Job offer lower than advertised

[Tittie]

Hi, I've been offered a job this week. It was advertised at £X - not a range, just one salary, no mention of experience or anything. Recruiter was clear about the salary before interview.

They've offered me 8.5% under this. They said this was because I lack experience in certain areas. I don't feel I do, I just don't have the experience at that specific company. But no external candidate will.

Should I stick to my guns and push for the advertised salary, or am I being unreasonable? Is this normal?

I also received another offer today, much shorter commute and less stress, on a lower salary. But at least job 2 was transparent (and actually offered much more than advertised without me even asking!). Not sure what to do!

Personally, I'd reject the offer. I'd explain it was advertised at X salary, I felt that I had the experience to be awarded the advertised salary and that an 8.5% lower offer wasn't acceptable to me.

Take the 2nd job

The recruiter should have handled this all for you. Poor on their part. Say you'd be happy to accept at £x

No need to bring any emotion into it...they're trying to negotiate so you do that.

If you feel you have one or two days leeway from job offer 2, reply to job offer 1 saying "Thank you but the salary advertised was £X and I applied on that basis. I'm not inclined to accept the -8.5% salary you have offered me, can you improve on that?" and see what they come back with.

I thought this! I was always told recruiters will push on your behalf for better salaries as they will take a percentage, but I haven't found this to be the case at all.

What Lindor said 100 per cent

The recruiter will say and do anything to get you to an interview!!

It’s not really the fault of the employer

The recruiter WILL negotiate for you. They're also working for the company. They've given you their client's offer and you need to fell them your answer

You are in a very strong position here

Untrue

The recruiter is just the go-between. Hiring companies do this frequently

The recruiter should be negotiating for you

Thanks all for your advice everyone - I stood firm and it worked out

I had this.

The role was advertised at £25-£30K. They offered me £21K for 42.5 hours a week. My then salary was already £22K for 40 hours.

I was so pissed off that I withdrew.

Good update op

Did you get the original advertised salary OP?

Yes, did they give you the advertised salary in the end?

Yes they did.
I wish they taught this sort of thing in school, salary negotiation etc, especially for girls. I have lacked confidence (or felt too uncomfortable/rude doing it) in the past that I've been chronically underpaid for years.

I agree! I'm really glad you stuck to your guns. I'm learning this too but only into my 30's and I don't know how many salary advances I've missed out on by not pushing more in my 20's.

Anyway, these days there is absolutely no way I would have accepted the job at a salary below advertised.

If they've hired you then you are good enough to do the job. They should have advertised it as a range if they were considering going under. Really terrible on the part of the employer/ recruiter.

I might have withdrawn anyway tbh because it would afffect my trust in the company.

I'm a much harder negotiator now than I used to be!

I saw some great advice on here for someone who feels the same way. Something like ask for movement on the salary, the car or number of leave days. No-one says no to all three. It's good advice when doing things like buying a car or booking a holiday too.

But that's positive negotiation not responding to a low offer - standing firm was the right thing here obvs.

Actually, I would have withdrawn.

Trying to cut the salary at the last minute is a sign of a poor employer that is likely to routinely cut corners in various ways and is unlikely to offer a good long term working environment.

@Greenfairydust you do make a good point and I did consider this, but there were enough positives to the role/business (and they agreed to the salary readily enough when I basically repeated @LindorDoubleChoc 's advice verbatim) that I feel it's worth a try. Had they pushed back again I'd have withdrawn.

That's great advice @JennyForeigner - I wouldn't have thought to use annual leave as part of the negotiation, I thought that's often fixed.

Yes @ZoraMipha , the confidence to negotiate does seem to come with age - by which time the salary gap has widened way too much.

If I ever get to the level where I'm hiring and offering salaries, I will not be lowballing women just because they're often socialised to accept less than they're worth.

Well done. Great result

Im a recruiter and i hate it when my clients do this. It is not uncommon but in this job market, it's not gonna work

Often candidates do this too. They get the offer (advertised salary) then ask for more. And usually told no