Like many Gen Z job seekers, journalist Megan Robinson, 28, spent much of last year on a job hunt. A recent graduate of the London School of Economics and University of Cambridge, she began applying for jobs while completing her master’s in journalism at the New School in New York’s Greenwich Village.
After applying for about 1,000 jobs, Robinson landed just three interviews, including one at a health research publication.
“I gave the hiring manager loads of ideas, and was really enthusiastic, and they said that the interview went really well,” she told Fortune. “Afterwards, they rejected me, and they said they thought I was more interested in doing all these extra things than purely just what’s in the job description.”
Robinson said at the time she was “really broke and struggling,” and thought any salary would be better than remaining unemployed. She wrote the company back and said she would take the job for $40,000, instead of the listed $60,000 salary.
“It was just an instinct that I had,” she explained. When the hiring manager wrote back and said they would reconsider her, she was grateful, she said.
Robinson recently reported on her generation’s experience with “lowballing,” or negatively bargaining against yourself, for Slate. This behavior is reflective a broader scarcity mindset in a tough job market and gendered pay dynamics that shape jobseekers’ choices, she explained.
Lowballing may go against conventional wisdom, but negotiation expert Hannah Riley Bowles says it’s not a terrible idea if you’re looking for an entry-level job in the current market.
“In a very difficult job market for young professionals right now, it may be smarter to get yourself in the door and fully employed, with an opportunity for progression, as compared to waiting on the market for an uncertain outcome,” said Bowles, who is a senior lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The longer a candidate is unemployed, or employed outside their desired industry, it’s “not a positive signal” and can diminish a candidate’s value with potential employers, Bowles explained.
Lowballing can signal to employers that a candidate is very interested in the role: That is, “‘Working for you is more important right now than how much I’m getting paid,’ which at [the] early career [stage] is not necessarily a bad signal,” she said.
On the other hand, it can signal desperation, said Andrea Schneider, conflict resolution expert and law professor at Yeshiva University. Hiring managers may ask: “What is wrong that you are so desperate that you’re willing to get paid so much less in order to do this job?”
Robinson was desperate, she said. She continued on to the next round of interviews and took multiple tests for which she had to write 5,000-word articles. The company put her on a one-month probationary trial and told her she should expect to be hired full-time in the end, she said.
“Midway through it, he said I was still competing with other candidates,” she said. “I ended up working so many extra hours to try and prove myself even more.”
At the end of the month, Robinson was told she would not be hired because she was not meeting output expectations, and the company didn’t have the budget to train her—even though she offered a significant pay cut.
Lowballing has long-term consequences
Robinson spoke to other women in their twenties who also lowballed their salary expectations, a concerning tendency given Gen Z women already have salary expectations $6,200 less than men their age, according to research from expert network Handshake.
A recent study by ZipRecruiter Economic Research also found only 30.4% of new hires negotiated their offers. Those who did negotiate got a better offer, often higher base pay, which may suggest some job seekers are leaving money on the table.
“It’s horrible on the part of the company, because, are you really creating a second-tier system where other people are going to be paid much less because they’re desperate in one way or another?” Schneider questioned.
Robinson recognizes lowballing is “the worst strategy you can use” when it comes to hiring, especially in the long term.
It can signal to companies that market rates for new hires are down, which can lower wages and lifetime earnings. On an individual level, a starting salary is the anchor of the raises an employee makes at a company and potentially throughout their entire career. Retirement benefits can also be tied to a percentage of salary, which means starting low can limit options later in life.
“The moment you realize that you are getting underpaid, you start spending the rest of your time trying to figure out your next job and how to leave,” Schneider said. “The company’s wasting their money as well, because rather than paying you a fair salary, they’re now paying you to look for another job.”
Schneider suggests that if a job seeker is willing to take a lower salary, they could offer to take a lower salary for a set period, say three months, to prove their value, before making the posted salary.
Bowles said if job seekers are willing to take a lower salary, they can still negotiate their role and projects they work on, mentorship opportunities, and geographic location, which “may ultimately be a lot more valuable to you over the long run than a little more money at organizational entry.”
After not getting the role, Robinson decided to sublet her New York apartment and is now staying with a friend in Texas and freelancing.
“Looking back, I wish I just accepted being cut from the running,” she said. “I think if a company is willing to consider hiring you at a lowball offer, they’re probably not a company you want to be working for.”
