4 ms·

I took the first number they offered ($48k/yr I think). That was a HUGE mistake, even in those times. That's not the worst mistake you could have made though.

I took the first number they offered ($48k/yr I think). That was a HUGE mistake, even in those times. That's not the worst mistake you could have made though. For my first job, I was interviewing with a company that a college acquaintance was working for. Through a mutual friend, I had a rough idea how much this acquaintance was making... or so I thought. When the salary portion came up, the company recruiter asked me how much I was expecting. Being incredibly naive about such things, and thinking I knew how much they were willing to pay, I gave a number. What happened next is something I'll remember in every salary negotiation for the rest of my life. The recruiter apologized, and said that they simply didn't pay anyone that little, and she told me their company minimum and asked if I was ok with that. Sheepishly, I accepted, knowing that I had just completely screwed myself and I really was no longer in a position to negotiate for more.

patio11 16y ago
The kicker? It is entirely possible your acquaintance was actually working for a number well below their we-absolutely-wouldn't-pay-you-below-this number. "Sketch reasons why this could happen" would make a good interview question, since it demonstrates life skills for dealing with large corporations.
- AgentConundrum 16y ago
  It's possible, sure, but that wasn't the case in this instance. While this acquaintance and I didn't spend a great deal of time together in college, he was the only person I knew here when I moved (n.b. the job was a few hundred kilometers from home/college) so we ended up hanging out a bit more once I got here. I came to find out that not only was he not making less than their minimum, but he was actually able to negotiate for $2k more due to some previous experience in summer jobs / co-ops. The actual kicker in this story, and I'm only remembering this now, is that I actually knew the real number, but I just didn't realize it. This company had interviewed/hired a few people in my class, and I vaguely recall hearing of a different guys negotiations for a number close to what above-commented acquaintance managed to get. So, I could have probably negotiated a slightly higher salary, but thanks to some poorly timed misinformation by our mutual friend, I didn't know my numbers and I lost out.
- cdavid 16y ago
  I have to ask: what reasons do you have in mind for the "sketch why this could happen". I have never worked for a large corporation, and besides usual miscommunications between departements about official policy, I cannot find any reasonable explanation.
  - patio11 16y ago
    1) Bob was hired prior to the minimum being enacted and no one has noticed. 2) Bob has fallen into a special case in our accounting package (e.g. "joined company through acquisition"), causing his salary to be marked "exempt from standard rules", and his manager has not been diligent with raising it to the company norms. 3) #2, but manager knew what was happening and did nothing to correct it anyway. Bob never complained, after all, and it made manager's budgets easier to balance. 4) No individual human anywhere in the corporation is responsible for evaluating Bob's compensation. Whoops. He's an orphaned node on the org chart because he was assigned to division A but expensed to B for the duration of a project which has since been canceled, was informally lent to C, but nobody told A yet, C doesn't expect him on their books, and B was eliminated in a reorg last year. 5) #4, except it is more severe: no one is in charge of reviewing Bob's salary because no one knows Bob exists. (This one is funny folklore... until it isn't.) 6) Hiring manager is citing a policy which does not exist and has never existed. This entire thread is based on a mistaken premise to begin with. 7) Hiring manager is citing a policy which exists for all Systems Engineers but Bob is classified as a Programmer: Systems (II) by manager Dave in 1997. P:S(II) was deprecated in 2002 -- didn't you get the memo, Dave? 8) #7. Dave didn't get the memo because he died in 2001.
    - jimktrains2 16y ago
      9) The interviewee's friend could have been quoting his after-tax and/or after-loan take-home salary.
      - allwein 16y ago
        10) He was laid off a couple years ago but through some glitch in the payroll department, he still receives a paycheck.

patio11 16y ago

The kicker? It is entirely possible your acquaintance was actually working for a number well below their we-absolutely-wouldn't-pay-you-below-this number. "Sketch reasons why this could happen" would make a good interview question, since it demonstrates life skills for dealing with large corporations.

AgentConundrum 16y ago
It's possible, sure, but that wasn't the case in this instance. While this acquaintance and I didn't spend a great deal of time together in college, he was the only person I knew here when I moved (n.b. the job was a few hundred kilometers from home/college) so we ended up hanging out a bit more once I got here. I came to find out that not only was he not making less than their minimum, but he was actually able to negotiate for $2k more due to some previous experience in summer jobs / co-ops. The actual kicker in this story, and I'm only remembering this now, is that I actually knew the real number, but I just didn't realize it. This company had interviewed/hired a few people in my class, and I vaguely recall hearing of a different guys negotiations for a number close to what above-commented acquaintance managed to get. So, I could have probably negotiated a slightly higher salary, but thanks to some poorly timed misinformation by our mutual friend, I didn't know my numbers and I lost out.
cdavid 16y ago
I have to ask: what reasons do you have in mind for the "sketch why this could happen". I have never worked for a large corporation, and besides usual miscommunications between departements about official policy, I cannot find any reasonable explanation.
- patio11 16y ago
  1) Bob was hired prior to the minimum being enacted and no one has noticed. 2) Bob has fallen into a special case in our accounting package (e.g. "joined company through acquisition"), causing his salary to be marked "exempt from standard rules", and his manager has not been diligent with raising it to the company norms. 3) #2, but manager knew what was happening and did nothing to correct it anyway. Bob never complained, after all, and it made manager's budgets easier to balance. 4) No individual human anywhere in the corporation is responsible for evaluating Bob's compensation. Whoops. He's an orphaned node on the org chart because he was assigned to division A but expensed to B for the duration of a project which has since been canceled, was informally lent to C, but nobody told A yet, C doesn't expect him on their books, and B was eliminated in a reorg last year. 5) #4, except it is more severe: no one is in charge of reviewing Bob's salary because no one knows Bob exists. (This one is funny folklore... until it isn't.) 6) Hiring manager is citing a policy which does not exist and has never existed. This entire thread is based on a mistaken premise to begin with. 7) Hiring manager is citing a policy which exists for all Systems Engineers but Bob is classified as a Programmer: Systems (II) by manager Dave in 1997. P:S(II) was deprecated in 2002 -- didn't you get the memo, Dave? 8) #7. Dave didn't get the memo because he died in 2001.
  - jimktrains2 16y ago
    9) The interviewee's friend could have been quoting his after-tax and/or after-loan take-home salary.
    - allwein 16y ago
      10) He was laid off a couple years ago but through some glitch in the payroll department, he still receives a paycheck.