Job Offer Hypothetical

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

An interesting thought arises that may or may not be based on a real world scenario that I may or may not have experienced or heard of someone experiencing (examples involved are deffinately not factual).

1. You apply for a job with a salary range that has a baseline that is your top end (i.e. range is 30k-37k and you are looking for a job at 25k-30k).
2. The company contacts you directly (no agents involved), you score get a phone interview and do well.
3. You get a face-to-face interview and seemingly do well.
4. All goes quiet, chasing reveals they are still interviewing and looking at internal candidates.
5. A full 6 weeks later and after writing the interview off as a lost cause you get a call out of the blue with an offer below the range they advertised at (call it 25k based on the previous example), which is your absolute minimum and may actually leave you worse off but potentially at a better job.
6. You have other irons in the fire but no other interviews at this point.

How would you handle it?

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

If it is the only job in the offing and I could use it as a stepping stone to something better then I would consider it, but only if they could give me the experience that I took the role on to get otherwise no, but then you have to consider they are probably going to treat you like a dog, no contact for 6 weeks and then come back to you with a lower offer, it is a tough call.

 

its a toughy! if your gonna get experience from it tho go for it! prove what your worth and come your pay review you never know!

 

"Being worst off" - does that mean less beer money, or not enough money to pay the bills? If the £25k is where the bills margin is I'd probably wouldn't move assuming you could guarantee (as best as possible) that there was no redundancy etc. in the pipeline over the next few years. If the £25k means you would have less beer money - jumping ship to the other job is the answer I'd give - experience brings the dollars eventually!

 

I would be questioning the 6 week delay, and finding out why the offer is below the previous range advertised. The answer to those would determine my next move.

 

It's not though. It's bang inside the range specified by the candidate. Sure it's the bottom end of it, but it's inside it.

Bottom line: Don't give them a figure for salary expectation that you wouldn't be happy taking. Work out what the absolute minimum you would take the job for (factor in everything you need to), and give them that figure.

At the end of the day, if you say you are looking for 25-30K, and they offer you 25, why are you surprised? You give them the range you wanted, and they offered you within that range. Look at it like this - if you were an employer, and you wanted to hire a candidate, and they said they would be happy with 25K, wouldn't you hire them for 25K? Thats an extra 5K in the budget - possibly an upgrade for that server you've always been meaning to replace!

The 6 week delay, well that could be any number of reasons: HR dragging their heels; other candidates; Perhaps they offered the job to someone else, but it fell through. It might be worth finding out why the delay, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is: do you want the job? If yes, take it. If not, walk away.

 

Did you let these guys know that you would accept 25k base line? Or have they offered you that out of coincidence?

If the latter I would say 30k or they can find someone else.

 

Amusingly my current job was very similar to this...

They advertised higher than the average first line role - their minimum range was the maximum that I had been job hunting for. I thought what the heck and applied for it.

After a telephone call, 2 interviews it went quiet for 4 weeks - I went out my way to contact them - got offered the job a couple of thousand lower than the advertised range.

Anyway, I spoke with HR - queried what had happened to the 'urgent job role' and questioned the delay. On top of that I negotiated to get their minimum specified amount and a 6 month pay review.

It ended up that HR had a re-shuffle which caused the delays...this has in no way reflected the way the company treat me as an employee. In fact, this job offers SO MANY benefits I think I'm pretty lucky to be working here.

So, speak with HR - Let them know your concerns, worse case they drop you - best case, they respect your honesty and clear the air.

Good luck

EDIT: When speaking to HR, send them a question like this: "Surely I'm the best candidate as YOU offered ME the job. Then why would you offer me a salary lower than the advertised amount"

 

At no point was 25k mentioned as a minimum to them, in fact the opposite it was stated that 30k+ was the requirement. Don't get me wrong there is a pay upgrade here as, sticking with this example (non factual), I/the fictitious person is on approx 23k, however, the job requires relocating and the associated expense with travelling and moving will wipe that out imo.

I am thinking that the path is quite clear now, go back to them find the reason for the offer compared to the advertised rate and restate what my expectations were and see if they budge. Thanks all .

 

You got it Let us know how your friend gets on.

 

I didn't take it that the candidate had provided this range to the employer.

Either way, if i give a range at the first interview, that does not mean i will definitely accept an offer within those ranges. Typically (in my experience) you are asked to provide expectations well before you have a) heard everything about the job and b) had time to digest it. I also doubt i would ever accept their first offer.

As for the delay, i'd prefer to ask. Plenty legitimate reasons, but i'd still ask.

 

I would have accepted what they have offered. Later I would talk to the HR people, and will try to talk about all what is being offered, and other perks etc.

 

The 6 week delay is most likely because the person they offered the job to dropped out at the last minute or actually began working there but quit soon after. Whatever it was, they're unlikely to tell you the real reason.

Assuming that is the case then they are not really in much of a bargaining position, and I find it offensive that they would lowball you given their advertised range. Sure in this recession people always crow that we should count ourselves lucky just to be in a job but I disagree, I'm seeing plenty of opportunities out there and many companies are doing just fine even in these "austere" times.

You could get back to them and ask them to improve their offer, although I appreciate it is a lot easier said than done and totally depends on how much you want the job and whether you want to risk them saying no or indeed retracting the offer. I don't think this happens very often when people try and negotiate a more attractive package, and if it does, is that the kind of company you want to be working for anyway?

 

If anyone was following and still interested in this scenario which may or may not be real and involve persons affiliated or unaffiliated with these forums. It has been resolved with the following outcome:


The discrepenacy in the salary was down to a change in role ownership within the company with a different budget, the new budget actually has the role down as £20k-£23k and they had already stretched the offer. The candidate effectly told them that the role wouldn't have been applied for in the first place at that range and negotiated it up to £28k pending director sign-off with around 20% extra in benefits.

The delay in response was down to still interviewing and having to go between external and internal candidates.

The candidate in question accepted the offer based on the sign off amount (which was agreed after a couple of days delay) subject to passing security screening, as the offer represents a good enough rise in pay along with a great oppertunity in the new role. As ever all figures are examples and the situation may or may not exist, as this site may or may not have been mentioned at one point during interview process ;).


On an entirely unrelated matter (well maybe), I got a new job woot .

 

congratulations - hypothetically of course!

 

Good job for your friend

 

This sure would be time for congratulations if it were based on a true story

 

LOL!! Congrats!