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)

Appalling OP- I earn well (not six figures) I’d actually prefer to go back to my £22k wage with 2009 cost of living. I’m terrified for my children and the younger generations, thanks to AI it will only get worse. I will tell
my children you get a trade, there’s no money in academia, office work.

£5k childcare per month? Would it not be cheaper to have a nanny?

It sounds really low for London but the role sounds like basic admin really.

My 17 yo is on more than that in an entry level job (South East, about 1.5hrs from London) but its NHS and a clinical role and they dont differentiate for under 21s rate. Obv good benefits and lots of progression opportunities plus pension and paid for training.

My other DC is job hunting and accounts assistant jobs (asking for experience as preferred for some and essential for others) are offering around 25-27k. They seem to want a lot for the money they are offering. It definitely seems its the employers market and they are making the most of it. There are a huge amount of jobs available that fit his criteria every day but lots of applicants it seems as people dont stay put any more and are constantly moving around.

I am not sure what's changed, when i got my first job early 2000s there were 200 applicants for 2 jobs, a decent amount were basically suitable but a huge amount were box ticking for job seekers. I was 22, no experience in finance but got a band 5 NHS job straight away just by having AAT. Now the criteria is a lot higher, mostly experience based and I would be very unlikely to get in at that level.

When my DH was made redundant in 2010 there were a lot less applicants around but we were much more in the recruitment agency era and all applicants were highly qualified so competition was harder. It seems to have continued that way IME in private sector. I would absolutely jump at taking on my 19yo in an assistant role if any were available but it seems public sector lower level corporate jobs do not attract decent external candidates.

That’s ridiculous how on earth are you meant to live on that in central London? Or be able to afford the travel costs if you commute!!!!

i’d look at other cities like Leeds, Manchester Nottingham etc
cheaper to live up north you’d have a much better quality of life.

Also looking at the job description that looks a lot for the wages they want to pay I wouldn’t even consider it.

Thanks, are there specialised agencies you’d recommend to look out for

I have signed up to quite a few including small ones based in London (never hear back) and larger agencies (hear back but not to be rude I find the recruiters rarely match me to suitable roles)

Very recently someone from big agency contacted me about a role at assistant vice president level for a bank lol. Presume he glanced at my CV for 2 seconds, saw that I had knowledge of (xyz) which matched ONE requirement of this senior job ad but ignored the fact I didn’t meet any of the other requirements and not that senior. (I thanked him anyway for sharing as didn’t want to burn bridges)

Other recruiters from large agencies have shortlisted me for odd roles but then unsurprisingly the actual hiring manager later rejects me.

It's a bad wage, not only for London, but anywhere. But they know jobs are thin on the ground and I think taking advantage of that...

Partly because wages haven't risen and also because Reeves has made it more expensive to employ people. Employers know there are more than enough candidates too probably. It is a disgrace.

Are you selling yourself short? Maybe you shouldn’t be applying for entry level jobs but going for the ones higher up?

Genuinely, no it wouldn’t once you factor in NI/tax.

https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news/nanny-salaries-rise-to-record-high

Also, you can’t use the free hours, so will not get any cheaper ad the children get older.

This seems to be an issue across several industries unfortunately. My DH and I both work in different areas of media and salaries haven’t moved much since the early noughties when we started.

In real terms with the cost of living our salaries have almost gone backwards, despite promotions and career progression. It’s very annoying.

DH and I were way better off when I was on maternity/career break from 2006-2010. He was on around £40k so a decent amount then but we could afford to spend best part of half on holidays abroad. I can't believe how easy we found things then really compared to now where we both earn good money (not close to 6 figures but more than that between us). Lockdown hit us though and we still are paying off some debts from them (serves us right for spending on hols rather than saving i guess!)

I think my DC have chosen ok, a clinical service that is taking on lots of new functions, then accounts for the other one but it is so hard out there generally. I don't know how long it'll take DS1 to get a new job though even in a finance role.

I hate to say this, but if you were a man and they suggested you applied for that role they would do it.
there’s research done on how men put themselves forward for roles they’re not qualified for but women are too honest / lacking in confidence so don’t

Also VP isn’t always as senior as it sounds in a big bank

Google suggests that’s getting on for double the average hourly rate in 1997. I certainly wasn’t earning that whilst temping.

But I don’t generally disagree. I left my admin job in a private company in 2009 earning just shy of 30k.

I now earn the same (for a TT only job so FTE is prob 37) for harder job. But not a graduate role. I work in education.

We do but we’re not a big company. If you’re going to do that I’d target companies with a small headcount

If someone sends me their CV and I’m impressed and we’re not hiring, I’ll take a call with them in case anything changes then we have ideas for who might be able to fill the role.

It does seem that due to the huge climb in minimum wage which is affecting the small to medium businesses a lot that now semi skilled roles are paid pretty much the same.

Also the more qualified roles are paid a lot lower. We have strict salary scales and if the difference between entry level jobs and mine was the same I would be on around £8k a year more than I am. Obviously no company regardless off how big can possibly increase salaries up the scale in line with minimum wage increases which is fine but it makes sense why salaries are so low for graduates/college leavers.

At least they posted a salary! Most jobs don't and just go with whoever they can pay the least.

Yes, sort of presented as project manager, but then at the end they say you're the replacement receptionist!

Just had this recently - invited for call for what sounded like a senior role, managing global teams and client portfolio based in London - expected it’d be at least £55k for what they were asking in the skills and experience expectations but no salary listed on job ad - just competitive - top salary was £47k - politely said it didn’t meet my expectation

My role paid that 30 years ago. I went to uni but had no specific experience.

Full time minimum wage is 25k so unless this is a job that you’d only do for say a year before being promoted, it’s shit wages.

Subsidising people in work with tax credits etc has really fucked up wage growth. If you work full time, you shouldn’t need topping up (with the exception of childcare subsidies which have a fixed end date)

It sounds like glorified admin, something a good A Level school leaver could have covered in the late 70s / 80s and then done day release to get a degree / professional qualification by their late 20s to earn 25-30K. Of course, sexism was rife then, so young women would have found it harder to progress. If you had recruited a graduate trainee on a professional training scheme, you may have expected them to muck in on preparing bids, treasury tagging etc., but you wouldn’t have expected them to cover for a receptionist unless it was an absolutely tiny firm or start up.

That's an absolute joke. I earn double that, looking after dogs in my home for people that don't like kennels. It's piss easy, I have no one to report to, no commuting costs, and I can choose my own annual leave etc. I would never work for a company again.

Salaries are shit for many jobs now.

In my experience I find less jobs which are a manageable step up from admin level but aren’t asking for overly specialised skills. I also find in roles I’ve had there is very little training, I still have figured some things out over time from being left to fix xyz situation at work, observing what the people in better jobs actually do in the role (our tasks may overlap in some cases) but it’s still not the same as having the specialised hard skills the companies want.
Eg I’ve lead a couple E2E projects for system maintenance releases, but that doesn’t mean I’m eligible to be a product owner. It’s harder to find entry level product owner/project roles too which aren’t admin dressed up as project delivery.

The times I do see roles a comfortable step up but not too demanding, they are very competitive. Now that doesn’t stop me from applying, I will still try hard to put in a ‘quality’ application with a tailored CV, but if there are 500 - 1000 applicants the odds are slim. A Project Coordinator role I recently applied for had “over 1000 applications” according to rejection email