Negotiation of salary

Ok, the HR is offering me the job I recently applied for at the bottom end of their advertised range, pending receipt of appropriate references. It's part-time.

Is this where I have the opportunity to state that I had been hoping for something closer to the top end of the advertised range?  (If I accept it "as is" I'll be losing 300 pounds a month if I accept the job given I will have to lose my social security payment).   The salary range is from about 22K to 26K.

The job I'm interviewing for is 26k "pro rata", so since it's part time it will only work out to about 17k. I would definitely ask why they're offering the low end and see if it's negotiable. If it wouldn't pay enough is it worth it?

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Yes, now is when your go back to them and say “I was really hoping for x-amount. Is there any room for movement on this?” And you do it before you accept the offer. You want to get in as high as you can (without taking the piss) as it’s more likely you’ll barely move in salary once you’re in.


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It is a defined term job - 10 months.  It's enough hours to classify as "meaningful employment" to get settled status in a year assuming I can find another job for two months after that that fits the same criteria.  After that, I won't be working.  This exercise is solely to get the Daughter settled status two years earlier than she'd otherwise be able to get it, so she can get on with her career.

I will be sending my references back, and see how much wiggle they can do.

Question - is the work week here 35 hours or 40 hours?  The position is offered at 17.5 hours. I cannot find anywhere that states if that's 50% time or not. Before I go back to them and ask them that, I thought I'd check here. There is nothing in any of the paperwork I've seen that states the percentage of the appointment, only that the salary is pro-rated.

Varies from place to place.  Some are 35 hours, most 37.5 hours, or like EVERY JOB I’ve had, 40 hours.

Yes, this is the time to negotiate salary and working hours/days.

I work for a government department and our working week is 37 hours (7.5 hours on Mon-Thurs, 7 hours on Fridays).

My previous job was in retail and we were paid for 37.5 hours a week (7.5 hours/day).


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Thanks. Email has been lobbed back. From what I can tell going (snooping) through various HR memoranda on their website, their work-week is 35 hours. BUT, I've asked for specifics.  If they don't budge on the salary, I'll sadly have to turn it down. So I politely explained what I needed.

And got an email auto-response back that the person is out of the office tomorrow and nobody's checking the mailbox. The place is closed on Friday and Monday for Easter. So next Tuesday will be when they read my email. I've alerted my references to expect contact next week.

They wanted me to start on May 1. So that's like 4 working days from when HR reads my email back to them. Uh... ok. We'll see.

And today I got to turn down the job. The HR person has been out of the office and they had nobody else handling it, so they couldn't get back to me until today.

Bummer. But now am free to do other things. Perhaps something else will come along that is more suitable. Perhaps not. It's nice to be in a position where I have options.

It stinks they weren't more upfront about the salary. I'm glad you have options! I am taking a massive pay cut (over 2/3 from what I earned in the US because this is part time) but I am trying to focus on the good, and hope that this leads to more stability. And part time will help me rebuild some strength after being out of work so long, any change in routine results in a flare of my illness so best to ease into it!

Hi Margo. That sounds like a great plan for you.  I hope everything works out. You are getting your foot in the door for what will hopefully be a good long career.

I have the advantage in that I'm already retired. This job would have been at a ridiculous salary (the base pay was 1/3 of what I last earned, so the % would have been much less) but as long as it would have been close to my lost SS payment I'd have taken it just to be working. It was "iffy" if it would have counted as "meaningful employment" for my purposes - the money would have been but the hours might not have been enough. And there was no assurance I would find work immediately after the contract (9 months at this point) ended, or if they could extend it, and I absolutely would have to be working for 12 solid months to meet "settlement" needs. So it's probably best this goes to someone else.

I'm somewhat annoyed that HR took so very long to get back to me, though. What is the poor hiring manager thinking?  And how much of a lurch has this left them in? If I'd gotten an answer on salary two weeks ago, they'd have had two weeks to go down to candidate #2. Who is probably long gone now.

When I spoke to the HR person she was like "So you wish to withdraw from your previously accepted offer?" And I was like "I hadn't accepted anything - I haven't had a firm offer on salary yet." And she seemed confused. Moreover, I had told them we were going to be out of town today all day and would not be able to respond to their emails or contact them until later as I don't carry a cellphone. Our plans changed and we're in town, but she phoned.

Oh, well.