What it says on the tin, really. I am getting extremely tired of massive corporations with billions or even, in this case, trillions in assets expecting valuable team members to live on a fine line.
I am a senior copywriter and digital marketing executive, and applied for a senior copywriting position for this company.
I set my salary expectations for 60k (I live in a country in Europe where this really isn't bad in comparison, also I'm 25 and get laughed whenever requesting more despite my skills and experience – it's also more than I'm making now, and I'd be able to live pretty comfortably with it, ignoring the fact I know my role should earn me more).
They said this was fine, and wanted to progress to a screening interview with their internal recruiter. Cool, sounds good.
Screening interview went well, not too insightful – just giving me an overview of the company, their mission (if you can call it that – fintech stands in staunch opposition of my innate morals and personal heart, but rent is due once a month and the months keep coming and they don't stop coming) and my role duties.
It was mentioned that it would be a hybrid role despite me explicitly stating I preferred fully remote, but I was willing to hear it out as I live in the city anyway and would be willing to do a 20 minute commute a couple days a week for 60k.
She asked for a brief summary of my experience again, I gave her a generous rundown which was also careful to emphasise my standout skills, projects etc. She expressed that I sounded ideal for the role and she was confident I was exactly what they were looking for. Then, this is our dialogue..
“So, I just wanted to talk salary as I'm sure that's important to you” (why the fuck would it not be, sister?) “Can you tell me your expectations again?”
“60k…”
“Yes, I was afraid you'd say that. Unfortunately I don't have budget for that salary for this role, it would be around 38k. There are some benefits on top of that, however”
“Yeah, no thanks. Thanks for your time, though”
“I will give you a call if any more senior position opens up!”
A senior position….. I would have been in charge of all written content for the primary EU division of one of the biggest asset management companies, if not the biggest, on the planet. And I'm talented, and I could do it with bells on. And I was still only worth 38k to them.
tl;dr I was lowballed nearly 30k less than my expected salary by a trillion dollar company for an important / vital role.
Update: I got fidgety and gave them some feedback. Oops @ me naming names!
