Interview clothing

Pross

I've never understood why the first questions, if they think you are looking elsewhere, isn't "why" and "what can we do" (assuming staff retention is desireable). Any company that goes to an aggressive response isn't really one I'd want to work for and they are just confirming the points that have probablt resulted in the interview being set up in the first place.

TheBigBean

rick_chasey said:

Only works if they want to keep you, right?

Yes, of course, but just as people get in a comfort zone and take advantage, so too do companies.

surrey_commuter

An ex-boss of mine and a colleague had said they were going to a client meeting and popped off to the cinema. Their boss had urgently tried to contact them at the client so knew they were AWOL and summoned them to his office upon their return. My boss waited outside whilst his colleague went in to face the music, after 5 mins he was hauled in and asked if he had been with the other guy. He sheepishly said yes and got given a healthy payrise.

The first guy had claimed he was interviewing at a competitor and got a bump to persuade him to stay.

TheBigBean

surrey_commuter said:

An ex-boss of mine and a colleague had said they were going to a client meeting and popped off to the cinema. Their boss had urgently tried to contact them at the client so knew they were AWOL and summoned them to his office upon their return. My boss waited outside whilst his colleague went in to face the music, after 5 mins he was hauled in and asked if he had been with the other guy. He sheepishly said yes and got given a healthy payrise.

The first guy had claimed he was interviewing at a competitor and got a bump to persuade him to stay.

I don't really like the dishonesty, but it is hard not to admire the bluff. Reminds me a bit of the opening to Liar's Poker.

pblakeney

Pross said:

I've never understood why the first questions, if they think you are looking elsewhere, isn't "why" and "what can we do" (assuming staff retention is desireable). Any company that goes to an aggressive response isn't really one I'd want to work for and they are just confirming the points that have probablt resulted in the interview being set up in the first place.

I once worked somewhere that had a retainer "bonus" but I wasn't happy. Got a new job timed with the end of the retention period. Waited for the confirmation of payment email and handed in my notice.
1/2 hour later got another email saying the earlier one had been sent out early in error and that since I was leaving I wouldn't collect.
I said it was a price worth paying to get out.

Redundancies at the old place followed a month later.
The fact that the financial loss was covered by the extra in one month's wages at the new place was just the icing on the cake.

Pross

Slightly different interview question - how do you all tend to respond to the salary expectation question? My thinking is to put it back on the interviewer i.e. "My current salary is x but you'll know what you feel the job is worth and have an understanding of your internal pay structures so if you decide you want me make an offer you feel is fair for the role".

pangolin

Pross said:

Slightly different interview question - how do you all tend to respond to the salary expectation question? My thinking is to put it back on the interviewer i.e. "My current salary is x but you'll know what you feel the job is worth and have an understanding of your internal pay structures so if you decide you want me make an offer you feel is fair for the role".

I don't think there is much to gain by telling them your current salary. Push for them to tell you their range if possible, they will have a range in mind / signed-off.

I'd do some research on Glassdoor and by looking at similar positions that are advertising a salary, and get a good feel for the market value. If really pushed, ask for the top end of what you think is reasonable.

rick_chasey

Pross said:

Slightly different interview question - how do you all tend to respond to the salary expectation question? My thinking is to put it back on the interviewer i.e. "My current salary is x but you'll know what you feel the job is worth and have an understanding of your internal pay structures so if you decide you want me make an offer you feel is fair for the role".

you have 2 options.

1 is fairly confrontational, which is to say "I don't want to share that, I would like the role to be paid what the firm thinks it's worth, and if that meets my compensation requirements then great, if not, no problem". That has the advantage of not anchoring yourself to your previous salary but some hiring managers are really put off by it.

2 is less confrontational which is to share what your current total is, and explain what you would need to move as a minimum, which should really be 15-20% more, and no more than a third more. So you can use the risk of moving as a reason (there is always a risk involved and you want to be compensated for it). If it is a role with more responsibility, you can use that, blah blah, the usual.

surrey_commuter

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

Slightly different interview question - how do you all tend to respond to the salary expectation question? My thinking is to put it back on the interviewer i.e. "My current salary is x but you'll know what you feel the job is worth and have an understanding of your internal pay structures so if you decide you want me make an offer you feel is fair for the role".

you have 2 options.

1 is fairly confrontational, which is to say "I don't want to share that, I would like the role to be paid what the firm thinks it's worth, and if that meets my compensation requirements then great, if not, no problem". That has the advantage of not anchoring yourself to your previous salary but some hiring managers are really put off by it.

2 is less confrontational which is to share what your current total is, and explain what you would need to move as a minimum, which should really be 15-20% more, and no more than a third more. So you can use the risk of moving as a reason (there is always a risk involved and you want to be compensated for it). If it is a role with more responsibility, you can use that, blah blah, the usual.

My answer would be a variation on 2. - I would load up the total to the highest honest amount and leave them to figure out what they need to offer you.

Pross

In this example a 'friend' has a second interview and they were asked about their current salary by the gatekeeper ahead of the first interview (obviously not put off). It's a fairly high level job in a FTSE 250 company and they would be immediately below the MD of one of the divisions. The job is related to the candidates skills but in a slightly different sphere so no real reference of what would be a normal salary. Glassdoor has some salaries with the company but nothing that really seems to be like for like on the role (but one that may be at a similar level to the line manager).

