I'm looking at non-academic jobs at the mo, as there is nothing on the academic front and I'm starting to doubt whether I'm really intelligent enough to be an academic, after just being at a conference where I just found everything really dull.

I'm getting SO annoyed with adverts saying 'salary: competitive' - realistically I need a certain salary (particularly if the job is in london) to be able to afford to take the job, otherwise I'll look for something more simple locally, so this 'competitive' thing really winds me up - competitive compared to what!? is it £15k a year or £50k?????

confused.

I agree, it's really annoying - it's not as if it's some great secret as if you contact the recruiting agency or employer they'll tell you expected salary anyway!

The thing is, its actually making me think twice about applying for jobs, because I'm thinking, "will this be worth my while? will it be a day putting together an application, for a job that only pays £1.20 per annum??" or "is this job aimed at somoene who should be getting £50k?"

A lot of the time they put competitive so they don't have to pay you more than they need to - eg if you are already earning £40k then you probably wouldn't take the job for £38k; if on the other hand you are on £30 they don't need to offer you £38K but could probably get you for £35k.

They may well therefore not tell you the salary.

======= Date Modified 24 Sep 2010 21:27:06 =======
I agree - it's so difficult to understand what they mean. Presumably they mean competitive compared to industry standard. Well, at least that's what they hope to communicate. In reality it means they'd prefer not to say... so what does that communicate? I've inquired about jobs claiming to offer a competitive salary before, and it's been as little as 13k. The only way forward is to ring them and ask them straight. (Anonymously though- going straight for the cash is not likely to impress prospective employers - unless you can be bothered asking a whole bunch of other questions first, before you even know if it's worthwhile.)