The Student Room Group

Low pay and unrealistic employer expectations

Does anyone else feel there are a lot of unscrupulous employers around these days? I've come across a fair few who try get away with paying well below the market rate because there is so much supply they can get away with paying nothing and know there will be desperate grads who'd give their arm to have these programming or other highly skilled jobs on a min wage or near enough salary.

A good example is an analyst roles I have been applying for. They don't specify the salary in the advert but going by the market rate I assumed it'd be 45k-ish. However when I had the initial screening call they tried to get me down to like £35k. Ridiculous for someone with 10+ years experience. Why do employers try to even get away with that? One employer was moaning about paying me £30k despite me saying, but hang on, i've got 10 years experience. If you wanted a fresh grad on 25k or whatever you want to pay, then why waste my time? LOL.

I really resent employers for how they treat people. They also don't seem to look beyond the tick boxes - HR are thick as **** in my opinion. There are a lot of smart people out there who can do the jobs with a bit of training, but because they don't have 'real world' experience with some obscure software, you're not even invited to an interview. It's thinking like this that has left the UK behind in the competitive global marketplace.

/rant.

**** the UK
(edited 1 year ago)
Yes.
There are a lot of entitled, unscrupulous and extremely demanding employers.
Quite a few of whom are always on the lookout for someone lower down the corporate hierarchy or social pecking order to exploit, abuse, humiliate before an audience or habitually use as their own personal source of free labour.

There are also plenty of petty tyrant managers promoted too far and jerk jobsworths who should not be in paid employment.
Quite a few arrogant, entitled, lazy or moderately obnoxious workers and job applicants around too.
Original post by boulderingislife
Does anyone else feel there are a lot of unscrupulous employs around these days? I've come across a fair few who try get away with paying well below the market rate because there is so much supply they can get away with paying nothing and know there will be desperate grads who'd give their arm to have these programming or other highly skilled jobs on a min wage or near enough salary.

A good example is an analyst roles I have been applying for. They don't specify the salary in the advert but going by the market rate I assumed it'd be 45k-ish. However when I had the initial screening call they tried to get me down to like £35k. Ridiculous for someone with 10+ years experience. Why do employers try to even get away with that? One employer was moaning about paying me £30k despite me saying, but hang on, i've got 10 years experience. If you wanted a fresh grad on 25k or whatever you want to pay, then why waste my time? LOL.

I really resent employers for how they treat people. They also don't seem to look beyond the tick boxes - HR are tick as **** in my opinion. There are a lot of smart people out there who can do the jobs with a bit of training, but because they don't have 'real world' experience with some obscure software, you're not even invited to an interview. It's thinking like this that has left the UK behind in the competitive global marketplace.

/rant.

**** the UK


Jeez, that is some seriously low-balling. BI/BS analysts/anyone in the analytics space including fresh grads can make more than what they are offering.
Original post by londonmyst
Yes.
There are a lot of entitled, unscrupulous and extremely demanding employers.
Quite a few of whom are always on the lookout for someone lower down the corporate hierarchy or social pecking order to exploit, abuse, humiliate before an audience or habitually use as their own personal source of free labour.

There are also plenty of petty tyrant managers promoted too far and jerk jobsworths who should not be in paid employment.
Quite a few arrogant, entitled, lazy or moderately obnoxious workers and job applicants around too.


Wow, didn't expect such a supportive post. Was expecting the tory brigade to have a go at me and call me a lazy good for nothing peasant or something. :rolleyes:
It’s a candidate market right now, just leave.

Companies are paying people 50%+ to join then but I’m speaking for an experienced hire perspective.

You shouldn’t be making anywhere near that money with your experience. What Industry is this?
Original post by boulderingislife
Does anyone else feel there are a lot of unscrupulous employs around these days? I've come across a fair few who try get away with paying well below the market rate because there is so much supply they can get away with paying nothing and know there will be desperate grads who'd give their arm to have these programming or other highly skilled jobs on a min wage or near enough salary.

A good example is an analyst roles I have been applying for. They don't specify the salary in the advert but going by the market rate I assumed it'd be 45k-ish. However when I had the initial screening call they tried to get me down to like £35k. Ridiculous for someone with 10+ years experience. Why do employers try to even get away with that? One employer was moaning about paying me £30k despite me saying, but hang on, i've got 10 years experience. If you wanted a fresh grad on 25k or whatever you want to pay, then why waste my time? LOL.

I really resent employers for how they treat people. They also don't seem to look beyond the tick boxes - HR are tick as **** in my opinion. There are a lot of smart people out there who can do the jobs with a bit of training, but because they don't have 'real world' experience with some obscure software, you're not even invited to an interview. It's thinking like this that has left the UK behind in the competitive global marketplace.

/rant.

