To think salary is very low for this job ad

[Jobseeker0]

FTC job ad I just came across has a salary of £25,063 based in Kings Cross

I get that it’s a junior role but is it just me who thinks 25k is very low for this London based role? It’s really getting me down as I have a degree and a few years experience including placement year but most jobs I see pay very little and are still extremely competitive to land. I’m fighting for jobs that will barely cover my essential bills, and will require me to get a second job.

“We’re seeking a coordinator to support the successful delivery of multidisciplinary projects at the (x), working closely with project, delivery, finance, and discipline leads in a fast-paced, agile, and collaborative environment. Ideal for an early-career professional or graduate eager to develop new skills, this role focuses on overseeing project-level requirements, aligning processes, managing delivery tools, and coordinating resourcing and financial aspects of successful project delivery.

Key responsibilities

Manage and coordinate project delivery with cross-functional teams across various disciplines.
Ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget, and meet established goals.
Working with the project team to ensure focus on the quality of outputs and how the work we do best reflects the values of the (x).
Actively engage in continuous improvement initiatives, including retrospectives and delivery team meetings.
Coordinate meetings and manage project resources.
Develop and maintain collaborative and positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders through effective communication and engagement.
Provide clear monitoring and reporting to clients when required, covering project-level deliverables and key performance indicators.
Monitor effectiveness across project work-streams and provide administrative support as needed.
Perform financial tracking, budgeting, and reforecasting activities.
Encourage agile ways of working and efficiencies across the (x).
Other ad hoc duties as required.
Provide backup support for Business Support when they are on leave, such as handling receptionist duties.”

Seems to be quite a long list of responsibilities too…
(I’m a struggling job seeker so appreciate I’m no expert)

YANBU - this was a reasonable new graduate salary 22 years ago. When costs were considerably lower.

Well it’s an admin job isn’t it? Dressed up as something “professional”. Admin jobs don’t generally get paid much more than minimum wage.

I agree it’s not enough to live on in London - but I suppose it’s for fresh grads who are probably still living at home.

I agree it’s low, and I think that’s an issue all over.

Im job hunting at the moment and finding it impossible. Everything above £30k wants a ridiculous level of experience and specialism.

I agree with pp that the job description sounds grand but it basically junior adminstrative tasks.

But I started in a similar role not in London 15 years ago and was on £24k for that. Salaries have remained stagnant, especially at the junior level roles. We've seen a similar issue in our workplace - a fair employer giving cost of living increases to our salaries has meant that our salaries now significantly outstrip the market equivalent as salaries in general have stagnated. We are now "readjusting" to market rates...

That would be called a Project Support Officer in my organisation, with a starting salary about £10k more. But successful applicants would probably need to be doing a similar job already, so I wouldn't call it entry level.

That job is entry level because of the low salary, not the type of work (at least how it's described). I imagine someone would stay a year or two to get the experience to use for applying for higher paying project jobs elsewhere.

@SalmonOnFinnCrisp Very true about grad salaries 30 years ago. DH was earning 26k PA 28 years ago and I was on a couple of thousand less I remember because we had just put our mortgage application in.

I honestly wouldn’t want to work for that company - the add is terribly written and vague enough to be either admin or project management or both. Either way they’re having a laugh for that salary!

Wages were much better for about a year - 2022/3 maybe - but seem to have crashed down again. It sucks.

Wow, this could almost be me! Nearly exactly the same circumstances, similar timeline except for the useless boss with a Desmond!

I was initially thinking what a coincidence but I suppose it's more indicative of those times than chance. Clearly, they're not any better, except the £10k studen loan is now the cost of a house deposit.

They are but the pensions are great. That's why I've moved to the public sector.

We pay admin staff £45-£50k to plus bonuses in London

The salary is £25-31k depending on experience. Fixed term contract but doesn't say how long. It's a non-profit private company.

Wow that is amazing! are you guys hiring haha😂

Can you get on the books of an agency for the city? Pretty sure that would pay much more.

On a serious note may I ask what type of background do the admin staff have to land those roles? Do they have lots of years experience

I would look at EA/PA roles in the field you’re in if I were you. Great way to learn about an industry on a decent salary. I work in public sector and EAs are earning around £50k (London based).

We’ve just hired this week!
We often hire based on people reaching out sending their CV and covering email. I’d suggest that you pick out all the firms you want to work for and reach out to the relevant person.
Don’t send an email that is clearly written by AI but take some time to learn what the business does and how you think you can fit in.
Good luck!

Unfortunately there are so many people applying for the same jobs, employers are taking advantage by offering the lowest pay they can, knowing full well that there will be someone that will take the job on low pay.

@Jobseeker0 sounds like a project coordinator role? I was on this salary probably a good 10 years ago maybe as a project coordinator. In that job title I probably peaked around £32k before stepping into more project management.

Agree with this, EA salaries are excellent in London and if you’re good you can be on 70k plus after 3-5 years experience.
Have a look at the family office recruiters websites.

its varied / some degrees / some apprenticeships backgrounds. Generally it’s more about personality and how they would fit in our business as it’s a small team. Transferable skills from previous roles etc.
We like people that show initiative e.g. sending speculative CV as mentioned before.
If we do recruit externally we use LinkedIn because it saves on recruitment costs and we can therefore pay better salaries.

Yup low.

We employ recent graduates/early careers doing this sort of project coordination job for starting salary of £35k plus access to bonus (not huge but on average about another £5k per year) plus private healthcare and hybrid working (3 days a week in the office - free to choose when you work in the office). Central London.

£35k is “market medium” btw not top end!

And we look for attitude and behaviour- project admins who actually care about attention to detail, show some initiative, are willing to learn. Experience helps but we can teach skills - harder to teach behaviour!

Yup same! 25K used to be the first year salary when I started working full-time 15 years ago, anyone worth their salt would have got a significant raise for year 2. I was a bit embarrassed back then to be hiring my junior on 25k in London, as I didn't think it was enough money to get by back then.

Was shocked to find out that an assistant I have recently hired used to be on 26k in London just last year! (For context, these are not PAs, but people with masters degrees taking the first step on the ladder in a professional career by assisting a senior person)

We are essentially becoming an economy where a lot of people regardless of qualifications make the minimum wage or up to 20% over minimum wage.

Debatable if that's a good or bad thing, as that's how the wage structure is in Spain or Italy, where qualifications don't translate into money, or in fact probably most of Europe.

For example, my organisation employes the higher paid people in other countries, whereas we employ a lot of low-paid, skilled, degreed people in the UK. It's sad to say that the UK is a low-wage, good language skills to communicate globally with ease country for us. The UK still has an edge over Spain or Italy, as language and cultural skills aren't as good in these countries.

I didn't think big companies still hire based on an unsolicited cv email?? Or maybe 'apply online' was said to me because my CV sucked!

I discuss this all the time
I do a similar job to what I did 20 years ago and earn double what I did 20 years ago (both just above the min wage for the relevant year). The house we bought 20 years ago is now triple the price we paid, our water bill is more than triple and so are our other bills and food bill. It’s getting worse. Yes, minimum wage has gone up, but not in line with the cost of everything we need to live.