Why do they ask you for 'salary expectations'?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

isaac hunt:
Play them at their own game by putting ‘competitive’ or ‘inline with blue chip industry leaders’
Or some other nonsense these types speak.

nobodysdriving:
(my current is 46K basic btw for 37.5 hours weekly…

What line of work are you in currently ? Each to their own but on the wrong side of 40
and earning that sort of cash, I would be looking for less hours not more.

thank you, I am a senior Midwife in the NHS, I work both clinically and in the office.

I know most people would wonder why I want to get back behind the wheel but having done both I know ‘I’ much prefer being a tramper/driver.
The hours don’t really bother me, I am used to working all the time, even now I work 6 days a week :slight_smile:

22

Just put ‘whatever you are willing to pay’ and if you don’t get an interview you’ve lost nothing. If they ask you to interview and they offer below YOUR expectations you can walk away knowing that you not taken a crap position.
Why play their stupid games? If they can’t put what the salary range and benefits they pay in their advert I’d not be wanting to work for them.

23

With your qualifications and the good that your job entails i would urge you not to go down this road, instead to diversify within your present field if you can find a way to do so.

A lot has changed since you drove lorries previously and precious little of it for the better, the roads are clogged because there’s too many people crowded onto this small island being serviced, though you hardly need reminding of that given your present work.
I doubt you will enjoy going back, people seldom do, the good jobs are vanishing fast and those of us with an ounce of common realise what we have and how it must be cherished in order for it to last, the alternatives out there are crass, the chances of you landing such a plum job are slim, not because you can’t do it or anything silly like that it’s just you’re finger won’t have been on this particular gut feeling pulse for a long time.
You’ll have seen management incompetence in your present job of biblical proportions, well don’t for one moment imagine the transport industry has escaped that trend, talk about lunatics running the asylum.

Quite honestly your salary/pension package most people here would give their eye teeth for, including me, think long and hard before leaving…unless of course you’re financially secure with enough years to qualify for pension and are considering going back into lorries for a paying hobby or other reasons…maybe a leave of absence, an extended holiday, 6 months career break or something so you can get back behind the wheel and find out if it’s the right thing before committing.

Sorry for waffling on, it’s just i’ve seen two colleagues whom i’ve known and respected for years return to car transporters, one after a year break following redundancy when the company going downhill fast following new (stupid and poor) management had to suddenly re-employ quickly…this chap (i was still there then) stood in the yard with me after about 2 weeks almost in tears muttering WTF am i doing here, he went.
The other chap, my mate whom i’ve worked beside on various jobs with and been good friends with for 30 years, had an industrial accident (same company), after 12 months he returned to work, i’d left by then the job having taken it’s toll on me, he phoned me whilst he was on re-training and it felt like whats it must be like receiving a call from a condemned prisoner, he reached a lifelong low point and he said exactly the same as the other, WTF am i doing here.
He jacked it same day, now works beside me again and is a new man.

The point of this waffle is that going back may not deliver quite what you think it will, so try to keep the door open at your present valuable work…the point is any idiot can drive a lorry, but few can do your work.

24

Juddian:
With your qualifications and the good that your job entails i would urge you not to go down this road, instead to diversify within your present field if you can find a way to do so.

A lot has changed since you drove lorries previously and precious little of it for the better, the roads are clogged because there’s too many people crowded onto this small island being serviced, though you hardly need reminding of that given your present work.
I doubt you will enjoy going back, people seldom do, the good jobs are vanishing fast and those of us with an ounce of common realise what we have and how it must be cherished in order for it to last, the alternatives out there are crass, the chances of you landing such a plum job are slim, not because you can’t do it or anything silly like that it’s just you’re finger won’t have been on this particular gut feeling pulse for a long time.
You’ll have seen management incompetence in your present job of biblical proportions, well don’t for one moment imagine the transport industry has escaped that trend, talk about lunatics running the asylum.

Quite honestly your salary/pension package most people here would give their eye teeth for, including me, think long and hard before leaving…unless of course you’re financially secure with enough years to qualify for pension and are considering going back into lorries for a paying hobby or other reasons…maybe a leave of absence, an extended holiday, 6 months career break or something so you can get back behind the wheel and find out if it’s the right thing before committing.

