Salary/hours negotiation - new job

[Merryoldgoat]

I have been asked to interview for a job. The salary and hours aren’t quite what I need.

Current job - fte salary £53k - actual salary £38.5k as I’m 0.725 fte

New job - £45k to £50k but full time - they don’t want to pay more than £50k.

I’m not interested in working full time right now for a variety of reasons but the job does look good and has a good benefit package.

Am I utterly insane to interview and, if they like me, try to negotiate the full time salary but for 4 days? I’d take £45k for 4 days…

Have you done it? Have you had candidates try it? I don’t know if I’m beyond cheeky or this is how stuff is.

YABU - this is a stupid idea

YANBU - they may say no but it’s worth a try if you’re successful at interview

Go for the interview and then afterwards if they decide they want to hire you then absolutely ask for the salary you want. No harm in trying. I actually think it's quite good to be bold here, it's the best way to progress salary wise. I don't think a lot of people realise how much they missed out on simply because they didn't ask for it.

I think you should go for it. If you're going via a separate recruiter as well then they have an incentive to push for a higher salary for you too because they tend to get paid a commission for each successful hire as a percentage of the new hire's salary. So basically, the recruiter wants you on a higher salary too because it means more money for them.

Just wanted to emphasise something about what I said. I'd absolutely only ask for the higher salary AFTER the interview and not before.

It's easy for them to look at a list and say, well this person wants more so let's not interview them.

It's harder for them to refuse the salary request if you've gone for an interview and they like you and you're what they're looking for.

I think you're shooting yourself in the foot if you talk about salary beforehand.

Yes, but they will still probably give you the same full time job to do in fewer hours. More stress for you, money saving for them. Those extra hours aren't going to disappear as I have learnt from similar arrangements.

I disagree with some of the advice and say wait until you've got the job. You can't negotiate from a point of no job offer, you aren't wasting anyone's time. You have gotten to interview, you are worth their time, let them decide if they want you, then you can negotiate and decide if you want them.

I would keep quiet on the salary at this point, you will be in a better position to negotiate that when they have met you and shown some interest.

I think you should mention wanting four days up front though. I would be extremely annoyed to interview somebody and they say this afterwards, I would reject a candidate for that alone.

I would be extremely annoyed to interview somebody and they say this afterwards, I would reject a candidate for that alone.

Why? Your job is to recruit, you're not volunteering you're paid I assume, if a candidate is good enough to get to interview they deserve to be listened to and negotiate, you don't have to accept. Unless you state explicitly in your job description that the role is full time and and not negotiable (not something you'll find in public sector often and for good reason, it's called inclusivity) "extremely annoyed" seems a totally unnecessary and outdated reaction to have.

I would absolutely do this. You'd still be doing the role advertised, ie the outputs wouldn't change, you'd just get it done in 4 days. If you are more experienced than they'd attract at the £45k salary they should snap your hand off. I wish more companies would realise this - if you have a £45k budget you will likely get more value from a £60k quality person doing 4 days a week, particularly in this type of a role (and I'm in finance).

Thank you for the further comments.

Obviously I don’t know the full workload but I do what would generally be a full time job in 4 days now and it doesn’t encroach on the other day and isn’t stressful.

Finance jobs like this/mine are not the high-pressure kind. It’s reporting, analytics and checking reconciliations with a bit of hands on stuff.

I generally have found that people can over complicate roles like this - I expect you may have found this @bumpetybumpbump - and many could be done in 4 days.

OP, you say you are bubbly and they are quiet, the salary is too low, the commute is longer. Are you sure this is the job for you?

@Vikingintraining

Absolutely not sure at all! The interview is for me as much them I think. I just to get in my head how to approach if it DOES work.

If it’s clear the fit is wrong then there wouldn’t be enough money to induce me to work somewhere.

Did that once - never again.

@namechange90832

I would be extremely annoyed to interview somebody and they say this afterwards, I would reject a candidate for that alone.

Why? Your job is to recruit, you're not volunteering you're paid I assume, if a candidate is good enough to get to interview they deserve to be listened to and negotiate, you don't have to accept. Unless you state explicitly in your job description that the role is full time and and not negotiable (not something you'll find in public sector often and for good reason, it's called inclusivity) "extremely annoyed" seems a totally unnecessary and outdated reaction to have.

I would be extremely annoyed because if I have advertised for a full time position then I think the candidate should assume that is what I want and so they have therefore deliberately wasted my time.

If they want to me to take the time to consider whether it can be done as a part time role, then I would appreciate them mentioning that beforehand so I can consider it rather than waste my time.

So yes I would be annoyed and yes I would rule this candidate out, I prefer honest and up front people.

So yes I would be annoyed and yes I would rule this candidate out, I prefer honest and up front people.

How would you rule them out? If they've told you prior they've been "up front", if they tell you after you've already offered the job and would be a grade A tool to rescind the offer purely for not mentioning it up to that point, you wouldn't be allowed to to rescind it in most organisations (you could of course deny them the part time hours with good business reasons, but couldn't withdraw the job offer purely because you didn't like the timing of the question).

Thankfully, where I work, recruitment is a little bit more robust and accountable than "I prefer honest and up front people".