted). Mention career progression, training opportunities, that the post is more fitting in terms of the direction of your career.

It's also quite a bit more finance related than the description let on and that is not my area of strength.
I'd use this! It's honest, you can say that you gave it a fair whack to see if it would suit in the end but it didn't and you don't think it's fair to them or you to carry on, this new role sounds exactly what you wanted originally (come up with some specifics of why) and all of it is true so you'll sound convincing.

Think about it like this, why should they care about your salary level. That doesn't tell them anything important about you, your career aspirations or what value-add you intend to bring to them if they give you this role.

You need to use every opportunity possible to sell yourself and show them why they should choose you rather than someone else who would say ' I care about the contribution I make' not 'I care about how much money you'll give me'.

As in "....ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” (Kennedy)

The interviewer will probably neither know nor care that you would be moving from a lower paying department to a higher paying one. It's not something that is really part of the civil service appointment process TBH

I doubt you will be asked the question, but if you feel better having an answer prepared just in case, you should say something about the new job offering you the opportunity to work on a policy area that interests you and offers more career development potential than your current position. (Or words to that effect - tweak to make it fit your circumstances)

I'd also check that you will indeed get a pay rise if you get the new job. If you end up going on secondment, you would still get paid the same as you do in your home department

Good point, daisychain

greeny if it's more finance related than advertised, that is a good reason if your skillset and career aspirations are not in that direction. Being nosey (and don't feel you have to answer) is it a role in academy financial intervention? I ask because the job spec for those roles was quite generalist until recently (the most recent recruitment made it much more explicit). You wouldn't be the first person to be in that position!

Thanks again everyone, some really great points and fairly unanimous! So glad I asked!

So yes, I always get CS job alerts just to keep an eye on whats out there and I can say this one jumped out at me and I didn't want to pass it up without trying to apply.

I like the idea of mentioning it's more finance related than I thought but given this job has no real finance element, maybe best to keep quiet about my weaknesses unless asked?

Gretchen guessing that's dept of education? No, it's a bit more overseas- related, my current job, but that sounds frustrating!

I would lie and say career progression. Most people go to work solely for the money but interviews always involve both parties lying!

I interview internal civil service candidates regularly and never ask (nor have I ever been asked) why someone wants to leave a role. They may ask why you want the new role. To be honest I can't say I pay much attention to how long someone has been in their current role when prepping for the interview

However, if someone gives it as the primary reason in the interview, then as an interviewer I would assume they won't stay long because they are the sort to chase the money and sell themselves to the highest bidder once they got what they need from the role.

But this is a very British assumption. All jobs have a market rate, if you are paying market rate and offering good career progression then people are unlikely to leave for salary reasons. They will stay a fair while if you just offer one of those.

If you are not paying a market rate and also not offering career progression you will lose people anyway, whatever they say at interview.

I've certainly interviewed people whose initial motivation to move was not getting the rate for the job. Often that is a motivator to move to something with more responsibility to get the money. The two are interlinked for most people.

I find it interesting that candidates from some countries will state this as the first reason and others, like the Brits, will couch it in terms of career progression without being open about motivation. People generally want both and either can be the motivation for a successful employee. Its helpful to me to understand the balance between those priorities to put them in the right place in the organisation.