I was a former employee of GrantStream Inc. (Oakville, ON), the company that was recently acquired by Benevity. Not going into too much detail, I left because of circumstances beyond my control. Months later, I reached out to a manager of now Benevity, and he and his superior were more than happy to have me back, but asked me - for formality sake - to "chat" with a member of their People team located in Calgary, AB. The salary had already been orally agreed upon by myself, the OM and VP. So naturally, I prepared myself for just a chat.
The first step was a ten minute informal chat with a member of the People team. She wanted to get to know the person the OM was speaking highly about! I thought, "Wow, what a sincere person." There's a very popular negative stigma about mergers; the big fish will always eventually clean house and show no regard to the little fish that was just bought out. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt though. After all, a lot of my previous colleagues seemed positive that good change was coming. They scheduled an in-person interview with myself, a manager and she called in. Much to my surprise, a colleague of mine who was recently promoted was present at the interview. I had no opinion of his presence, but I'm no stranger to bias - and gender-bias for that matter - so I was cautious of my answers, even though it was just a chat. This lasted about 45 minutes, and after ending the call, I felt confident that I was going to get a call-back within 24 hours! My previous colleague even caught me by surprise with an aptitude test he created (full of spelling mistakes and the questions were unclear), but that didn't sway me! I mean, I knew the place, the system, the training and even the policies like the back of my hand! I can do mine and three other people's work at the same time! The clients I had at the time loved me! It almost seems like a no-brainer?
That evening, I got an email from the People team, thanking me for my time and how it was nice "chatting". I would get emails with smileys and exclamation marks that I thought I had read and understood the enthusiasm of me coming on board. This email however ended with a surprising question: "In terms of compensation, would you be comfortable with the salary you had when you left, or are you in a different place?" This shocked and surprised me because I had already discussed this with the direct managers, and I just assumed they would have discussed this with the HR team PRIOR to the chat. Given my discomfort and not knowing how to respond, because such questions are better asked in person not email, I texted one of the managers and asked him what I should say, and he told me to reply that we had discussed it and that $X was what I had requested. So I emailed just that. She also mentioned in the email that she would get back to me by week's end the latest. I feel like this question was the question that influenced her to turn me down.
Note that I reviewed the average salary for Implementation Managers in Canada, and I believe my request was reasonable. When I left GrantStream, I was getting paid a below average (especially considering I'm bilingual) Client Coordinator salary that would barely cover living expenses on my own. And so I felt with all my credentials and experience I deserved a little better and they initially seemed to have agreed otherwise I would have never wasted my time and their time like this. I also have two degrees and almost 10 years of customer service and communication experience! In any case, a couple of days went by and I heard from no one. Finally, a member from the People team got back to me and told me that while they appreciated my wish to come back, they was going a different direction with the position.
I understood. The new bosses don't know who I am and it's within their right to say no. What was disappointing was that when I texted one of the managers to wish him well and mention my disappointment but understood, he simply replied with a "Thanks, keep in touch!" They had led me on, had me travel over an hour for the interview, had made empty promises, and this is all I got. They even almost had me give my RESIGNATION letter to my current employer before officially offering the job because they told me they wanted me to be available to start immediately! That could have been detrimental to my life. The last email stated at the end that if I had any questions, to feel free to email. So I asked for feedback on my performance, but we all know no one is going to reply, and if they do, they will perhaps come up with some reason other than money as to why I was not accepted. They just wanted to chat they said. Had I known that the People team and other new bosses weren't made aware of my salary agreement, and if they had simply said it was an interview and not just an opportunity to chat, I would have perhaps been more prepared and reacted more differently to that awkward salary question.
