I do want this job and I can't afford to let the opportunity go. And, let's face it, I was originally more than happy with much less.

I went through a variety of thoughts when I read the email chain discussing my salary. My first one was shock was that even though the salary people had recommended a range they deemed suitable, the powers-that-be had offered me (a bit) less (incidentally, the range the salary people suggested was the range they thought they should offer me, which was within 5% of the median salary; the salary range as a whole was much broader).

My next reaction was to think that perhaps it was reasonable to offer me less, because I am not fully experienced in this position. The following reaction was to think that they had actually offered me the position, so they couldn't think this was too much of a problem and they must actually think quite well of me, otherwise they wouldn't employ me. So why not give me a salary in the range that the company itself had recommended?

I toyed with the "hard play" approach of refusing the job unless they paid me X amount, but then decided this was too risky because I did want the job and didn't want to risk them telling me where to go.

I then wondered if I should leave it and just pretend I hadn't noticed, but in the psychometric tests it had already come up that I needed to gain more assertiveness, so thought that I should probably not show lack of assertiveness now.

So, in the end, I decided on the subtle approach of just replying with the email with the higher salary range in it and asking if they could negotiate for me. I am hoping that this will mean they can still politely say no, if need be, and I can still accept, with neither side losing face, while at the same time giving myself the chance of getting a higher offer.

The whole process has taken 2.5 months with all the interviews, so it has involved me taking time off work, plus quite a lot of stress with having to prepare for the interviews, hide it all from my colleagues, examine how much I want to leave where I am, etc. I don't really want to have to go through all that again! And there are many good things about the company. I would be happy to work for them. And, as Jim said, the opportunities within the company should be quite good (although in this life you can never really be sure about what the future holds). Although some things have gone wrong, generally their interviews have been a lot more professional than some I have had in the past. Fingers crossed that they reply one way or the other on Monday so that I can sign the contract and start feeling happy about it!

Off topic: Does anyone know why I don't have permission to edit my posts?

kfc.