How much salary to expect in current market.

[Digvijay Kumar]

hi,

i have lost job in recession, i was working in india but not working for last 7 months. i have 7+ years of experience in j2ee. will i get atleast a salary which i used to get in my last job?

[Deepak Bala]

It is hard to say without knowing details about your role, domain, technical skills. It is not uncommon to get a raise, even in this scenario

[Prabhat Gupta]

How much money that you can fetch from your employer ,also depends on your negotiation skills.

[Digvijay Kumar]

How can you negotiate when you are not working for 7 months. You are on back foot. I was selected in two companies. Both offered me salary lower than my last salary. I tried to negotiate and in the process I lost the opportunity.

[Digvijay Kumar]

To add more to it. When I attended my last interview, it was very clear to me that I was far better than the person interviewing me. But when it came to HR interview, they told me why am I not working for last 7 months? This is why my salary will be lower than my last salary. It is not convincing to me. Does a person forgets everything in 7 months? Then how he so good in interview? If I lost my job in recession, is it my mistake? Or you want to take advantage of my situation? If yes, then if I leave you when you need me most for better opportunity, why you say this person do job hopping? I am so much upset with these companies. And they are not small companies. They are big companies. Why do they expect to stick to them in good market? I am frustrated with situation now. Please someone guide me.

[Henry Wong]

Digvijay Kumar wrote:Please someone guide me.

I think a goal of "getting a job" is probably better than "changing the world". Okay, so you don't want to take a paycut, but it that better than not working? There is really nothing wrong with taking a paycut.

Get yourself onto stable ground first. You can argue whose fault is it, the unfairness of it, or anything else later.

Henry

[Prabhat Gupta]

Henry write
Get yourself onto stable ground first

I too agree with this. But I am not fully convinced with the idea of accepting a job with lower salary .Are we similar to some machinery which value deprecate after some time when it is not in use ? I believe a machine can't do new things as time passes but we become more and more skilled and experienced with time .
So in this context will it be justified to be satisfied with lesser even we deserve better.
I accept he is out of job for some time but it doesn't mean he has lost his shine .Even he has done better in interview why HR guys are doing all these stuffs .This is more a like of exploitation of a person because there is scarcity of jobs and he needs it urgently.

[Pushkar Choudhary]

Prabhat Gupta wrote:I am not fully convinced with the idea of accepting a job with lower salary .Are we similar to some machinery which value deprecate after some time when it is not in use ? I believe a machine can't do new things as time passes but we become more and more skilled and experienced with time .
So in this context will it be justified to be satisfied with lesser even we deserve better.
I accept he is out of job for some time but it doesn't mean he has lost his shine .Even he has done better in interview why HR guys are doing all these stuffs .This is more a like of exploitation of a person because there is scarcity of jobs and he needs it urgently.

You've got to realize a couple of things here:
1. In these times of recession, almost all the companies are looking to cut costs.
2. When a person has been out of work for so long, most of the times, it is that person who needs the job more than the company needing him. And the companies know this.

So, however correct your argument may be, you've got to decide your priorities.

Suppose you get an offer from your dream company for a job that perfectly fits your profile, but they are offering you a salary lower than your previous salary when you were working. What would you do? Would you let it go just because they asked you to take a pay cut (when you've been out of work for quite some time)?

It's everyone's own choice, but if you ask me, I would take the job any day rather than sitting at home and hoping to get a better salary.


-Pushkar

[Deepak Bala]

I can understand your anger, especially when you know that the person interviewing you was not better than you.

But you will have to take into account a couple of unfair stereotypes

1. You get paid according to your years of experience
2. A job gap does not look good in your resume. Whose ever fault it is
3. The company has the upper hand since you do not have a job now.

You cannot question why this is unfair or when it will stop. This is the situation and you must deal with it. So what can you do ?

1. Take the current job and a pay cut. You can work your way up the pay scale once you settle in. You can even quit after spending a year or two if the salary is so low, and when the market picks up your pay scale will reflect your skills.

2. You can skip this opportunity and wait for the next one. But keep in mind that you are taking a gamble here. If the gamble pays off it will be GREAT ! But if it does not it will suck to be jobless.

You can also freelance for a while if you want. Those are not your only 2 options. Think this through wisely and calmly. Do not be frustrated that the company is doing this. Yes they are taking advantage of your position. But what are you going to do to counter it. Persistence is key which ever option you take.

[Deepak Bala]

Out of curiosity is this a service based or a product based company ? We are not allowed to mention company names, so just let us know the type of company you interviewed for

[Prabhat Gupta]

Pushkar writes
It's everyone's own choice, but if you ask me, I would take the job any day rather than sitting at home and hoping to get a better salary.

I never mentioned in my previous post to sit idle with the hope that some day your dream job will knock your door.
Rather i believe to use your network and skill to hunt better opportunities .Yes you might face same result 'rejection' for once or twice more .But ultimately you will get into that position where you deserve what you are.
Again It is totally individual decision but in my case i will not prefer to be devalued .

[Pushkar Choudhary]

Prabhat Gupta wrote:

Pushkar writes
It's everyone's own choice, but if you ask me, I would take the job any day rather than sitting at home and hoping to get a better salary.

I never mentioned in my previous post to sit idle with the hope that some day your dream job will knock your door.
Rather i believe to use your network and skill to hunt better opportunities .Yes you might face same result 'rejection' for once or twice more .But ultimately you will get into that position where you deserve what you are.
Again It is totally individual decision but in my case i will not prefer to be devalued .

When I said "sitting at home", I did not mean just sit without doing anything and hope that some one will knock your door with a great opportunity. By "sitting at home" I simply meant "not working".

[Henry Wong]

Prabhat Gupta wrote:Rather i believe to use your network and skill to hunt better opportunities .Yes you might face same result 'rejection' for once or twice more.

As a side note, if you are going to reject merely on salary, be careful with offending your network. Years ago, when I was unemployed at the time, I did something similar (rejected the offer because it was not what I wanted to do). And I kinda offended a friend, who pull a lot of strings to get me the interview. In retrospect, I should have qualified it much earlier, and not accepted the interview in the first place.

Henry

[Digvijay Kumar]

Deepak Bala wrote:Out of curiosity is this a service based or a product based company ? We are not allowed to mention company names, so just let us know the type of company you interviewed for

Service company of course. No one can beat them in doing such things.

[Digvijay Kumar]

I can understand few companies are doing cost cut. But few companies are taking advantage of your situation. Anyway, if you have job even at lower salary, why give next company chance to take advantage of you.

[Digvijay Kumar]

thank you Henry,Deepak, Prabhat and Pushkar.