Job move, disclosing salary and also being ill

[almoststew1990]

I am looking to move jobs after a promised promotion did not turn up and not receiving any meaningful payrises since I started at this company 3 years ago. I work in the planning and engineering industry in a relatively large company (900 people across many UK offices).

My boss has been recommending me for a promotion all year and has been very transparent with the process from his end - completing a recommendation style form with input from myself, completing the FY2025 budget for my (and other peoples) increase salary which he and I talked about at length to make sure I got a salary I wanted, getting this 2025 budget with my promotion signed off from the head finance teametc - only for a blanket decision at the very top of the company of no promotions or payrises to be permitted within this particular profit and loss unit (of about 40 people across the region). To cap it all, my boss got a surprise 2% payrise this year and I got nothing lol. My boss is livid given the work he put into this and he knows I will now be looking for a job. Our office is 90% Department A and then there are 5 of us in Department B doing different work so losing me, the upper-mid level person sitting between the team lead (my boss, who is meant to be out all day winnin work) and the junior colleagues will be painful for the department b team in Southampton.

The role I would be advertising myself as offering would be a 'Technical Associate' who is responsible for the day to day management of some junior staff, the overall delivery of projects and client satisfaction with the ultimate aim of my boss being out winning work and I make sure the client is happy through client managmeent and delivery of projects to get repeat business from those clients. This is the planning industry and an 'Associate' is typically bringing in work from new clients and doing business development work alongside some technical delivery, whereas my role would be focussed on client , staff and project delivery, as well as some technical delivery myself.

As such I am looking to move job and I am after some advice:

As I haven't had any meaninful payrises in 3 years I am quite behind on my pay compared to what my pay should be when taking into account inflation, even without any performance based pay rises. I managed to skip the post covid hiring boom and I have minimal inflationary pay increases and no performance based pay increases despite my bosses recommendations this year (and probably last year) that lots of people did get to see. As such I would not want to disclose my salary in an interview to then get lowballed. From looking at job adverts outside London I know the salary expectations of my (promoted) role. As an interviewer does this annoy you for me to not tell you? Would me offering the salary I am after instead of my current salary help get those discussions moving and make sure the role and expecvtions are right for both parties?

In September 2023 I had quite significant Pulmonary Embolisms and it is looking like I have Antiphospholipid syndrome Syndrome. This means that (without medication) my blood loves to clot to try to kill me but on a day to day basis I get tired a fair bit easier and sometimes have bad breathing days where it's like trying to work when your getting quite ill (plus a bunch of non office work related symptoms). I would't be able to travel far for client meetings (maybe 90 minutes each way) due to fatigue but I'm sure at least 75% of meetings are in this distance. For instance I went to London for a client presentation and it made me very tired for about a week before my body recovered. I would have a need for working from home 3 days a week or ideally 4 days a week from a fatigue perspective which I appreciate doesn't really align with the managing junior colleagues thing. I will need to have weekly (perhaps bi weekly if my blood behaves) blood test for blood thickness at the docs. If I get another clotting event I could be out of action for a month but the idea is I don't have a clotting event again, but perhaps more realistically it could be every decade. How much of this should I disclose? I am tempted to tick the "do you consider yourself to have a disability" box on forms, cynically does that get people interest from an DEI perspective or in this day and age does it still hold you back? The other thing is I am still recovering from my blood clots and this can take 18 months or so, so I am still getting better - I don't know where my new ceiling is but I just dont want a potential employer thinking I am going to be racing around the country meeting clients.

 

[Quartz]

Lifestyle-wise, have you considered local government or the defence sectors? And you seem to be positioning yourself more as a manager, so step up and go for management positions.

Good luck.

 

[HangTime]

Just tell them what salary you deserve for the new role not what you are currently paid. If forced just say it's a package worth £x where you've included all your benefits.

The disability box I would just do it based on the reality of the situation, if you do feel severely impacted then I would tick it. This means you should be better placed for flexible working arrangements rather than not ticking the box and then all of a sudden after being offered the job you bring it up and say "yeah I need 4 days a week at home for health reasons innit".

Keep in mind that "associate" is typically viewed as a junior role in some orgs unless it prefixes a senior title (e.g. "associate director") so maybe think about how you badge yourself when applying for roles outside your normal sector.

 

[dowie]

As I haven't had any meaninful payrises in 3 years I am quite behind on my pay compared to what my pay should be when taking into account inflation, even without any performance based pay rises. [...] As an interviewer does this annoy you for me to not tell you? Would me offering the salary I am after instead of my current salary help get those discussions moving and make sure the role and expecvtions are right for both parties?

Quite common that if you've not been promoted in that sort of time frame then you're going to be behind a bit in terms of pay and a move is needed to reset things. What you may well find, given your manager has pushed for a raise for you, is that you end up with a counteroffer when you hand in your notice. Once someone hands in their notice then often people higher up suddenly need to offer that manager budget for a new role and it becomes quite apparent it's worth trying to counteroffer - especially if you're already underpaid.

Re: disclosing salary - it may be asked in an interview but usually, this sort of thing is handled by a recruiter (whether agency or internal) often before the interview process. In an interview, you may have a possible future colleague or a team lead etc. present and they won't necessarily be privy to salary details.

There's so many different takes on this matter - see various HR/recruiter YouTube videos, LinkedIn posts etc. some jobs do post salary ranges in advance, you can often declare a target range as an answer to the question - lots of the time the recruiter is just trying to make sure it's in line with what they've been told is available for the role. Sometimes you may get away with not giving up that either and just fobbing them off with a generic answer about being willing to entertain fair offers and some comment about the role itself being more important to you etc.. It's all just a big game really - ultimately naming a figure puts you at a disadvantage in any future salary negotiation but often the recruiter/potential employer is in the position of power and if you don't even give a desired range or the convo becomes awkward the recruiter might not take you forwards... which you might be fine with if you have lots of potential opportunities or might not be. You can always push for more, like if it becomes apparent you may have lowballed yourself then the offer is still negotiable when it's made - the recruiter may have pushed you to name a figure or a range early on but you can usually find a reason to ask for more regardless.

I would't be able to travel far for client meetings (maybe 90 minutes each way) due to fatigue but I'm sure at least 75% of meetings are in this distance. [...] I would have a need for working from home 3 days a week or ideally 4 days a week from a fatigue perspective which I appreciate doesn't really align with the managing junior colleagues thing. [...] How much of this should I disclose? I am tempted to tick the "do you consider yourself to have a disability" box on forms, cynically does that get people interest from an DEI perspective or in this day and age does it still hold you back?

Disclose what you need to - you don't have to offer up everything. Ticking the disability box shouldn't impact the hiring process (aside from perhaps needing special accommodations etc..) and likely shouldn't even be info disclosed to the hiring manager, more something for HR to record.

Lots of places will tell you upfront that they offer hybrid working etc.. and if they require you to travel to clients so that's where you might flag stuff up, maybe they can accommodate or maybe the role isn't suitable for you.

 

[Jack_green]

One thing I noticed, don't go all the way for companies. My x partner was told by the manager promotion papers were forwarded, and manager kept telling her it was denied by HR. I told her move departments.
She found no promotion paperwork was put forward under that manager.

Look for a job that pays you want you want, you need to understand you are the asset.

Once you find the job jump ship, why work for a company for less than what you are worth.