**** the UK


Cant you just say "no, sorry, the minimum I would accept is £50k. I appreciate that this may be outside of your pay scales at present. I hope your recruitment goes well - if you decide to re-band the position would be great to discuss further."

A brief screening call is no issue. I'd be pretty peed off if I'd gone through several interviews without being told the pay rates though.
Original post by Little pecker
It’s a candidate market right now, just leave.

Companies are paying people 50%+ to join then but I’m speaking for an experienced hire perspective.

You shouldn’t be making anywhere near that money with your experience. What Industry is this?


Well i've been working in public sector for several years. Finally quit my public sector role and am looking to get into the insurance sector now. Hopefully they pay better and progression is faster. I've been stuck on 35/36k in public sector since 2013. It's a ****ing joke man. How am I supposed to buy a home on that kinda money?
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by ajj2000
Cant you just say "no, sorry, the minimum I would accept is £50k. I appreciate that this may be outside of your pay scales at present. I hope your recruitment goes well - if you decide to re-band the position would be great to discuss further."

A brief screening call is no issue. I'd be pretty peed off if I'd gone through several interviews without being told the pay rates though.


I intereviewed for a role a few years back. Data Processor (coding role). They didn't advertise salary, after first interview they still didn't disclose salary, after second interview they didn't disclose salary. I just withdrew my application as they were being evasive and wasting my time I feel.
Original post by boulderingislife
I intereviewed for a role a few years back. Data Processor (coding role). They didn't advertise salary, after first interview they still didn't disclose salary, after second interview they didn't disclose salary. I just withdrew my application as they were being evasive and wasting my time I feel.


Quite agree. Not sure how it varies between sectors but I think that in general its not unreasonable to ask for a pay range before going to any huge effort. Just pull out if they don't agree.
Is it ever too late to apply for grad roles? Am I too old to apply for grad roles having graduated in 2010? I feel going for grad schemes is the only way to change careers and move from the public sector into another sector. Thoughts?
Original post by boulderingislife
Is it ever too late to apply for grad roles? Am I too old to apply for grad roles having graduated in 2010? I feel going for grad schemes is the only way to change careers and move from the public sector into another sector. Thoughts?


Yeah.. 2010 might be a wee bit late. You will count as an experienced hire with 12 years of work experience behind you. I'm not sure why you would apply for graduate schemes though? If you are already getting offers then it's not your experience/skillset that's the issue - it's the companies you are applying for.
Original post by Blue_Cow
Yeah.. 2010 might be a wee bit late. You will count as an experienced hire with 12 years of work experience behind you. I'm not sure why you would apply for graduate schemes though? If you are already getting offers then it's not your experience/skillset that's the issue - it's the companies you are applying for.


Not getting offers yet but got final round interview this week. Getting a lot more interviews since rejigging my cv a few weeks ago.
Original post by boulderingislife
Not getting offers yet but got final round interview this week. Getting a lot more interviews since rejigging my cv a few weeks ago.


Ah yeah, my bad. I forgot you only got told the salaries after screening! Still though, I think what I said applies. It's not your experience that is causing low-balling here but the companies you are interviewing with. Good luck with your interviews
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Blue_Cow
Ah yeah, my bad. I forgot you only got told the salaries after screening! Still though, I think what I said applies. It's not your experience that is causing low-balling here but the companies you are interviewing with. Good luck with your interviews

what kind of companies should i be applying for, and where can i find a list of them? I suck when it comes to job hunting. I just look at what's on indeed/totaljobs/linkedin searches and apply for roles where I have the right skillset for.

Yesterday I applied for a data science internship haha! Kind of a sideways and downwards trajectory, but in the long term I think data science is where it's at. Data Analyst roles are too simple, too generic. Most analysts can't even code. Oh and what I regard as beginner to intermediate sql is regarded as advanced in the world of data analysis, lol. Just goes to show how simple normal analyst jobs are. for me Advanced sql means someone who has DBA experience, or experience with data migration (actually coding and running the complex migration scripts!). In my sql test last week (something which was meant to be hard), turned out to be a joke of simply querying data and updating one table lol - how is that advanced?
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by boulderingislife
what kind of companies should i be applying for, and where can i find a list of them? I suck when it comes to job hunting. I just look at what's on indeed/totaljobs/linkedin searches and apply for roles where I have the right skillset for.

Yesterday I applied for a data science internship haha! Kind of a sideways and downwards trajectory, but in the long term I think data science is where it's at. Data Analyst roles are too simple, too generic. Most analysts can't even code. Oh and what I regard as beginner to intermediate sql is regarded as advanced in the world of data analysis, lol. Just goes to show how simple normal analyst jobs are. for me Advanced sql means someone who has DBA experience, or experience with data migration (actually coding and running the complex migration scripts!). In my sql test last week (something which was meant to be hard), turned out to be a joke of simply querying data and updating one table lol - how is that advanced?


Technology companies. Big tech and some old tech.

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