To think this salary is an insult?

[FlyingSolo16]

I’m a solicitor and recently interviewed for a position. Five rounds of interview, meetings with different people within the firm, etc etc.

Get to the offer stage and the “competitive salary” they’re offering was £27,500 a year. AIBU or is that an insult?

Yes!

Sounds like bullshit. Minimum wage isn’t much less. But are you freshly qualified? Is there an alternative? I think more than two and I would have told them to go fuck themselves. But I don’t have qualifications that mean I can be a solicitor and need to build bridges. But I do earn much more. I’m also old 🤣

That's a ridiculous salary, and yes, insulting.

I've seen so many jobs advertised recently with frankly laughable salaries that bear no relation to the cost of existing as an adult. i do wonder how people are supposed to live?

Sounds ridiculously low for a professional role, that is only just above NMW isn't it?

It seems like we can’t anymore. Salaries are just stagnating.

So was this for an actual solicitor role?

A solicitor’s PA makes more than that!

That’s crazy. How much experience do you have/how much experience does the job require? Might be ok for a first grad role but I think you’d have said if that was the case.

I refuse to go beyond an hr screen without knowing salary range because I've been burnt like this before. Rude and a compete waste of your time. I hope no one accepts the offer and they have to start the whole process again

What? Absolute piss take. I hope you told them.

That’s shocking, I was earning that as a PA 20 years ago! Minimum wage on 40 hours a week is £25,300 !

What did you say?

I saw one the other day for Head of Legal for a local authority for three times that salary and thought "Good luck with that."

I hate jobs like that. All the hassle for interviews and no transparency on the compensation. It's just a waste of everybodies time.

Well, isuppose it depends what they think they're competing with. But I would expect a solicitor to be on more than that, even if newly qualified.

I would let them know what salary I had been expecting and keep looking for other positions.

As a trainee solicitor in 2001 I started on £26,000.

I'm dying to know. Op, that's utterly ridiculous. What a frustrating waste of time to have such a complex interview process for that. The jobs market is dire at the moment.

I said no.

im an NQ, but this role is open to all and it’s apparently their flat rate across the firm for all solicitors. There’s “generally” a 5% pay rise each year.

I don't interview for any position before I know the salary band, if they won't provide at the start of process I always decline.

Good for you for saying no.
The cheek of putting you through that amount of interviewing!

Just out of interest, what were you expecting the salary to be? And the salary range for my role is staggering, some are a little over minimum wage (and they want someone with 3 years experience etc, etc!)

Absolute piss take! When you look at the fees you pay to complete your LLB and then the LPC. I did my LPC in 2004 and worked for a year as a "legal executive" for £14.6K a year! In Tottenham.

They dangled the possibility of a training contract but when I google the firm now, they still have the same solicitors there, no new ones. The profession is one now where you need family money and connections to break in.

I would advise getting qualified and then going in-house.

Is that full time? 😮

I’m glad you said no.

dd was a junior architect and when minimum wage went up last year/year before she wasn’t even earning NMW. They made her redundant rather than increase her pay to minimum wage.

i work in academia now and we are struggling to recruit lecturers because the job description wants the moon on a stick with regards to experience and qualifications and I think starting wage is something like 32k.

That does sound low for a solicitor’s salary. Are you sure you heard them right?

That is more then I’m getting though and I consider mine to be excellent. I’m due a pay progression in a few weeks time to a crazily high £30,000.