Thanks, but no thanks job
August 29, 2015 7:56 AM Subscribe
I'm interviewing for a position this week for an organization I'd like to work for, in a position I'd also like, but pays waaaaay too little and I could never ever take. How do I manage this with finesse?
I got a second interview at an organization I'd like to work at, in a position I think I'd find interesting. But the position pays way too little (even at its upper limit), and this is significantly less than what I am making and what is the industry standard. I'd like to still go in for the interview and meet the staff, learn about the org etc. A few questions though:
1. Is it wrong to take up their time (possibly up to 3 hours) when I have no plan to take this position?
2. Who knows, maybe there is room for negotiation on the pay, if offered the position how could I finesse the potentially tense conversation of "yes, I want the job, but you would have to pay me substantially more."
I got a second interview at an organization I'd like to work at, in a position I think I'd find interesting. But the position pays way too little (even at its upper limit), and this is significantly less than what I am making and what is the industry standard. I'd like to still go in for the interview and meet the staff, learn about the org etc. A few questions though:
1. Is it wrong to take up their time (possibly up to 3 hours) when I have no plan to take this position?
2. Who knows, maybe there is room for negotiation on the pay, if offered the position how could I finesse the potentially tense conversation of "yes, I want the job, but you would have to pay me substantially more."
If they have revealed the pay scale in advance and it is not acceptable to you, you are doing them a disservice by interviewing, especially a 3 hour interview. This is a huge waste of their time. Call in advance, be specific about your salary requirements. If they still want to go forward with the interview it's on them. Be ethical, it never hurts.
posted by HuronBob at 8:13 AM on August 29, 2015 [16 favorites]
posted by HuronBob at 8:13 AM on August 29, 2015 [16 favorites]
Alison of Ask A Manager also advises that, if you know that your salary expectations are drastically different from what the employer is offering, you be up-front and talk to them about it before interviewing: 1, 2, 3.
posted by neushoorn at 8:23 AM on August 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by neushoorn at 8:23 AM on August 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Before the second interview is EXACTLY when you should call them and say "I love what I've heard about Company and the people I met were great. I'm interested in the role. But I've thought about it, and I know I can't take a role where the base is less than X. If you think there could be room to stretch, I'd love to proceed. But if not, I should bow out now. What do you think?"
(The reason is, they won't have any reason to consider stretching unless, having met you, they were really impressed. It happens to me frequently that in hiring for new roles in a young company, my execs find they're not seeing what they want at $x; I then bring in someone excellent who wants more, they realize what they're getting for the money, and they pay it. But they don't always have budget to do that, and a second interview in that case would benefit nobody - it would actually be a significant black mark for the future if they know you've wasted their time and/or not thought about the salary they've told you was the limit.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:26 AM on August 29, 2015 [9 favorites]
(The reason is, they won't have any reason to consider stretching unless, having met you, they were really impressed. It happens to me frequently that in hiring for new roles in a young company, my execs find they're not seeing what they want at $x; I then bring in someone excellent who wants more, they realize what they're getting for the money, and they pay it. But they don't always have budget to do that, and a second interview in that case would benefit nobody - it would actually be a significant black mark for the future if they know you've wasted their time and/or not thought about the salary they've told you was the limit.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:26 AM on August 29, 2015 [9 favorites]
You need to ask about the salary before the interview, not at it. Otherwise you are wasting everyone's time (including, likely, your own) in a very unprofessional way.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 9:00 AM on August 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by schroedingersgirl at 9:00 AM on August 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
You know that the pay scale for this job is X-to-Y? As in, the hiring manager told you "We're looking at no more than Y for this position."?
If so, then yes, call the hiring manager and say, "I would love this job, and I love your organization, and I would do a great job, but I was expecting to make Z. If you're willing to negotiate closer to that, let me know."
posted by Etrigan at 10:35 AM on August 29, 2015
If so, then yes, call the hiring manager and say, "I would love this job, and I love your organization, and I would do a great job, but I was expecting to make Z. If you're willing to negotiate closer to that, let me know."
posted by Etrigan at 10:35 AM on August 29, 2015
I think fingersandtoes is exactly right. Now is when you come clean. Tell them exactly what you said in the question. Everything about the job excites you, but unfortunately you couldn't accept that pay level and don't want to mislead them. You would absolutely like to be the first to know if an opportunity you could consider arose, or if they could do something about the pay deal-breaker.
posted by ctmf at 11:02 AM on August 29, 2015
posted by ctmf at 11:02 AM on August 29, 2015
Agreed with most of the above advice. I think it's okay to do a first-round interview without getting too far into compensation, but wasting everyone's time in a second round isn't a good idea. It's worth talking about it right now, before the next interview. Total compensation is one way to look at it - would 6 weeks vacation sweeten the pot, etc.
Fwiw I was involved in a round if interviews where one candidate did come in for a second interview to try to convince everyone the salary was too low, which everyone knew. The funding model was off for complicated reasons. In any case he was such a jerk that when the position was reclassified, and he reapplied, it was a no. Part of it was that he had wasted everyone's time.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:50 PM on August 29, 2015
Fwiw I was involved in a round if interviews where one candidate did come in for a second interview to try to convince everyone the salary was too low, which everyone knew. The funding model was off for complicated reasons. In any case he was such a jerk that when the position was reclassified, and he reapplied, it was a no. Part of it was that he had wasted everyone's time.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:50 PM on August 29, 2015
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posted by amanda at 8:06 AM on August 29, 2015