How many of you negotiated higher pay with a job offer?

[alazuli]

And by how much? Just negotiated £1k more. Now I wish I'd asked for more!

Also they're saying my offer is conditional on my references (one from my current employer). When I asked if I should wait until they check them before I hand in my notice they said hand it in now but what if they turn around and say they're not good enough and I've already quit?

Alazuli, never ever hand your notice in until you have the offer letter in your hand. Ignore any company who tells you otherwise. It's not down to them to tell you what to do with your current employer.

Always look after you only!!

Any good employer will always honour their verbal commitment and honestly nowadays references are 99% just to confirm dates of employment.

Many companies will look at a glowing reference with a cynical eye ( if the reference is so fantastic it may be because they want to get rid of you!). Dates of employment show you were doing the job there for X years so more likely than not you were getting on and doing the job you were paid for.

Any good employer will always honour their verbal commitment

No, they won't - I have had a job offer withdrawn because of funding cuts between a verbal offer and them sending the paperwork. It's happened here, too, when we've been recruiting, and found someone. Might be different in other fields, but get the paperwork first.

Don't worry ladies I've already received a written offer and the contract. Just makes me slightly anxious that they said it was conditional on references.

Presumably the references you've given are people you trust to give positive comments and align to employment stat/end dates that you've put on the application form?

Even so, I'd still wait to get the nod from the new company before saying anything to your current boss.

Never hand your notice in for a conditional offer, always wait until it's unconditional (references are back etc).

On a side note, I got the job I was waiting to hear about. I didn't get what I asked for, but I did start a bit higher than I thought they'd pay. I did get what I was hoping for, so as long as I get my early finish on the day I need, I'm happy with that.

woo, congrats mango! so they've sent me a signed contract and asked me to sign it and send it back. that's a done deal right? one of the referees need to be my current employer so i need to quit before i can provide them as a referee. weird.

Alazuli, may I suggest you have a brief informal meeting with your current manager. Say that you have been offered a new job and please will they give a reference for you (key priority is the dates of employment and then a sentence re your good conduct, being reliable and trustworthy. Your manager will know what to say, they've bound to have done it before.

Send back the signed contract anyway. And then after your meeting submit your written resignation. By then it will be fine you've covered your bases.

The fact is you're moving on now. Well done and many congrats!

Oh I had a sabbatical. I didn't mention it in the interview. Do I need to bring it up now?

You've got the job without mentioning it, so I wouldn't now, unless they ask.

But in terms of employment dates wouldn't I have to say that I wasn't with the company a certain time?

To make it even more complicated, my company was taken over by another just as I went on sabbatical.

I negotiated more hours - so more pay.

It was supposed to be a very part time position 21 hours over 4 days and I am now doing 40.5 hours - more hours makes more money! :D

The key facts are your start and end dates when you were an employee. Your manager.will confirm the facts when he/she gives your reference.

If you broke employment due to your sabbatical, but you went back to the company again and they re-employed you, I honestly wouldn't worry. You have technically broken service however that could be explained, if you show that both periods of employment were the same employer with negotiated leave in between

I am sure they won't retract their job offer unless you wilfully lied or misrepresented ascertainable facts on your application form. If you did lie, you may have problems depending how stringent they choose to be

They can check up on the takeover situation if it is a publicly listed company, so don't worry about that. If a private company it may be more difficult. But that is less of a problem than consistency of employment dates

Ok, phew! Don't remember any of my other job offers being this stressful.

One more question. My new company want me to start work on a certain date which I agreed to and they've put into my new contract. Now I've realised I may have taken too much holiday for this quarter and it might not be possible - would it be ok to push back given I've just signed a contract saying I can? I know I should've checked before but I've only just handed in my notice.

Two possible ways round this - first negotiate with your current employer to see if you can get an early release. Second to go to the new employer and say when HR got your resignation, you found you'd miscalculated the dates and won't be released until date Y instead of date X. But first you need to confirm whether there is a problem and what your expected final date is.

I know in going to be in the position of negotiating pay soon and I'm dreading it. I find it embarrassing, almost as if I'm not worth it. Dh is always happy to negotiate pay and I'm wondering if it's just a female thing where we are scared to ask for our worth.

I'm wondering if it's just a female thing where we are scared to ask for our worth.

There's an element of that, but there's also been evidence that women have a harder going of negotiating, because where men are seen as confident and go-getting and manly and are rewarded for it, women are seen as bossy and aggressive and unwomanly and are penalised for that.

So, I have accepted but I'm a bit concerned about the work hours as they are longer than normal. I'd like to ask if I could do the same hours but come in earlier and leave earlier as the finish time means I miss out on loads of industry events (although not directly linked to my new job). Can I go back and ask this and risk annoying them....? Is it too late now that I've accepted?