It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. That’s mainly because I’ve been working way too many hours. I’m still a temp, unfortunately, and that might go on for quite a while. It feels like I’m being exploited. In my own best interest, that’s all I’ll say. I know it’s best to keep these things private. So many people get fired because of Facebook or their blogs. I can’t afford to lose my job, even though I’m not a permanent employee.
I really miss being a permanent employee. Where I work, I’ve been given all the headaches and responsibilities of having a permanent position without the benefits that come with it. I’m still constantly looking for a job.
I was actually offered a job several weeks ago but I had to turn it down. I got the call on Memorial Day. I learned a valuable lesson. ALWAYS discuss salary requirements with your potential employer at some point during the recruitment process. A small but profitable (and growing) company in Raleigh had obtained my resume through a friend of a friend. This “friend of a friend” hadn’t told me he was sending my resume to these people. But I was thrilled when I got a call on my cell phone one day that this company (I’ll call it XYZ Inc. to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent) wanted to interview me. I was thankful that they had received my resume, however it happened. My biggest mistake was not asking their recruiter about the salary range during my initial phone conversation. It would’ve saved us all some time and heart ache.
I had three interviews with XYZ Inc. The CEO is a wonderful, warm person who I would absolutely love to work for. I met her during my second interview. She asked me what drew me to the position. I should have just been honest and said “you guys called me. That’s what drew me.” But instead I told her something about the position that I found out in interview number 1. But I wasn’t lying. The job did sound interesting to me. I started to realize before the third interview that, given some of their questions, most of the people I was meeting thought that I had seen the job posted somewhere and that I had submitted my own resume – and my fear was that the job posting contained the salary range. That’s why nobody had brought it up. But that’s why I should have brought it up myself…. ugh, what a mistake.
This is why I didn’t bring it up – I had asked about salary when I was in the process of being recruited to another job about 5 years ago. The company wrote to me to ask for my references. I wrote back and told them that I’d like to know the salary range before I send my references, simply because I didn’t like to bother my references unnecessarily. They wrote back and told me they were no longer interested. So – my lesson was, don’t ask about salary again.
But with XYZ Inc., it would have been proper to just ask about it in my initial “so you got my resume?” conversation. Because what ended up happening was, after three interviews and a very excited CEO (who I really grew to like) decided she wanted me to start immediately, I had to turn it down during the same conversation when she called to tell me I got the job. She was very disappointed and upset that we had gone through this process only to find out that their offer was too low for me. It was less than I’m even making as a temp right now. I thought that they probably realized all along that someone with my background and experience would require a bit more than that. I know the market rate somebody like me goes for in this area. They offered me entry level salary. But all along, they thought I knew the salary. I felt like such an idiot.
The amount I wanted isn’t unrealistic. In fact, it’s even lower than I made before I was laid off. The problem with XYZ Inc.’s offer was that after the extra gas it would take to get there (I currently work closer to home) and the amount I would have to pay out of pocket for insurance (it was quite a hefty amount compared to most companies because they’re so small) it just wasn’t worth it to take such a low paying job. I would be better off continuing to work as a temp than to take that job. A lot of my friends asked me afterward “didn’t you like the company?” implying that I should’ve taken the job anyway. The answer is yes, I loved the company. But seriously, that offer was just too low especially considering gas prices and insurance. I didn’t love the company enough to be broke.
- Suzy
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