Anyone negotiated PT work for a new job?

[cakeaddict]

Hi there,

I'm having a bit of a dilemma. I have seen a job advertised which I'm keen on - I fulfil pretty much everything they are asking for (I have done a similar role for one of their major competitors for some years) and think that on paper at least I ought to stand a reasonable chance - depending of course on other candidates.

Problem is that it is full time, I currently only work 3 days pw and don't want to go back to full time work just yet. My main reason for applying is that my current job has an hour's commute each way and this is 10 mins from home - I'm desperate to lose the commute which I'm finding increasingly difficult.

So, has anyone been in a similar position and successfully negotiated part time? How did you do it?

At what stage did you reveal your hand and say you wanted part time work? I'm considering making an informal approach to them and asking about this before I apply - do you think this is a good idea or should I try and wow them with my CV first? This is a company I would be very interested in working with so don't want to annoy by stating my intentions too late in the process. Also it's a very small world and I have ex-colleagues that now work there so word might get out that I am part time anyway.

Sorry if that's a bit long, but not sure what to do about this...

Thanks.

I think you have to be completely upfront about your intentions, but at the same time reassure them how the role could be managed successfully on a part-time basis. What concerns might they have about it?

I would ring first and speak informally to someone.

Although slightly different, I recently advertised a PT job without mentioning working patterns and it was interesting to see if people would ring first and ask about preferred working patterns. Some people just turned up for interview and hadn't given it a thought. The person who rung and had a chat first, thought about how she could fit the post around her preferred days/hours and was able to say "if you give me a bit of notice I can be flexible" got the job!

As I don't work there already it's difficult to make practical suggestions as i don't know the exact duties and don't know the make-up of the rest of the team.

I put it in my covering letter and just made sure it was a really good letter! I let them know I had successfully worked part-time before and I did ring ahead and let the secretary know I was sending in a part-time application. Did this twice, one place only wanted a full-timer but the other was more flexible and hired me!
Good luck!

I did for my current job and I emailed my CV and asked if they would consider part time from the start. Luckily where I work there are lots of part timers so I wasn't considered anything unusual.
I applied for another job a few years ago and asked at interview and they said they wouldn't consider it. I came away thinking I wouldn't take the job if they offered it because of this so it was a bit of a waste of time. I didn't actually get the job initially but was told I was a very close second. The person appointed left very quickly so they came back to me, I was honest and said that on reflection I wouldn't consider a FT role so I was offered it PT but on more hours than I wanted really. I was only able to negotiate this because they were in a desperate situation.
Anyway I've rambled on long enough, but imo I think you should be up front!
MLx