A position opened up at my work that would be a promotion, so I applied for it. The manager I would be reporting to called at least three people about me and they all told him I was his guy for that position. Manager fast tracks the interview and I nail it as I have 10+ years of experience in the field. As I expected, the promotion is essentially me being by myself and responsible for an entire building, which isn’t out of the norm for me, but I could also see the potential job creep from a mile away – and the manager flat out told me after my interview when we toured the facility.
I found out that immediately following my interview, the hiring manager filed the HR paperwork to get me in ASAP.
A week goes by and I receive a call from HR offering me the position and the salary. Apparently, my employers standard promotion salary is 8.5% – not horrible, but not what I feel the position warrants. I say this to the HR rep and they ask if I would like to counter the offer. I counter with an admittedly high number, but we’ll within the companies published range for the position. As a matter of fact, the wage I countered with is the max wage of my current position.
I get a call back a day later and am told that they feel their initial offer is fair and that if I wanted to take some time to think about it, I could get back to them today.
I call the rep this morning and leave a voicemail saying that I can’t take the position at that rate as it is not reflective of my experience and the extra responsibilities of the job, but I am open to recounter if possible.
I get an automated email around lunch time that my application has been withdrawn and I see the position posted again – no call, contact or anything from rep before any of this.
My feelings ebb and flow in thinking like I was maybe too greedy, but I am sick of being paid so low for such a physically demanding job I thrive in. It’s time my salary reflects that.
Good riddance. May be time to look outside the company.