I was looking at a potential new job until it occurred to me to ask about dealing with "on-call" support.
As I work in tech, there is usually an expectation that some level of support is handled off hours in case systems go down. However this position didn't have any compensation for making yourself available and generally only 15 mins from a phone or computer to support the systems. The best they could offer was "time in-lieu" if you get called, which is basically saying they'll let you work your contracted maximum hours despite it being unsociable hours.
Fuck that.
After seeing elsewhere someone commenting that they would refuse to on-call if there was also a "return to office", because if they had to go to the office to work, then how could they possibly support it from home, it made me wonder what other things should I remember to enquire about when interviewing and asking the hiring company?
When they ask you for an indication of what you'd like to earn, only to then casually say "okay" to what you said and low ball you by a lot afterwards. Lady, I can't help that you didn't provide the salary range in advance, that's your fault.
They all do that. They're actually trained in how to do that. It's some sick Prisoner's Dilemma thing. They make you give an estimate first and then low ball from there. They don't tell you a salary range deliberately because they know people will put themselves at the top of the range.
I've had it before where I've replied to them saying "What's the salary range" and they've said "we don't disclose that at this stage in the interview what's your salary right now?". The fuck. So they expect me to tell them everything and tell me nothing in return? End the interview right there.
I've read some instructions for workers where it says the best plan is to avoid disclosing your own salary or expectations until much further down the interviews. If they're willing to hire you already, they're much more likely to accept your request because doing interviews costs then money.
That sounds more like HR propaganda to me. Interviews aren't free, but they are cheap. Paying someone what they are worth, vs. low-balling someone desperate, is fiscally practical.
I've gotten to the point where I ask recruiters that hit me up on LinkedIn if the position has a listed salary range. If not, I usually bail right then, unless the job or company is interesting enough to have a conversation. But if they are cagey about salary or benefits, I bail. They are the only reason I'm there, so being cagey about them is a red flag.
This is what I've heard as well and I think it's good advice. Putting it into practice is hard though. Do you just say "I prefer not to disclose that at this stage"? Or something else?
I had this happen very egregiously once, years ago (tho not from the UK… sorry, didn’t really catch where I was before I commented). During the application process they asked for wage requirements. I provided my minimum, which was slightly inflated to about $15/hr. I’m in a fairly low cost area, but even then that wasn’t really asking for a lot, about average for lab work of any sort at the time. This was for an optometrist lab position; they can afford to pay properly.
They called me in to interview, so I assumed their pay matched my requirements well enough. Maybe a bit of wiggle, but we’d be close. I’d been unemployed for a while and spent my own gas to get there, half hour drive and all, when I was living on borrowed money..
She did the whole 45 minute interview then offered me $10/hr for a job requiring a degree. $3 above minimum wage for a BS. You what now?
I let that cunt absolutely have it (I’m usually a people-pleasing conflict-avoiding sort, but that straw broke me). Loud enough the entire place could probably hear it. (It was very cathartic) “Why the actual fuck would you waste my time and money like this when you know full fucking well what you are offering isn’t even fucking close to my absolute bare minimum? I made more than you are offering 10 fucking years ago, before I went to college and got student debt, and it was shit pay then, are you insane? Did you think this was going to work out well for you, and you’d get a good, desperate employee from your deceptive dehumanizing bullshit? Fuck you, you oblivious piece of shit, I hope this place fails as much as you did in life.”
After that, I don’t even apply to jobs without knowing the pay range. Or if I do, that’s the first question I ask if they call me. “What’s the pay range for this position?” “Oh it depends on qualifications and experience!” “No, it doesn’t, I’m no longer interested.”
I've actually had the opposite of this happen to me, I gave a figure and they offered me more. But I've also had this happen too when they've gone below what I asked.