Told a salary is non negotiable. True? or room to wiggle

[graft]

I spoke with a recruiter about a position and was told the salary was non negotiable. Was told the hourly pay was based strictly on experience and that I was not getting low balled and asked if I needed time to think about it.

I was kind of caught off guard and so I just told them that it was fine.

Anybody been told a salary was non negotiable and found that not to be the case?

This is at a big university hospital in a big city.

[Jules A, MSN]

In my experience the big ones can be very rigid and cheap with length of experience being the main determinant of pay. If you want the job there and that is their bottom line it is up to you to say yes or no. Good luck.

[malenurse69, MSN, NP]

The strongest position to be in is to have the ability to say no, walk away and mean it. Non negotiable can turn into negotiable as if by magic.

You know whats best for your situation, if the pay isn't where you want it to be, it's okay to say no unless you're in dire need for income.

[JBudd, MSN]

Our pay schedule is spelled out, experience & degrees, and set with a minimum and maximum amount, per the union contract. i No negotiating needed, it's all there. So if you are a big place, likely the wage scale really is non-negotiable.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

This is at a big university hospital in a big city.

Large university hospitals in huge metropolitan areas, in my experience, tend to base the new hire hourly pay rates off predetermined wage grids.

Hence, if the wage grid directs HR to offer RNs with 10 to 15 years of experience $XX.XX per hour, that is where your offer comes from, and there's no room to negotiate. HR managers and recruiters at some big city hospitals are hesitant to offer a pay rate that's higher than what's listed on the wage grid because it can open the company up to discrimination claims.

Smaller community hospitals and privately-owned facilities are generally more likely to negotiate with prospective employees regarding pay rates.

[MunoRN, RN]

I've never worked in a union hospital where the salary was negotiable as a new-hire. Even if the hospital wanted to offer you more than the set starting rate, they are not allowed to in the union contract.

[flyersfan88]

I work at a non union top 10 university hospital, and we use a clinical ladder pay grade. So yeah, pay here would be non negotiable.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I have worked for 6 hospitals over the years ... and all the salaries were non-negotiable for staff nurse positions with one exception. Nurses have been able to review their years of experience with HR and make sure that they are being given appropriate credit for the experience, education, etc. I have known a few people to get a little increase by doing this and being able to justify why some previous experience or credential should be counted a little differently -- but only a few.

There is a little more room to maneuver if you are talking about leadership positions, advanced practice roles, etc. -- but sometimes, there is not much room to negotiate there, either.