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

Lots of places ask for proof of your current salary - so inflating would really backfire.

@CloudPop @TDLMTB I'm not going to inflate my current salary but I should be on more than I am at the moment. Every time I talk to recruiters I'm told I should be getting between 35-45k and I get below 30k with the bonuses. I do work on the outskirts of London rather than the centre so that might be a contributing factor... That and my boss is a cheapskate

So tell them you're unable to give them your current salary but your expectations are £X.

[quote MyNameIsInUse]**@CloudPop* @TDLMTB* I'm not going to inflate my current salary but I should be on more than I am at the moment. Every time I talk to recruiters I'm told I should be getting between 35-45k and I get below 30k with the bonuses. I do work on the outskirts of London rather than the centre so that might be a contributing factor... That and my boss is a cheapskate[/quote]
Recruiters talk a load of crap - they are sales people - some will tell you anything. Some of our team have been badly burnt in the past - ran around in circles and wasted time, promised the moon and back only to learn they were essentially been offered the same job for the same salary by a different company ...unless you are talking to internal recruiters - be careful what you believe - external recruiters won't be paying your salary. You might need to plan on making a couple of moves to get your salary where you want it. I know some employers don't seem to value their staff, you can't do much about that other than look for ones who do.

Thanks for clarifying TDLMTB I hadn't thought of it like that.

I agree, don't mention your current salary, just say what you would like.
Headhunters will be aware of what the market rate is.
If you've been working for 8 years, I don't think maternity leave is relevant (certainly don't include on your CV, on LinkedIn or mention at interview).

@CloudPop

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

Never ever do this!

@TDLMTB

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

Why?

Why does/should what someone was on at a previous role affect what you pay them now?

You should pay a decent market rate, nothing to do with what the previous company paid.

I always inflate my salary and it has never been questioned yet for proof.

@meido why assume we don't pay our staff well? We employ exceptionally talented individuals - if we didn't reward them generously a headhunter would relieve us of our burden very quickly.

If someone who can't be honest with us in discussions about salary they are not someone we want to employ and if we found out we'd sack them - integrity is something we value highly - in our business we have come across greedy people who lie to clients to win work and temporarily line their own pockets, it doesn't end well for anyone.

[quote TDLMTB]@meido why assume we don't pay our staff well? We employ exceptionally talented individuals - if we didn't reward them generously a headhunter would relieve us of our burden very quickly.

If someone who can't be honest with us in discussions about salary they are not someone we want to employ and if we found out we'd sack them - integrity is something we value highly - in our business we have come across greedy people who lie to clients to win work and temporarily line their own pockets, it doesn't end well for anyone.[/quote]
The point is that it is literally none of your business what your employees earned at their last job. Previous salaries should have absolutely no bearing on what you pay your staff. Offer the salary that you think the job is worth, and then it's up to the prospective employee whether they accept, try to negotiate more, or walk away.

@meido we don’t ask but if someone argued for a higher salary than we were offering on the basis of an inflated current salary aka lying and we found out - we would sack them for lying.

[quote TDLMTB]@meido we don’t ask but if someone argued for a higher salary than we were offering on the basis of an inflated current salary aka lying and we found out - we would sack them for lying.[/quote]
But if they successfully negotiated from 40k to 50k, and you accepted, you clearly are happy to pay this in exchange for their labour. No matter how they managed to do the negotiation?!

I don't think we will ever agree

@meido They lied - that's what matters - they lied to get what they wanted...trust between us would be gone and so we'd want them gone. You don't have to agree - I'm just offering a different opinion to yours, maybe you're not used to that?

I'm just offering a different opinion to yours, maybe you're not used to that?

Oof, a bit spiky when I offered a smile and a gin!

You would have thought an employer being transparent about the salary up front in the job ad is a better way of ensuring your time isn't wasted with filling in the job application, only to then be asked your salary expectations and then be potentially told it's above budget.

Job hunting is the pits.

Did they claim on the ad it is 'competitive'?

Just tell them what you want. If they think it's reasonable they will proceed!

Why would you put Not Applicable on your salary expectations? You're expecting a recruiter to be a mind reader. Of course it's applicable! How many recruiters have scrolled past your cv because you didn't put a salary range on?

I recently went from 25 to 45 in one jump in London outskirts with 6 years marketing experience. Like you I had a stingy first employer and was hoping to get a new job in low 30s! Still can't believe what they offered me. And I'm now at a much larger company really enjoying new role. So be brave and wait for the right opportunity!

@lap90 they didn't. Competitive salary means the salary will be competing against the bills

@Nohomemadecandles I put N/A because there was no mention of the perks, bonuses, working hours, etc. I can give a range but a lot depends on those too.

Update: emailed back. We'll see what he says! @ParkingFeud thank you. If not this one there will be another one!

We are always so scared of pricing ourselves out of the market, but being honest about how much you realistically need to move and deserve is what you should be doing.

I would say it's never worth moving for less than 10%, and factor in your longer day and expensive commute, you should ask for more and believe you are worth it.

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.

Exactly! Ask for what you're worth.

I am on a high salary, I don't expect more but I expect the same (I do short term contracts), so I just say my current is x and in my last role when I commuted regularly it was y.
The last approach I had they said I was £10k above the top of their range. I said oh well, never mind. The agent spoke to the employer who wanted to see my CV, that got sent, then they decided to increase the band to accommodate me.
Meanwhile my current contract got extended anyway so I stay on my current salary and no commute.

Update: he emailed me back saying the base salary was £29k . For a central London job at massive company, it's no something I would have expected .

Tell him you need at least £40K or it's not worth your while to move - start looking elsewhere - he may come back with another offer, he may not. Decide what you are worth and go get it.

I recall dh being smoozed by a big international company, met all the big bosses - we're talking about 8 different interviews - he had told them he was on £140k in the civil service - they offered him £77k. He said no and they were quite surprised, they came back with £98k, I think they had tickets on themselves - thought he'd be desperate to make the move...they still didn't quite understand that he really meant no. Lots of time wasted. The same company employed my sister recently (I warned her about their shady practices) and they played the same game with her offered her 75% of what she was initially told the job was advertised at - she stood her ground and got the 100%.

29k in central London, that's taking the utter piss.

I was earning that in the East Midlands with about 4 years experience about a decade ago.

That said, different sectors and marketing skills do seem to attract varying degrees of salary. Digital always tends to pay better than offline and for a long time social media was the poor relation (it's certainly not any more)

Also, things such as management experience, industry certification (i.e. Google etc) add to salary value.

Hold out for what you think you're worth. If a company tries to pay you less it's indicative of how they'll treat you going forward.

Well that's their first offer, so now its up to you to say you are looking for more.

Google it and see if you can find the job. You might find that it's advertised with an agency or even advertised online.

I did this when I was approached about a job. I wasn't 100% sure it was the same job but it gave me a good idea on salary as it was in another area. I was offered it and got a £10k payrise.