Hence putting the onus on the employer to make what they believe to be a fair offer for the position and the 'friend' then assessing it against what they feel is reasonable.

They have the luxury of not being desperate to change jobs but exploring interesting roles that they come across.

pblakeney

All I can add to this is that this is the most important time for negotiations.
Sell yourself short and you will struggle to recover later. Sell yourself too high and lose the position. Tricky.

ddraver

True, but if their eyebrows fly off the top of their head when you name your price then it might not have been quite the position they re saying it is...

First.Aspect

Totally depends on whether you are in a position of strength.

I've been sniffing around recently and some companies are looking for someone fairly senior for about 2/3 of what I'm on, because they really don't know the market.

Most recent was a company that would only budget for 25 hours a week and at pro rata massively below market rate. There is no point in even creating the position really.

I just said, paraphrasing, sounds like a great role but you are going to struggle get anyone good for what you are offering. If the business comes to that conclusion and respecifies the job, I'd love to take this further.

Bit if I was out of work right now or about to be, I'd have bitten their hand off.

Pross

First.Aspect said:

Totally depends on whether you are in a position of strength.

I've been sniffing around recently and some companies are looking for someone fairly senior for about 2/3 of what I'm on, because they really don't know the market.

Most recent was a company that would only budget for 25 hours a week and at pro rata massively below market rate. There is no point in even creating the position really.

I just said, paraphrasing, sounds like a great role but you are going to struggle get anyone good for what you are offering. If the business comes to that conclusion and respecifies the job, I'd love to take this further.

Bit if I was out of work right now or about to be, I'd have bitten their hand off.

Yeah, that's the position I would be in. Moving from somewhere I like working so would have to be the right role and right offer so ball in their court would be a chance for them to show whether they want me as the best candidate or as someone who could do the job for a bit less than their other options.

pblakeney

Always best to consider the interview as you interviewing them.
Even if desperate, just hide it. 😉

me-109

pblakeney said:

Always best to consider the interview as you interviewing them.
Even if desperate, just hide it. 😉

Always this. In order to do that you must do your research to pave the way for good questions. You need to do your best to flush out what their culture is, if you don't know anyone there to ask. You won't quite get that from websites and social media. What's their strategy/roadmap on X (that you are interested in or would be working on)? The usual challenges/risks questions - depending on how open they will be to an outsider. What autonomy will you have, assuming you don't like to be micro-managed?

Pross

Interestingly salary never even got discussed, possibly due to a second interviewer being present who would be at the same or lower level. Interesting but different role, would be a difficult decision in a good offer gets made. The role is two levels below the Board in a FTSE 250 company with £500 million turnover and 2,500 staff so quite senior and a completely new role.

rick_chasey

Pross said:

Interestingly salary never even got discussed, possibly due to a second interviewer being present who would be at the same or lower level. Interesting but different role, would be a difficult decision in a good offer gets made. The role is two levels below the Board in a FTSE 250 company with £500 million turnover and 2,500 staff so quite senior and a completely new role.

Professional curiosity, is this direct or via a recruiter?

Pross

Direct, found it by luck - I do a regular check of what is about just to see if there is anything interesting and different. I forgot to put a location in the search and it came up as a remote role.

rick_chasey

Gotcha.

If you want some specific advice, feel free to DM - this is the level I work at very regularly.

elbowloh

Not a new job, but had a call with my line manager who noted i recently gained a qualification in a new area, slightly out of kilter with my actual job and he said that the head of the department for the area i just got qualified is going to give me a call and see if i'd like a career change!

Pross

elbowloh said:

Not a new job, but had a call with my line manager who noted i recently gained a qualification in a new area, slightly out of kilter with my actual job and he said that the head of the department for the area i just got qualified is going to give me a call and see if i'd like a career change!

How are you finding the new job? They were a new company to me, there seem to be several European companies getting involved in the JVs over here, I was approached about possibly joining a Spanish company that I think are in one of the JVs with your company but that has gone cold so I'm assuming they went elsewhere.

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Gotcha.

If you want some specific advice, feel free to DM - this is the level I work at very regularly.

Thanks Rick

DeVlaeminck

pblakeney said:

Always best to consider the interview as you interviewing them.
Even if desperate, just hide it. 😉

When I was very young I used to suffer quite bad I interview nerves - it was changing my thought process to it being at least as much about me interviewing them that allowed me to overcome them.

elbowloh

Pross said:

elbowloh said:

Not a new job, but had a call with my line manager who noted i recently gained a qualification in a new area, slightly out of kilter with my actual job and he said that the head of the department for the area i just got qualified is going to give me a call and see if i'd like a career change!

How are you finding the new job? They were a new company to me, there seem to be several European companies getting involved in the JVs over here, I was approached about possibly joining a Spanish company that I think are in one of the JVs with your company but that has gone cold so I'm assuming they went elsewhere.

Yeah good. I think culturally they are kind of similar to my previous place, in that they are focused on delivery and rather than just sticking to process and procedure for the sake of it. They're quite chilled so far.

No Spanish companies in my JV, sure are in other JVs on HS2 and were on Crossrail too.

Pross

Anyone ever needed to do a virtual solo interview?

shirley_basso

What do you mean?

Pross

You get sent a link to a set of recorded questions and film your answers. It's being used as a sort of first stage filtering process apparently.

ddraver

Sounds awful

webboo

You could get someone who looks good on camera to stand in for you. Daniel Craig might be at loose end at the moment.