Just Got An Offer at Warner Brothers...

I recently was contacted by a recruiter from Warner Brothers who found my resume on Monster; I didn't believe him when he said he was really from their internal HR (after all the bs headhunters) but he sent me a job discription and told me to read...and amazingly, I was actually interested. I had been fearing for them to contact ME it would be some BS sales gig. I called him back to say I was interested and he thanked me and said he'd submit my resume to the hiring manager for review. So that's the end of that. But like two days later, he calls back and they set up an interview. I went in and met with him and filled out a REALLY long application (as if my resume weren't enough) then met with the HM, who was a VP of something or another but actually put his calls on hold during the IV and we had a really good convo for over an hour. I thought we clicked and the job sounded perfect. A day later, the recruiter says they're starting my background and reference check (he told me I'd hear something soon, but c'mon). They ended up making me an offer of EXACTLY what I was making now, saying overtime would make up the difference (overtime for a Manager-level position?) and I did the math and realized that it was a 9 k difference, still lower than I was looking for. I ultimately was able to get a MUCH higher offer at a smaller firm (weird, TW can't pay as much with less than 50 people)? Bottom line on interviewing here: very professional process, the recruiters are very responsive and good at returning calls (I was never in the dark) and it moved very quickly...but they pay below market and make salaried jobs hourly to make up the difference so they can make you work overtime to get what you would get anyway. Ask up front what the job pays...I didn't and was unpleasantly surprised.

I agree, to an extent. My experience was very similar except I took the job and was pleasantly suprised with the nogociated salary, benefits and free internet and tv.

What most people don't understand is that there is no such thing as "what the job pays" ! Recruiters will have a range that's for sure but it's generally very wide.

The simple fact is that you get paid what you are willing to accept to do the job. This is why there are 1000's of people doing the same job within the same company getting paid very different salaries. You say they made you and offer but did you counter offer before going elsewhere ?