Just to get it out of the way, my husband and I are both retired. I’m working a temp job for a few months to save some extra cash for a cruise next year. My husband wants to buy a small RV, so he’s looking for a job, too. We don’t *have *to work - but we would like to supplement our pension from time to time, so this may come up again.
My temp gig pays less than half of what I was making before I retired, but my career was as an engineer, and now I’m working as a drafter. During the interview, I was told “The job pays <this> - is that OK?” No negotiating - it was a temporary contracting position, and frankly, for what I do, it’s pretty darn good money. I’ve seen other drafting jobs for less than half of what my temp gig is paying - chances are I wouldn’t be interested - especially in the ones that are a longer commute… But that’s neither here nor there.
My husband recently applied for a job that could have been tailor-made for him - you could match the job requirements against his resume line-for-line. Naturally, he was a bit disappointed when he didn’t hear back, but he has a former business associate at the company, so he asked and was told he was too old. He’s taking it as “Go away, old man! You’re past your prime and you have nothing to offer us.” I tend to think it’s more along the lines of “Crap, this guy has loads of experience - he’s going to cost us a fortune and the job’s not worth that much to us.” I suppose it could be a combination of both.
I guess what I’d like to know from those of you who do hiring - will you pass on an applicant if you suspect you couldn’t afford what you think they’d want to be paid? Would it make a difference if it was a permanent job as opposed to something part time or temp? Do you try to find out what an applicant wants to be paid before you decide whether to grant an interview or not? Is there an unofficial age line that never gets crossed? I know age discrimination is illegal, but we know how the game is played…