Asking for salary expectations before offering me a job interview

[MyNameIsInUse]

Hi guys, I received an email from a company I applied a job for. They're saying my CV matched what they're looking for, however, before organising an interview they need me to confirm what my salary expectations are so they can make sure they can offer me what I want before taking my time.

It's a marketing role for a big company in London (they have restaurants all around the UK). I checked Glassdoor and looked at what other companies offer but the salaries range from 23-40k!

I don't want to go for a low salary because I have the experience but then I'm afraid if I give too high of a number they won't proceed with my application. What would you do?

My commute will be about 3.5k more and it will take me an hour to get there instead of 10 minutes so I need to factor that in too

Oh I used to hate that. They just want to catch you on the back foot and see what they will get away with offering. Bat it back to them and ask what their usual scale is for that level of role, then factor in your own qualifications and experience. You can't really use the distance you are travelling in your negotiations as that's your issue not theirs, iyswim, but you can factor it in to your own rationale as to whether or not its worth it to you.

They don’t want to waste your time if they can’t afford you, maybe?

£37k

I'm in HR . Reply and ask the range for the role first

I hate this question. Could you tell them what you are on now and stay that you're looking to improve on that ?

@cloudPop I could but in my experience agencies and hiring managers think that giving you extra 2k on top of what you're currently on is a great offer

@stevalnamechanger it feels like they're screening people. During the application process I put N/A in salary expectations box.

I know what I'm worth but I'm afraid that if I give them the number they might go for someone "cheaper". But then if that's what they do then maybe it's not a company for me.

I'm probably overthinking it! I've only had two full time jobs, several years at both and I feel like sometimes it puts me at a disadvantage.

I just had a call from a company, they loved my cv but their budget was half what I put as my expectation, I'm glad neither of us wasted our time.

Flip it back to them, if you want eg 50, and they can afford 40, then You can be honest and say it's lower than you're looking for 50 is there room for negotiation. If they come back and say 60 then try for 60.

The reason we asked (can't speak for other companies) is that too many times there is a mismatch of expectations on salary and we do not wish to waste our time on someone whose expectations wildly exceed what we can offer them - interviewing takes up our precious time and no one wants to give their time to us either. Understand what the market rate is for an equivalent company, your current salary plus 20%

Using the salary of 23k to 40k - knock 5k off each end for outliers so between 28K and 35K - choose a number that sits with how much experience you have within that band. A lot of experience suggests you go for around £35k

Why not just put a salary (or a range) on the advert then TDLMTB ?
I really hate jobs with no salary.

It's tricky we are a small company so it would reveal colleague's salary - it lets our competition gain knowledge on what we pay on staff and head hunting is very common in our industry and knowing what salaries you are paying makes a bid fro your team members that bit easier.

For a more junior role - we had no equivalent in the company and we decided to advertise a starting salary - a very generous one to attract the right caliber of candidate but we still asked what the expectation was - we still don't want to waste our time - someone responded with a salary that was 60% of the starting salary - which was surprising, we weren't looking for the cheapest we were looking for the best.
On reflection, I think advertising the high starting salary was a mistake we got so many completely inappropriate candidates applying - the sifting was so time consuming and soul destroying.
We've stopped advertising openly now - these days we approach people via linkedin and invite them to apply we let them know the starting salary privately.

They don't want to waste their time with someone they can't afford. I hate losing a candidate its such a hassle interviewing but equally I have a budget and we don't have Hard and fast rules for what we pay people.

For example I interviewed an overqualified person for a senior manager. They said they wanted 60 but we paid them 70 because we want to keep him and be fair to his experience.

I had a new manager come in and he was on 50 plus so we offered 55 but our existing more qualified manager would have needed a payrise then as hes only on 50.

You've had some sensible advice here. You have to be realistic. You don't sound very experienced. You need to develop a better idea of what you're worth.

Speak to a recruitment consultant and see what they suggest.

If you know what you’re worth then that is snag you should ask for?

I don’t understand being afraid to ask for what you believe your time and experience to be worth?

Have a range in mind for what you would expect so for instance if you would love to earn 50k but would be happy with 45 then your acceptable range is 45-50.

decide on the amount you expect then decide if there is a lower range, perhaps there isn’t, perhaps if you expect 50 you won’t take less.

If you believe your skill and experience to be worth 50 but they only want to pay 40 then they are not the company for you.

A strategic salary drop or side step is one thing but accepting a lower salary because you were too embarrassed to state what your expectations were is just plain daft.

Stop undervaluing yourself!

@ZenNudist I think 8 years of experience in marketing is reasonably experienced

@Ohpulltheotherone thank you I needed this. As a woman we are at disadvantage. You take two mat leaves and that's two years of missing out on pay rises and moving up the ladder

@TDLMTB I never thought about it that way. It makes sense but it is frustrating when you're on the other side

We ask up front when we think the candidate may have different ideas to ours - usually USA candidates who expect £100k+, Europeans who expect £60+ and we're going to offer a fraction of that. I guess discrepancies are less within thr same country though?

We always do this during our initial phone screens, it's an easy way to weed out those that are unsuitable.

I'm mostly responsible for hiring new graduates and, while our starting salaries are very high, we get some wanting in excess of 100k. Fucking delusional.

[quote MyNameIsInUse]@ZenNudist I think 8 years of experience in marketing is reasonably experienced [/quote]
Ask for what you want - if it's too high for the company then move on - you need to be happy and they need to be able to afford you. This isn't personal it's business - state your terms, be honest and if it doesn't work out, another opportunity will come along - you have saved yourself the effort and time of being interviewed.

I hate this, I priced myself out of a few jobs recently by asking too much. These were with good companies that I thought would pay well and commensurate with skills and experience.

I also was rejected at application stage for one job for daring to ask for guidance on the salary scale. Their loss.

I'm not in the UK but currently going through the same process. I've been asked my salary expectations in all the screening calls I've received. I used to be a daily rate contractor, and most of the jobs I'm applying for are perm, so it's quite a big drop in actual cash (ignoring non-cash benefits et), but I'm aware of that and have adjusted expectations accordingly!

I usually get them to volunteer the salary range and it's usually the low end of what I'm looking for. I sometimes ask outright and sometimes spin it out a bit "it's not just about the money - need interesting content, good colleagues etc".

So in a very drawn out way, I'm recommending you asking what THEIR salary range/budget is, and you can say yeah/nah to that. Also have a range in mind for YOU - a low-mid-high point - so its not just a single figure.

[quote MyNameIsInUse]@cloudPop I could but in my experience agencies and hiring managers think that giving you extra 2k on top of what you're currently on is a great offer [/quote]
Why would you tell them what you're currently on? Always inflate your current salary. And then ask for what you're worth

What's the job role and what are you on at the moment? I'm in the industry and can help advise.

Don’t inflate your current salary - if we found out we would retract our offer/sack you.