Just been offered a pretty good job (global player) after having the second interview yesterday. Salary banding is about average/good compared to the market, but it comes with a significant benefits package. As good as the latter is, I still need hard cash as we have a lot of outgoings. After all, things like pension, healthcare etc all come out of the bottom line.

Am happy with 90% of the role. A bit of scope for progression, but not yet sure if it’s in the direction I want to go.

Am dealing with HR re negotiation and really need an extra 10% on salary – but this defies their regs on bandings. Anyone got any tips?

Ta

As a recruiter I don’t often negotiate after the point where I’ve made an offer, especially when it would mean breaking a banding structure. It is possible though, depending on how hard it is to find someone with your skills there may be an internal process they need to go through to make an exception to the banding.

Honesty is the best policy here – just explain where you are and ask them if there’s anything they can do. If they’re a company worth working for they’ll be honest in their response.

Am dealing with HR re negotiation

I’d try and keep the post manager involved if possible. To HR, it’s a desk exercise of following the guidelines, the post manager will (should) have more interest in getting a happy candidate.

I’d try and keep the post manager involved if possible. To HR, it’s a desk exercise of following the guidelines, the post manager will (should) have more interest in getting a happy candidate.

Not true. For one thing, it’s HR who have to deal with unhappy candidates when they become unhappy employees. For another, HR will be speaking to the line manager anyway and if there are exceptions to be made it will be HR who control that process. If the point of contact you’ve been given for the offer is HR then you should respect that.

“breaking banding regs”, it’s like that phrase used by John Malkowitz in Dangerous Liasons – “Its beyond my Control”. Fabulous, I’ve used that at work myself.

The HR department are using a standard negotiating technique against you !

Ask to be hired in the band above at the salary you are looking for. Explain that you do need the cash, perhaps offer to give up some of the benefits ? You can say you really like the sound of the job, company etc but the numbers don’t really work. Ultimately it depends how much you want the job, do you take it or walk away. What is important is that the employer thinks you may walk away. You can say you want to be promoted to the band above with the higher salary within (say) 12 months ? My experience is that it’s easier to be hired at a more senior grade than get promoted.

Benefits are a difficult one to assess a value. Generous benefit don’t help you get a mortgage or pay your food bill or buy some bling for the mtb.

be really clear with yourself, do you want this job or not. an offer has been made your trying to renegotiate the terms and conditions is of value if you bring a specific set of skills other than other candidates did because if not the company has a short list of alternative candidates already interviewed and ready to accept a second bite of the cherry.

having said that i went back three times and asked for more before starting one role and got real increases every time finally baulking and accepting the role only to find i was getting 20% less than my co workers..

having said that i went back three times and asked for more before starting one role and got real increases every time finally baulking and accepting the role only to find i was getting 20% less than my co workers..

The first time I moved job I felt very smug getting a 10% pay rise. I then discovered I was on about 2/3 of everyone else in the new department. Opened my eyes a bit. Luckily I was adjusted with a year after a major re-org and got a 50% pay rise over night 🙂

ot true. For one thing, it’s HR who have to deal with unhappy candidates when they become unhappy employees. For another, HR will be speaking to the line manager anyway and if there are exceptions to be made it will be HR who control that process. If the point of contact you’ve been given for the offer is HR then you should respect that.

^ The view from one type of organisation.

Yes, it’s a tricky one, that’s for sure.

They’ve made it abundantly clear (their words, not mine) that they want me. I don’t want to take the pi55 as it’s not all about the money, but my sentiments echo jambalaya re benefits don’t pay the mortgage etc.

I’ll see what movement they have beyond the banding. Failing that, trading in a couple of benefits might be an option.

Ta

Geoffj, I’ve worked for a couple of “gloabl player” organisations, which is what the OP is talking about here, and before I moved in-house I worked with dozens of companies from start-ups to huge multi-nationals, so I do have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about.

What people often forget is that roles and bandings have been evaluated for a reason – so that the positions and salaries match up and people with the same skills are paid broadly equally. If I’ve got a team of 5 engineers on band 6 and I hire 1 more on band 7, it’s only a matter of time before the original 5 want a bump to band 7 as well. If the new guy doesn’t have any more skills than the rest of the team I don’t have a leg to stand on – if he’s a specialist in a niche area I might be able to justify it. Not all companies are top payers, some prioritise benefits over base salary, as an external candidate you have little to no influence over what banding your role sits in: other than making an exception to the banding, which is fairly unlikely, you might get a committment to re-evaluate the role and banding in 6 months or so.

As I said the best thing you can do is have an honest conversation and make a decision on the merits of the offer you receive.

i always try and bargain fridays off! ..

remember, YOU ARE THE PRIZE