[job] vfx company junior systems support

[Peter Corlett]

On Fri, Feb 02, 2007 at 06:14:32PM +0000, Denny wrote:
[...]
> Personally I gave up on applying for jobs that didn't specify a pay range
> years ago, because more often than not they seemed to be trying to screw
> people down below the minimum going rate if they didn't know any better.
> Even if you do know better you probably still don't want to work somewhere
> with that aggressive an attitude to salary negotiations.

Well, quite.

You will recall a certain company who we have (separately) worked for in the
past and who is not exactly held in high regard by the various Mongers who
have passed through it. It's not entirely surprising that my CV was already
doing the rounds a few weeks after I was hired.

One bite was a company where it gelled quite nicely. It was a reasonable
commute, and it involved doing cool Catalyst stuff. I was bouncy and
enthusiastic, and demonstrated I was perfect for the role, and so it was
pretty obvious that a job offer was imminent.

It was only then that we got down to business and talked money. I'd already
run the figures so I knew roughly what was parity based on hours per week
and amount of annual leave on offer so knew what I should be looking at.

They basically offered to *match* my existing salary, with no bennies,
longer hours on paper, and by the looks of it loads of unpaid overtime as
well. Suddenly the enthusiasm waned, as did theirs when I pointed out that
they'd basically just offered me a 10% pay cut. A bit of haggling later got
their offer up to a mere 3% pay cut.

What a waste of an evening for all concerned.

I wonder if they ever did manage to hire anybody...