I was offered less money than advertised

[ChimneySweepLiverpool]

Hi everyone,

I work with children and I'm used to low pay. I am looking to move to charity sector. I knew this meant a possible pay drop. I am a manger in my job, educated to degree level and have 13 years experience.

I did an interview with a panel two weeks ago and it went very well. Yesterday they offered less salary than advertised - they claim I could work my way up with and pay will increase every year.

I'm disappointed as I'm overqualified for and was hoping to negotiate from the advertised amout offer so I'm surprised to be offered less. I'm very tempted to just reply saying 'I won't be taking this job due to being offered less than what was advertised'.

Any advice? 😞

You might be leaving a toxic workplace for a super toxic workplace, but the sounds of things.

I'd decline the job and wouldn't even bother telling them why. They ought to know why - if they don't, their problem.

I would first off query the salary. Write back, say, has there been some mistake the job was advertised at x the offer is £4k less than this, which obviously you would not be able to accept.

Good for you.

If you think about it, it's fucking cheeky. And like a pp said, it's insulting and disrespectful to you and would make me wonder what the company was like.

I basically wrote that unfortunately, as the salary offered is lower than what was initially advertised, it would not be viable for me to accept the position

Good for you, would be interesting to know if they have the cheek to reply!

Hope something better comes along soon, I think you’ve dodged a bullet with this one.

They rang me and left a voicemail asking to discuss the email I sent

Am I burning bridges by not returning their call? I also prefer things in writing so if they email, I'll reply but don't feel like wasting my lunch break calling them as I won't be taking the job

I would return their call, we want an update!
Besides what will you do if they offer you the advertised amount.

If they offer the amount, I won't be taking the job

I've already lined up another interview for tomorrow and have mentally moved on

Take the call ...they might be matching the salary

Return the call. Don't pull out yet, just say you won't accept at that pay rate.

Before you return the call, decide your position, if they up by 2 - still decline? If they up by 4 to the advertised rate - accept or decline?

If you agree a rate, ask them to follow up the offer in writing.

Ha!

Go on, ring them.

I bet they try to say the salary offered was an error and they were looking at an out of date document.

X post! I would still be polite and return the call. If they offer the full amount, you can still politely decline and say the negotiation process has made you believe you and the org may not be a good match.
If they offered more - still no?

If you're 100% sure you don't want the job now, I'd ring them back, throwing in that that despite the promises of 'progression' and 'yearly pay increases', the fact that their initial ad was misleading re the salary gave you pause, as it points to a lack of integrity in the culture of the charity

Take the call. You never know when you may cross paths again so don’t burn bridges unnecessarily.

@ChimneySweepLiverpool it’s easy to take some of this and feel let down but Masterofcake is right - don’t burn bridges, it could have been an actual error in the original advert. You can still do the interview tomorrow even if you accept this one. If, taking all the shenanigans around the pay out of the loop, you don’t want it, that’s different - no point carrying on.

They are taking the piss. They know what they have done and just hoped that you would give in, probably because they thought you were desperate for a job. Phone them and let them know that you are not happy. Also, after pulling this stunt I am not sure I would want to work with them. Can they be trusted for future dealings.

OP, did you phone them back?

I haven't yet, no @AlohaRose and I don't plan to as I think they are going to come up with excuses like they made a mistake

I'd call them back and listen to their blah blah and then say, Thanks but no thanks.

Me too, I’d be wanting to hear their story on this.

But unless they were calling to apologise and say there was a huge mistake on the offer and of course the offer matched the job advertised I’d tell them to jog on.

I think you ought to call them back. Luke others have said, it's a small world and you don't want your burn bridges.

We’ve just advertised a charity job I think after first interviews we’ll get someone good and I’ll offer the asking but good applications were slow to come in and it did pose a question if we find someone who isn’t as ready and will operate at a more junior level, who will need the manager to support more and keep some of the duties themself, can we pay less or do we not appoint and re advertise either this role or at a lower salary for what begins a more junior role. We are a charity that has put pay up for the last 3 years, so they could climb up as they get experience.

On the OP negotiating, my budgets are tight in year, so whilst you could convince me up to the advertised level I couldn’t ask for more.

In this scenario OP said she was well qualified for the role, so shouldn't need to negotiate to get to the already advertised salary.

Annual salary increases should be used to ensure that salaries go up with inflation which has been running high, otherwise the actual salary worth goes down in real terms. Maybe not all charities provide annual increases but most private employers do.

She may think she is overqualified, a panel may think differently. If she was offered it two weeks after interview they may have been refused by another candidate so they may feel they are not getting what they had hoped for. I’d hope annual salary rises covers inflation plus, but many say they can’t afford them. I don’t know if any of this is possible but we are only hearing her perspective and there is another one.

If you’re not getting what you need from applicants for the advertised role, but could manage with someone in a lower role who you train up then you can tell a candidate you like that they haven’t been successful in the higher role, but you have a junior position open which comes with a lower salary but with training to build them up, with an eye to promotion in the future. You don’t need to cancel the recruitment at the moment, and advertise a new role. You might get someone to take the junior position, you might not. But you can offer it at least.