Sorry for waffling on, it’s just i’ve seen two colleagues whom i’ve known and respected for years return to car transporters, one after a year break following redundancy when the company going downhill fast following new (stupid and poor) management had to suddenly re-employ quickly…this chap (i was still there then) stood in the yard with me after about 2 weeks almost in tears muttering WTF am i doing here, he went.
The other chap, my mate whom i’ve worked beside on various jobs with and been good friends with for 30 years, had an industrial accident (same company), after 12 months he returned to work, i’d left by then the job having taken it’s toll on me, he phoned me whilst he was on re-training and it felt like whats it must be like receiving a call from a condemned prisoner, he reached a lifelong low point and he said exactly the same as the other, WTF am i doing here.
He jacked it same day, now works beside me again and is a new man.

The point of this waffle is that going back may not deliver quite what you think it will, so try to keep the door open at your present valuable work…the point is any idiot can drive a lorry, but few can do your work.

Well said that man. I can only totally support Juddians comments, obviously I have no idea of your personal circumstances, money, stress, personal but I honestly cannot see any aspect of modern day lorry driving improving these. As Juddian says your current occupation is of immense value and it would be a terrible shame to effectively dumb down into an even worse situation.
We have friends whose wife was a midwife and I know that the sector is constantly coming under pressure but she and a colleague left the NHS after many years and went into business as a private care provider, but maintaining her integrity in wanting to provide quality care and support not the 15 minute slots that social services specialise in where no actual meaningful care or support is given. They have gone from strength to strength and feel that they are really providing a worthwhile service the main reason they joined the NHS.
The final decision is yours to make but as Juddian says lorry driving ain’t much fun any more especially with some of unscrupulous firms operating out there at the moment.

25

Just wait a little bit and eagerbeaver will come along and tell you to ditch the £46k for 37.5 hours for this great job of driving a lorry. He likes to mention listening to music and sitting on air suspension. His advice is truly worth listening to as he is an ex-squaddie. :sunglasses:

26

alder:
Just wait a little bit and eagerbeaver will come along and tell you to ditch the £46k for 37.5 hours for this great job of driving a lorry. He likes to mention listening to music and sitting on air suspension. His advice is truly worth listening to as he is an ex-squaddie. :sunglasses:

Ok Alder, let’s see if he shows up then :smiley:

27

Oh you can count on it, he is soooooo enthusiastic about newbies following his 5 minute profession :smiley: Right I realy must go I have another interview and assessment. :wink:

28

amamdada:
We have friends whose wife was a midwife and I know that the sector is constantly coming under pressure but she and a colleague left the NHS after many years and went into business as a private care provider, but maintaining her integrity in wanting to provide quality care and support not the 15 minute slots that social services specialise in where no actual meaningful care or support is given. They have gone from strength to strength and feel that they are really providing a worthwhile service the main reason they joined the NHS.
The final decision is yours to make but as Juddian says lorry driving ain’t much fun any more especially with some of unscrupulous firms operating out there at the moment.

I know amamdada

I know a few midwives in the private sector

to be honest I have done my time serving other people, I have been a midwife for 13 years and although I am very good at my job (am valued by customers and managers alike and get plenty of positive feedback etc) I am tired of it, I don’t think it is what I was meant to do in my life.

In fact I was a truck driver, goig into midwifery was something I tried as I found myself as a single mother and I wanted a job with a salary ok enough to provide a comfortable life for me and my son whilst feeling rewarding.

fast forward 16 years (3 of training 13 of practicing) I really do not think this is for me, in this job I give too much and get nothing back, you would say so it is truck driving, but in truck driving I don’t have the responsibilty on my shoulders if someone will live or die, become mentally retarded/disabled because of an oversight, I don’t have to give people advice on how to have a healthy baby or on symptoms they have. I also most importantly would not have to put up face all of the time, I could be who I am.

Ok ok in all jobs we have responsibilities and we have to deal with others, in truck driving you have to face your customers, also have to battle against illegal immigrants at calais, if you cause an accident you can easily kill people, etc, but on comparison for me it will be a lot less weight on my shoulders, I can be on my own in my cab, wake up and only have myself to report to, drive to destination, deal with customer and have paperwork signed, maybe get stopped by Vosa later in day but then pull up somewhere and have ‘me’ time before I nod off in my cab. I miss my cab and the road.

I have a couple of plans for my future but they may not work out.

If plan A works out I will still be in NHS full time for a little while (I will find out by end of september), if not plan B will be to quit my job, take on a full time truck drivers job but then I can still top up my driver’s salary with the ad-hoc agency shift in midwifery. I can still pay my NHS pension contributions with my ad-hoc midwifery shifts too so I will still have a pension.

