Too little, too late
I was a fresh computer science graduate looking for my first job out of university, and I decided to apply for this job for a small company. In the next few days I got a phone call asking me to come in.
When I pulled into the small car park next, I pulled up next to a gold plated BMW i8. Clearly, the company is not doing badly.
I go through the normal interview stuff for about 15 minutes, then get asked the dreaded question, “What is your salary expectation?” I fumble around trying to not give exact figures. The CEO hates this and very bluntly tells me to name a figure.
I say £35k. He laughed.
I’m a little confused as this is the number listed on the advert. He proceeded to give a lecture on how much recruitment agencies inflate the price and warp graduates’ brains to expect higher salaries, and that I clearly didn’t know my worth and I would be lucky to get a job with that salary.
So I asked how much he would be willing to pay me. After insulting my github portfolio saying I should only have working software on there, he said £20k. At this point I got up, shook his hand, thanked him for the time and ended the interview.
I still got a formal offer in the form of a text message, minutes after leaving. I replied that, unfortunately, I already had an offer for over double the salary offered, so I will not be considering them any further.
It felt good.
/notABadGuy3