Hired in at substantially lower pay. Verbally promised raises, they aren't going to happen

Question

I accepted a job offer 4 months ago. The pay is substantially lower (40%) than what I had been making. I was told during the hiring process that after 90 days I would receive a significant raise, and then be eligible for raises based on merit every year. They knew what I was making before and said I could achieve that salary with 2 annual raises, providing my work was good.

About a month in, someone on our team was let go. I snoop around and find out this was due to financial troubles. My 90 days come and go and no talk about my raise from my boss. I finally ask and he says that it's not going to happen and that likely my annual raises will not happen or just be at 'cost of living' increase unless we can pick up some new clients. My boss has stressed there are no issues with my work at all.

Now, clearly I messed up because I did not get the raise in writing. I did not even receive a written offer. It was just a "come in on Monday the 18th" thing. I know this is incredibly stupid and do not want responses focusing on how stupid I am and that I needed this in writing. I realize this now.

I feel like I'm in a pretty dangerous spot here, career-wise. I had been making a salary 40% higher than where I am now for nearly a decade. Their initial promised raise would have closed that gap by half. I could live with that, especially because I planned on working myself back up to where I was before.

But instead, I'm stuck at this junior level salary. How is this going to affect my future job prospects, especially if they pull salary history? If I share this story in an interview when they ask why I am looking, will it make me look stupid and hurt my chances? Is it better to start looking now and explain my situation to prospective employers, or to stay at this low salary for another year and hope things turn around? I feel like I've reset my career-clock 10 years by this move.

Answer 1

Search for a new job. No need to mention to anyone that you took a pay cut. If asked, just say you aren't comfortable discussing your finances, and that this is about what you can do for the new company, not what you were earning for a previous one.

And don't disclose to your current employer that you are jobhunting until you have an offer in hand and are quitting.

Answer 2

IMHO, start looking for a new job.

Update your resume, perhaps omitting current position if possible.

If not possible, your "not job hopping" reason could be "hired for incoming project that didn't come through" or something similar.

In any event, your current job would not be a good place to work, given salary prospects and management integrity or the lack of in this case

Answer 3

About a month in, someone on our team was let go. I snoop around and find out this was due to financial troubles.

Promised salary increases or not, redundancies for financial reasons are always a good reason to start looking elsewhere. Clearly the company is struggling, and with this sort of sign I'd always recommend looking to jump ship before it sinks.

My 90 days come and go and no talk about my raise from my boss. I finally ask and he says that it's not going to happen...

Again, broken promises because of financial troubles. This is another indicator that this role isn't going to be financially viable long term, and another reason to look elsewhere.

How is this going to affect my future job prospects, especially if they pull salary history?

Simple - you don't tell them how much you've been making. This is standard, good practice for any job interview / negotiation, so by itself this shouldn't be any cause for alarm.

If I share this story in an interview when they ask why I am looking, will it make me look stupid and hurt my chances?

Bluntly speaking, yes. "I took a salary significantly less than what I was making before" makes you look a desperate, and increases the chances of your new company also lowballing you on offers.

The good news is you don't need to share this story. You can share broad areas without going into details - the part about other employees being let go for financial reasons for instance, and that will make sense to future employers in its own right without you needing to share the details.

Answer 4

Salary does not correlate to job function. Some companies just pay crappy salaries and that's all there is to it. My first job I was working in a company in Japan as a software developer for a major tech firm (multinational, many business areas, very successful, etc) and I was making under $40k/yr. Left Japan, came back to Canada, first job made $60k/yr at a small consulting company with < 100 employees. Some companies just pay crappy. You will be hired to a new job based on your skills, not based on your salary.

Answer 5

I feel like I've reset my career-clock 10 years by this move.

You have done no such thing.
(unless your contractual title reflects your junior salary)

You have just let them sweet talk you into a lower wage and realize now that they can't or won't fulfill their end of the (verbal) contract.

LEAVE NOW

Never, EVER volunteer yor previous salary in interviews or negotiations unless using it as YOUR leverage.

if they pull salary history?

Depending on country this most likely is not possible or legally not allowed.

Even if they know your previous salary in general, it only reflects your negotiations for another job at another company, when you had less professional experience and different financial circumstances.

Only ever talk about what your current salary expectation is.

In your case, once they know your salary and try to push you down as well, remain adamant that that was a one time special negotiation because X and Y reason (fill in why you agreed - unless it is as you say "stupid")

In general, if interviewers inquire why you seek new employment you may tell the truth, that your employer didn't fulfill an agreement (and leave it at that, no more info) or evade by saying something generic.

Should they be persistent or instead of the previous you may tell them they promised annual raises that never happened.(don't mention your low salary, it's just none of their business)

Answer 6

First things first, never volunteer or tell someone else your old salary. If they insist, find a away around it. Going forward, you are worth what they value that need. Simple as that.

I don't know your FULL context. To keep in mind here, there are reasons you might be tempted to keep your current job. Most people will tell you to leave, I would say: What is your context?

Some reasons for staying:

• Experience you haven't acquired yet. Starting in a low paying position that provides a lot of varied, diverse and interesting technical experience might be worth taking the hit temporarily. Sure, you get paid less now, however the experience might be extremely valuable. Keep in that in mind.
• If the market doesn't have many opportunities for what you prefer to do, then it might be worth staying there to accumulate the experience for the thing that you are doing.
• Great learning environment. Some companies are very rigid, some are very flexible. If you can't get the salary you want can you get the opportunities you need to expand your skills? It's often a worthwhile thing to pursue. Some firms provide a LOT of flexibility for people to experience different things. Might be worth it.

From the looks of it you may need to find a new position, but sometimes it's worth considering what the current trade-off is. My self for example. I was offered a job that paid a LOT more for COBOL. (roughly 25% more) I had gotten training on COBOL but I was also a .NET / C# coder. I'm actually quite competent at that tech stack. I turned down the COBOL job for something that paid a LOT less. But the environment of the C# shop was amazing. Lot's of interesting projects, learning was encouraged, I was often given my pick of the tasks I could do. So I ended up working on a lot of varying things. Which lead to a promotion. Now I make a lot more than that initial COBOL offer. The point here, is sometimes you take less to experience more. I don't know if that's the circumstance, but in general: Work is about you, not money. Money follows ability. The jobs you want are the jobs that let you fulfill your potential. The money will follow. What is important if you find institutions and organizations that let you grow as a professional. Their job is to make money, yours is to increase your worth and the only way you become worth more, is through experience. Which means, sometimes you take less, to get more later.

EDIT: The added bonus of also being in the C# shop was that it was a coding paradigm that is vary popular. So, jumping to other languages will likely be trivial. Where as COBOL, sure it's niche, but the opportunities will be thin, because the demand in my local market mostly surrounds a single company for COBOL. Where the OOP Paradigm and experience provides a lot of flexibility in terms of opportunity.