29

alder:
Oh you can count on it, he is soooooo enthusiastic about newbies following his 5 minute profession :smiley: Right I realy must go I have another interview and assessment. :wink:

good luck :slight_smile:

30

Im sure you have good reasons for a career switch but I would urge you to give this more serious thought. However if your minds made up I would put something like 30 - 35k or try:
“If you have to ask you can’t afford me”… :wink:

31

Dipper_Dave:
Im sure you have good reasons for a career switch but I would urge you to give this more serious thought. However if your minds made up I would put something like 30 - 35k or try:
“If you have to ask you can’t afford me”… :wink:

thank you for your suggestion

btw I have not woken up this morning and thought about ditching my NHS career…I have been unhappy with my move to the NHS in many years and I used to be a full time tramper so I can compare between the 2 and I know I am not happy in what I am doing now, was happier before :slight_smile:

32

nobodysdriving:

Dipper_Dave:
Im sure you have good reasons for a career switch but I would urge you to give this more serious thought. However if your minds made up I would put something like 30 - 35k or try:
“If you have to ask you can’t afford me”… :wink:

thank you for your suggestion

btw I have not woken up this morning and thought about ditching my NHS career…I have been unhappy with my move to the NHS in many years and I used to be a full time tramper so I can compare between the 2 and I know I am not happy in what I am doing now, was happier before :slight_smile:

Like you I gave up a “respectable career” to drive lorries. If I had read this forum beforehand I wouldn’t have bothered! What a lot of people on here don’t seem to realise is that people in other careers are as fed up with their lot as lorry drivers are!! Whilst I dare say this job isn’t what it used to be, as a newbie, I’ve found trucking to be very enjoyable. At the end of the day, should I get fed up of it, I can always return to my previous career. Hopefully with fresh enthusiasm.

33

nobodysdriving:

amamdada:
We have friends whose wife was a midwife and I know that the sector is constantly coming under pressure but she and a colleague left the NHS after many years and went into business as a private care provider, but maintaining her integrity in wanting to provide quality care and support not the 15 minute slots that social services specialise in where no actual meaningful care or support is given. They have gone from strength to strength and feel that they are really providing a worthwhile service the main reason they joined the NHS.
The final decision is yours to make but as Juddian says lorry driving ain’t much fun any more especially with some of unscrupulous firms operating out there at the moment.

I know amamdada

I know a few midwives in the private sector

to be honest I have done my time serving other people, I have been a midwife for 13 years and although I am very good at my job (am valued by customers and managers alike and get plenty of positive feedback etc) I am tired of it, I don’t think it is what I was meant to do in my life.

In fact I was a truck driver, goig into midwifery was something I tried as I found myself as a single mother and I wanted a job with a salary ok enough to provide a comfortable life for me and my son whilst feeling rewarding.

fast forward 16 years (3 of training 13 of practicing) I really do not think this is for me, in this job I give too much and get nothing back, you would say so it is truck driving, but in truck driving I don’t have the responsibilty on my shoulders if someone will live or die, become mentally retarded/disabled because of an oversight, I don’t have to give people advice on how to have a healthy baby or on symptoms they have. I also most importantly would not have to put up face all of the time, I could be who I am.

Ok ok in all jobs we have responsibilities and we have to deal with others, in truck driving you have to face your customers, also have to battle against illegal immigrants at calais, if you cause an accident you can easily kill people, etc, but on comparison for me it will be a lot less weight on my shoulders, I can be on my own in my cab, wake up and only have myself to report to, drive to destination, deal with customer and have paperwork signed, maybe get stopped by Vosa later in day but then pull up somewhere and have ‘me’ time before I nod off in my cab. I miss my cab and the road.

I have a couple of plans for my future but they may not work out.

If plan A works out I will still be in NHS full time for a little while (I will find out by end of september), if not plan B will be to quit my job, take on a full time truck drivers job but then I can still top up my driver’s salary with the ad-hoc agency shift in midwifery. I can still pay my NHS pension contributions with my ad-hoc midwifery shifts too so I will still have a pension.

And at the end of the day it is exactly that,what is best for you and yours, I had no doubts that you had given it some serious thought and I hope whatever you decide works out as you have planned and wish you the very best for the future wherever that may be.

34

Captain Caveman 76:
Like you I gave up a “respectable career” to drive lorries. If I had read this forum beforehand I wouldn’t have bothered! What a lot of people on here don’t seem to realise is that people in other careers are as fed up with their lot as lorry drivers are!! Whilst I dare say this job isn’t what it used to be, as a newbie, I’ve found trucking to be very enjoyable. At the end of the day, should I get fed up of it, I can always return to my previous career. Hopefully with fresh enthusiasm.

yes at least we are ‘lucky’ to have that option, I too can always go back to midwifery, they will always be short of midwives…

I always enjoyed my time behind the wheel, of course I know there is never an easy life (well not for us who ‘have to’ work :smiley: )

35

The moment I get asked “Salary Expectations” at interview, I ask “Why couldn’t the package have been more transparent at the outset?” - before resigning myself to the truth that I “Didn’t get this job”…?

