For context – I’m in the UK and this is a recruitment agency, they don’t work for a specific company.
I said I wanted no less than £45K if I were to move jobs, all hunky dory saying how amazing I am this is totally fine.
‘So, what’s your salary now?’ (Perfectly legal to ask in the UK) ‘£34K, I’ve already taken a slight pay cut to work here so I’m definitely looking for something higher’.
‘Oh, well if you were saying you’d not be open to moving companies for less than £38K – I’d tell you to be realistic. If I can even get you even £2K more with the promise of a rise in 3-6 months that’s something. You should move to a job with no payrise as long as you like the role more’.
So..this woman was all prepared to go in and get me the salary I want but because I’m clearly being underpaid, I should stay underpaid? How does that work?! Honestly, I feel like a bit of a moron for not standing my ground and still sharing my CV.
The system is a joke. People of the UK, shall I just lie about my current salary going forward? (Americans, they don’t ask for payslips to check that stuff over here).