HR Interviews and Unorthodox Employment History
April 18, 2013 11:56 AM   Subscribe

I'm an ABD Ph.D student pursuing a really awesome job opportunity as my next step. The firm has moved on to asking me to interview with HR to talk about my employment history, relationship with supervisors, etc. I have a solid resume, but I have one element of my recent history that's complex and difficult to explain. It's not complex-bad, just complex, and I'm not sure how to pitch it to HR.

I've been employed (in the "receives a W-2" sense) by one firm throughout my grad school career. I used to work for them full-time, and they've retained me on as an employee, on an hourly basis, to consult on some relevant projects. I've worked full-time during a few summers and winter breaks. I report directly to the president and owner of the firm (it's a small biz), and he has been completely awesome about helping me negotiate my availability and his requirements. My hours are, when I'm not full-time, highly variable. During a few projects I've gone above half-time; lately I've not been billing any hours because of writing my dissertation. My job title is kind of impressive, because I am the most senior person in the firm with my skill set, even in the current situation. However, it's definitely the kind of job title a non-technical person gives a technical person. My hourly rate is $X, but during crunch-time projects, my supervisor has temporarily raised my rate to 2*$X, to reflect the more intense nature of the commitment/work.

How on earth do I answer questions about my yearly salary and such? I don't want to get bogged down in explaining this situation in grueling detail, but I realize that if I gloss over it, this is likely to sound a little sketchy.
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
They may not bring it up. If they do, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just say something like, "This is a part-time position I had while I was in graduate school. The skills I brought to the firm led them to allow me to have a very flexible schedule. The FT equivalent salary would have been in the neighborhood of YYY."
posted by Betelgeuse at 12:16 PM on April 18, 2013 [8 favorites]


You are a grad student working on (hopefully finishing?) your Ph.D. Any HR person worth their salt realizes that employment situations while in grad school are far more fluid, variable, and unpredictable than the traditional 9-5 salaried position.

Your explanation in your post is completely acceptable and typical of many applicants coming out of college and grad school. Generally, you can explain the situation succintly: "I work for them as a consultant on an hourly, as-needed basis. My weekly hours have been as high as X and have gone down to 0 lately as I focus on finishing grad school." If asked about annual salary: "I work, bill, and am paid by the hour, and my rate has varied." It is up to you if you want to reveal the actual dollar amount, but I don't think it will help or hurt you much either way.

An interview with HR generally doesn't go into any of the technical details of your work. They won't care much about the title you have (other than to jot it down on their form). HR interviews are just a hoop/gate you pass through to demonstrate that you are a reasonably sane/normal human being who will likely get along with the firm's existing workforce and not introduce any major risks to the company in general. Be nice and personable, avoid controversial topics, and convey general enthusiasm for the firm and the industry. You'll do fine. Good luck!
posted by stoffer at 12:19 PM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


First, I don't necessarily think your salary history is relevant. What's important isn't how much you've made in the past; it's how much you're willing to accept this job for now. I'd try not to get into specifics about your past wages, just because it's none of their business, and because what you want to be talking about is the salary you're seeking now and the salary range they're expecting to pay for the role you're applying for.

If, however, they push you to answer, and you want to tell them, I'd say something like this:
"X years ago, when I worked there full time, my salary was $$$ per year. When I went back to school, I went to part time status, and I've earned an hourly rate and bonuses that would work out to around 2*$$$ per year if I had been working full-time hours, depending on what projects I was working on. The firm really wanted to keep me on because I have ABC awesome skills, and I've been grateful for the flexibility of my schedule as I finish my graduate studies."
posted by decathecting at 12:19 PM on April 18, 2013


Or you could say that you essentially had contract work for them where time and money was negotiated on a per project basis.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:19 PM on April 18, 2013


Find out what the comp should be for the role you are interviewing for. If they aren't schmucks they are looking to pay you market. What you made as a part-timer while in grad school is completely irrelevant.

Now how you tell the story:

"My former employer asked me to stay on as an ad-hoc consultant when I left for grad school. I've also worked for them full time during the summer"
What did they pay you
"Depending on the timeframe and the scope of the project I was paid something between X and Y"
posted by JPD at 12:20 PM on April 18, 2013


I wouldn't get into the whole fulltime equivalent thing. Think of it like a contract position. I've done contract work where I charged $85 per hour, but that doesn't mean the work I was doing was worth $170,000 annually.

This was a long-term contract position. Hours ranged from X per week to full time, and hourly rate ranged from $X to $2X.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 12:22 PM on April 18, 2013


A lot of the HR blogs I read like Ask A Manager really hate salary history questions. Often for cases like yours - you are getting a job to use skills you developed in school. Unless you're doing the same work (in which case I guess market yourself as a consultant) - focus on what your skills would be worth to the organization now.
posted by kendrak at 12:23 PM on April 18, 2013


I agree with decathecting. They shouldn't be asking you about your current salary. If someone asked me that in an interview I would politely decline. They will want to know what you are willing to accept. This may require research into the company or similar positions, or just be willing to say "I can negotiate if you have an offer" if you don't want to throw something out there.

I'm nearly in your same situation. I work part time, flexible hours, at a marketing startup. I too have a lot of responsibility and a large title. For me it's pretty easy to sum up.

For you: "I work part time, flexible hours based on the needs of the company, but have worked full time for certain projects or when I wasn't working on school." Done.

Also you should only NEED to say that if they specifically ask you about your work time, which they really shouldn't. Your resume should say that you are just employed for them from startdate to present, right? Because you are.

Truly this situation isn't all that complicated. You are a contractor/freelancer/employee. You don't need to explain, "Well this week I worked full time, but then now I'm working on school so I don't have hours. Oh and there was that one time that I did 4 hours..."

What matters is your experience. Not how many hours you worked. Focus on that, and I really doubt they will specifically ask for a breakdown of how many hours you work each week.
posted by Crystalinne at 1:03 PM on April 18, 2013


You're way over thinking this. "When I moved on to grad school, I continued with that employer on an as-needed basis."
posted by vitabellosi at 4:17 PM on April 18, 2013


Without knowing what field you're in, the specifics may very well be different.

I'm assuming not-the-sciences.

You shouldn't be divulging how much money you make/made, anyway (?, right?) so refer to your work during your graduate studies as a consultant in (specify field, vagueness is often acceptable, but you can tailor a specific if you think the company's looking for it, as long as you can back it up with what you actually did).

If they do ask and mean it, quote them your "crunch time pay." You were being paid that much an hour while being employed by that company when that company needed you. New company needs you, are they willing to match, or match+ since you are (closer to) some sort of certification. Conversely, would you ever tell a potential employer how much unpaid overtime you've previously worked?

I doubt that this will be an interview question, and if it is I'd be leary that this is a company that wants to pay absolutely the lowest salary instead of offering something close to localized-industry-standard-ish plus/minus benefits.
posted by porpoise at 9:45 PM on April 18, 2013


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