Title Negotiation
I applied for a job I am overqualified for but in an area I really want to be in but have had a very hard time getting employed in. In fact, there are probably only 2 positions in the city I live in in this area that I would want. I told them I would take a pay cut from my current job, which is in a related field, but where I am not doing exactly what I want to do. I figured they would only call me if they were interested in someone who could move forward in the position. They called me within 5 hours of receiving my application and said the salary was x but they could get me a bit more, and that it did have potential to move up, but only within 2 years. Question: Since this is a nonprofit job, I sincerely doubt that I can get more money, and I know they want someone to perform the tasks of the lower job. I don't really mind either of those issues, but I would like to go in with a higher title. Should I risk asking for that in my interview? In other words, telling them I'll do the lower job for lower pay, but could they start right away giving me the higher title? Any advice would be appreciated.
Since it sounds like they don't have a position that requires the level of skill you have or, for that matter, the money to pay you for skills the job apparently doesn't require, I don't see why you can't politely ask about an adjustment in the title of the job. Changing the title, after all, doesn't cost more, so I don't think it would hurt to ask - unless you're expecting some sort of grandiose title like "Supreme Exalted Director of Wibble-Wobbling," or something like that... Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert
If you will be doing what you want, with the potential to advance to where you want in a couple of years, in an environment you want, in one of only two places in your area in which you want to work, I think you are too hung up on title. Most non-profits have a culture in which title is not something people are all that concerned with. IMHO, if you ask to go in at a higher title to "compensate" for the lower salary--which you told them you will willingly accept--I think you will sound like an elitist. Just my opinion, but I've worked for 2 non-profits, and the only concern anyone has with title, at least in my experience, is to have something to stick in the right block on the flowchart....
If you were a volunteer for them, you could have any title you want. In my lo long lengthy experience with non-profits, they offer up a new title every time a volunteer threatens to quit! As a staff member who is trying to sell them that you're not going to up and leave in a week when you get bored with the lower job and lower pay, it might be smarter to get yourself IN the job first, wait 6 months and then pursue the title issue if you still care to. Tess | |
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