Is it some psychological thing where some applicant sooner or later is going to think “Well, the pay is disappointing - but I’m here now, so what the hell…” :confused:

Remember the days of old when an interviewer was 99% likely to give the job to an applicant “already working somewhere else, especially a rival company” with the “unemployed applicant” ALWAYS getting passed over?

Those days are gone, and the former situation now reversed by the looks of it.
We’ve turned down, or have had walk out on us all drivers on more than £10ph - but we’ve got one here who’s “keen to start” on £7ph - Yippee!

Then we wonder why this sort of thing has become almost a daily event…

36

alder:
Oh you can count on it, he is soooooo enthusiastic about newbies following his 5 minute profession :smiley: Right I realy must go I have another interview and assessment. :wink:

Bahahaha, good luck :unamused:

37

I would suggest you put, “I have no salary expectations, as I have been out the industry for a number of years. Make Me an offer, so I can decide as to the sustainability of your vacancy”.

If it Tramping you want don’t think lower than £30k and aim for more :wink:

As to your move away from your present valuable work, I can understand why you may want a new less challenging job. Many on here would have it that trucking is hard and stressful, BS, its only that if you let it. Midwifery is a whole stratosphere higher in degrees of stress :open_mouth: :open_mouth: .
My Wife used to be good friends with a Midwife, though they have drifted apart in recent years, but I’ve seen this women absolutely wrung out, and then having to get herself up and at it for a nightshift. spoke to her fella who would sometimes drive up to Norwich because she was to stressed to drive herself home. And then you just here the Bloody Government wanting yet more out of our overworked under recoursed NHS, the pure besieged staff are the ones who take the brunt :unamused:

And we drivers think we have problems :unamused: you will find the job has changed no end, some for better much for worse, but I don’t think you’ll be no where near as stressed as in your present work :wink:

Hope you get too make the changes in your life that suit you best, good luck :wink:

38

eddie snax:
I would suggest you put, “I have no salary expectations, as I have been out the industry for a number of years. Make Me an offer, so I can decide as to the sustainability of your vacancy”.

If it Tramping you want don’t think lower than £30k and aim for more :wink:

As to your move away from your present valuable work, I can understand why you may want a new less challenging job. Many on here would have it that trucking is hard and stressful, BS, its only that if you let it. Midwifery is a whole stratosphere higher in degrees of stress :open_mouth: :open_mouth: .
My Wife used to be good friends with a Midwife, though they have drifted apart in recent years, but I’ve seen this women absolutely wrung out, and then having to get herself up and at it for a nightshift. spoke to her fella who would sometimes drive up to Norwich because she was to stressed to drive herself home. And then you just here the Bloody Government wanting yet more out of our overworked under recoursed NHS, the pure besieged staff are the ones who take the brunt :unamused:

And we drivers think we have problems :unamused: you will find the job has changed no end, some for better much for worse, but I don’t think you’ll be no where near as stressed as in your present work :wink:

Hope you get too make the changes in your life that suit you best, good luck :wink:

thank you Eddie :slight_smile:

39

Forty six grand a year for thirty seven and a half hours work. The underpaid/overworked nhs, obviously hasn’t reached your neck of the woods.
To pack that in …you’d be nuts. Realise how well of you are before it’s too late.
And what happens with your pension?

40

D-ya not?:
Forty six grand a year for thirty seven and a half hours work. The underpaid/overworked nhs, obviously hasn’t reached your neck of the woods.
To pack that in …you’d be nuts. Realise how well of you are before it’s too late.
And what happens with your pension?

I wonder how often a 37 and half hour week(which in the public sector does not include meal breaks, if you get a chance to get a meal break)is actually done, rarely I think, Never would it be less than the contracted hours, and rarely would any of the overtime be paid for, but it is as good as mandatory to do.

There are many whinging truckers who are under the misguided belief that the general public give a ******. Truth is, when you get talking to people from other walks off life, often on seemingly better wages, that it transpires that their pay reflects the actual responsibility, and corresponding stress that goes with their job.

Truck Driving aint stressful, or is it just that I’ve done this life for so long that everything just sails over my head, because like the general public I no longer give a ***** :unamused: