How to deal with salary question at interview

Just to update. Had the interview. Was going well. Hours longer than I am on. Ok, not that much, but still longer. Towards the end, asked what salary I was on. Told them (the truth) no add on's, etc. They told me what the salary was for the postion. Some €10K less than my current basic. Asked how would I feel about that? Because they would hate to invite me for second interview and waste all our time, ie, your time, but more importantly our time. I said, I dont know how you value your time or why you think it any more valuable than mine? (Maybe a bit more flowery than that, but still said it)

Ah well, back to the drawing board.
 
Ouch, strikes me they asked you a response question, they weren't making a salary offer but were testing your capacity to stay cool even when it looks like things not going your way. Good luck with the next one!
 
MandaC said:
I said, I dont know how you value your time or why you think it any more valuable than mine?
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I presume you decided that you didn't want the job/salary before insulting the interviewers in this way?

Sounds to me like you should get some professional advice/coaching on how to interview for jobs.
 
ClubMan said:
I presume you decided that you didn't want the job/salary before insulting the interviewers in this way?

Sounds to me like you should get some professional advice/coaching on how to interview for jobs.
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I am not sure why you would think that? As I said, my answer was a bit more flowery than that given above, and said with both a fixed grin and a cool head, but the gist of it was the same. I think my exact reply was more along the lines of "well, that would really depend on which side of the table you are sitting on" (fixed grin)

To my mind, an interview is a two way thing, for both employer and employee. As is a job.

Unfortunately, Orga, whilst it was not a salary offer, it is actually the basic for the position as there are a a number of different people with the same ranking, just in other departments and the company would just not bring someone else in on a higher salary. I respect that.

I am a very honest, direct and straight person. I call a spade a spade and refuse to entertain any type of disrespect or digs from anybody, be they friends, family, employer, or potential employer.

Is their time any more valuable than mine. Absolutely no way.

Do I want to work with people who think their time is more valuable than mine? Absolutely no way.

Do I need any coaching/interview techniques to establish this or give a different answer to this question next time. Not in this lifetime.
 
MandaC said:
Do I need any coaching/interview techniques to establish this or give a different answer to this question next time. Not in this lifetime.
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Having read through the thread I'd be inclined to agree with Clubman...perhaps you do need coaching in interview techniques given how you mishandled this situation. Of course what they said was ill judged but in these situations you have to 'box clever'. Being entirely honest and forthright is sometimes not the best approach.
 
I just wanted to say fair play MandaC I have a similar out look maybe not as hardcore, I still play the interview game trying to tell the interview panel what they want to hear irrelevant of what the true is. Best of luck in the job search
 
Appreciate all the comments.

I really dont feel I mishandled the situation.

The person who had made the arrangements to meet with me had totally messed up the schedule, despite the fact that she had confirmed to me both on the phone and by email the exact time and date. She was on a day's leave when I arrived.

Despite having taken time off work, I was left waiting 55 minutes whilst they flustered about trying to get someone else to deal with me. At that stage, I was being sweet as pie and said no problem, no problem, these things sometimes happen.

Very very unprofessional. And then with them having messed up, and being left there sitting reading the paper like an idiot, to to comment their time was more valuable was a bit rich.

Not acceptable.

I havent been to many interviews, but have never been to one where the employer was so disorganised and rude. Its not somewhere I would want to work, or somewhere I would even want to pretend to work to be offered the job.

To me, honesty is always the best policy and I would rather be myself now and not be offered the job, than take it and then have other issues once I came aboard. I have been lucky in that the majority of my employers have been quite straight and thats the only environment I want to work within.

Fully intend holding out for the right position.
 
Amanda

You are absolutely right.
Any interviewer who does not have the professionalism, common sense or intelligence to treat a candidate with the utmost respect needs to be pulled up sharply. Any organisation that puts a cretin like this on the front line is circumspect in my mind to say the least.

If I were interviewing you, I would be impressed with your courage to defend yourself in that type of situation and I would aplologise profusely for the faux pas.
In today's world It's very easy to be a lemming or a "follower" which is what I suspect some of the other contibutors on here would like to coach you "into being"

I have been interviewing candidates at all levels for many years and i can assure you that there is nothing nicer than meeting a person who is true to his/herself and nothing worse than a fraud or mock up which you can spot at 100 miles..

Good luck with it.
 
I can't see how this:
implies this:
MandaC said:
The person who had made the arrangements to meet with me had totally messed up the schedule, despite the fact that she had confirmed to me both on the phone and by email the exact time and date. She was on a day's leave when I arrived.
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I don't see how the interviewer was out of order here as you and others seem to assume.

No offence but perhaps your lack of clarity in your posts here reflects an issue that may need to be addressed if you want to succeed in interviews and work?
 
I dont know what you are talking about lack of clarity.

1. The interviewer was not there when I turned up.

2. I was left waiting 55 minutes whilst someone else was tracked down and briefed on the situation. It also resulted in a load of people being "thrown out" of the interview room. The interview room was obviously double booked. The people using the room did not want to go and argued their point. This was done in front of a potential employee.

Maybe I am missing something, but that is very unprofessional. Perhaps my standards are too high. I dont operate in this way in my work life and am quite proud of that. I also feel it is unacceptable to infer that their time is more valuable. They made an inappropriate disrespectful comment and I let them know in a nice way that I did not agree with them.

Thats the end of it.

Fortunately for me, I have been very successful in my working life for the past 18 years. I have never been out of work and all of my previous employers would speak very highly of me.

It has left me in the very lucky position that I can hold out and find the right position for me and allows me the long term financial security and breathing space to do this.
 
You never said any of that in this post - if you had then this comment might have made a bit more sense:
Because they would hate to invite me for second interview and waste all our time, ie, your time, but more importantly our time. I said, I dont know how you value your time or why you think it any more valuable than mine?
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That is what I meant by lack of clarity.
 
Get where you are coming from.

I just did not want to go into the ins and outs and he said she said because thats not really the crux of it for me.

If you ignore the fiasco of the schedule, once we got into the interview, things were going ok, so could have accepted the mix up as a once off genuine mistake and move past it. I haven't worked with the company, so dont know if it is a once off, or is the kind of way they operate.

Even with all things being equal, they made an inappropriate comment, which I disagreed with and let them know.

There was no indication of salary other than it was negotiable and the position required at least eight years experience. Judging by the salary surveys from various employment agencies, the basic they were offering was under the normal for that type of position and experience.

This position was advertised directly through the company. Its probably easier if you go through an agency, because at least they have a guideline as to what the salary is before you go for interview and not waste everyone's time.
 
MandaC said:
Even with all things being equal, they made an inappropriate comment, which I disagreed with and let them know.
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From what you have posted so far I fail to see what was "inappropriate" about what was said and on that basis I believe that your own comments seem injudicious.
 
The way I see it, we all live our lives under our own moral codes and values.

You may feel it wasn't inappropriate because maybe its ok in your chosen field to infer that some people are more important than others, etc. To me we are all equal and I would never infer that anyone's time was less valuable than my own, no matter who they were.

It's really a personal preference and choice.
 
MandaC said:
You may feel it wasn't inappropriate because maybe its ok in your chosen field to infer that some people are more important than others, etc.
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I agree that the scheduling/logistical issues that you mentioned subsequent to your first post on the interview were evidence of a lack of professionalism. However I still don't see that any comments made by them during the interview were out of order as you have claimed - at least based on what you have posted so far.
 
i personally wouldnt have the guts to bring it up in an interview i think i would wait til they offered me the job
 
Hear Hear
 
Ok, here's a turn up for the books.

Got a call today from Senior Person in HR (not person who did the first interview). Very nice person. Position has expanded somewhat, asking was I still interested. Said yes but not at that salary. Said because of the extra responsibilites, that could be negotiated upwards. Went through other benefits on offer and they are good.

She is to get back to me today re the second interview, which will be with the people that I would be working directly with. Will go to see if I could work with them.

In the meantime, had another interview earlier this week with different company who are putting an offer in the post to me by the end of the week. I liked them too!
 
MandaC said:
Do I want to work with people who think their time is more valuable than mine? Absolutely no way.
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As Groucho Marx once said:

"Those are my principles and if you don't like them, I have others."
 
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