Salary: negotiable / not listed - do you bother?

Sleepy

This is something that's a real bug bear of mine. While I can understand that at company wants to fill a position as cheaply as possible, I think they at least need to post a salary range on a job advert.

I get contacted at least once a week by a recruitment consultant about a position somewhere. A good percentage of the time, the salaries are lower than what I'm currently on anyway so I simply thank them for their interest and wish them luck with their search. When contacting me via linked-in/email, however, most of the time the job spec doesn't contain the salary details.

I know it used to be considered rude to ask about money in an interview but when you're approaching me (or advertising to the world at large via the internet), without salary details it's just going to be junk mail imo. If I've no idea if the salary is lucrative enough to lure me away from my current employer, I'm not going to follow it up: you're trying to sell the position to me, it's your job to attract me.

Anyone else feel the same? Do you pay any heed to job ads / contacts from recruitment consultants that don't provide any salary details?

allibastor

the reason they keep a sing is they want to see what you are willing to work for. if the job is willing to pay 60k and you say i will for for 30k, they will then pick a middle of the road salary that you thunk is great and they will save money on. simple as that

Sleepy

I get that for a starter position, but when you're trying to headhunt someone or attract experienced talent how many good candidates are you missing out on due to it?

Just this morning I've turned down further contact with a recruitment agent from a US multi-national that contacted me because I'm not wasting my time talking to someone on the phone that couldn't answer a straight query about the job spec and saalary of the position he contacted me about.

If you can't tell me the salary range, I've no interest. Why would I? Why should I waste my time talking to every moron from HR who thinks they can hire me for less than the going rate by being coy about the salary?

Nody

I'm at such a level that honestly salary is not my primary concern or driver but rather the job content and how it will keep me interested/further my over all career goals. I made a switch for example a few years ago which had a noticeable drop in salary but allowed me to grow to a whole new level and I'm today making more money then I ever could in my old job.

Now if I like what I see then I'll discuss it further to understand the position (as there are so much BS writing in job descriptions and what not such as "board of directors meetings" equal to local management team meeting and what not) and then I'll enquire about salary range. The salary I'm going to expect / want will be dependant on how much it will help me grow and seniority level of the position. If they want to offer me something similar to what I got now then I'll expect a nice premium to consider it; if the position offers great growth potential then I'm willing to go down from current salary (to a certain extent).

speedboatchase

This irritates me depending on how long the interview process is.

Unfortunately it's an employer's market out there and likely they'll wait until the final stage where they can rank each prospective employee together and judge their salary expectations and experience as one package. At the very least, I'd ask about the salary if I know that I'm at the final interview and chance my arm if they ask me about my expectations.

Jarren

No - I don't want to waste my time.

Manach

The OP has a valid point. But while the salary is a major part of the job spec, if the tech/job is interesting and that on the advert there is mention of excellent addition benefits such as guaranteed training and/or education programs then this would no be an absolute blocker.

Sleepy

I think there's an element of competition / seniority here too. For a candidate straight out of college or an entry-level position, I can understand not advertising a salary. Similarly if it's a standard desk-jockey admin role that anyone with a brain should be able to do. But when you're looking for a role that has a very specific or in-demand skillset e.g. Senior JAVA developer, BI Analyst, Systems Accountant on SAP etc. you're really looking to lure someone away from their current employer.

If someone that's a perfect fit (e.g. doing that exact role elsewhere) who's not on the radar of the usual suspect recruitment consultants is scanning advert sites to see what's out there, are you really going to get them to an interview until they know there's a salary jump in it for them should they be successful?

Why would anyone in an established career give up their annual leave to come interview for you when you're not even prepared to let them know if it's worth their while to get the job or not?!

Eoin

As I said in another thread, this is one of the benefits of dealing with an agency. You can be quite upfront about the salary question without having to dance around it at the interview. In general, it's a bit of a weird convention given that you'd talk money in any other serious negotiation you were doing.

Salary is a very private thing to many people. Some people might not be happy about their salary range being quite public. Employers might not want to give competitors / agencies more information than they have to - not to mention their employees. If they're finding it hard to fil a certain position, they might have to offer more than current employees are on. Publicising that will piss them off.

It's a while since I've dealt directly rather than through an agency, but I don't think I'd bother doing anything more than a phone interview without knowing the package and wouldn't begrudge them doing a phone interview first. I definitely wouldn't refuse to even enquire if something looked interesting though.

Edit - the first option in the poll doesn't really tie in with the question IMO.

[Jackass]

I know my own worth and how much I would ask for.

If the job is a good fit, go for it. It's not difficult to tell if a job is too basic that you wouldn't get the type of money you'd ask for.

Gurgle

Completely agree, its always pissed me off. Before you can even consider a job, no matter how much fun it sounds, you need to know if it will pay the bills.

Its same with houses and cars.
'POA', wtf? Do you want to sell the thing or are you just announcing that it exists?

tempura

Gurgle wrote: »

Completely agree, its always pissed me off. Before you can even consider a job, no matter how much fun it sounds, you need to know if it will pay the bills.

Its same with houses and cars.
'POA', wtf? Do you want to sell the thing or are you just announcing that it exists?

I would agree with this, I put a lot of effort into my job applications regarding research into company, writing cover letters etc. My aim when applying for jobs is am I a good fit for this company, what can I offer them, will I work well , will I be productive for them and help to increase their business. Basically I am willing to offer my skills for the benefit of the company in question. I am completely aware that it is an employers market but the least they can do is give you a figure to give you the incentive to apply for the position in the first place.

Employers are constantly dicking people around these days. There is a huge element of " You're lucky to get a foot in the door " and while I partially agree with this, I also think that it lowers the self esteem and self worth of plenty of prospective , productive people out there.


I have been unemployed for the last 8 months, in that time I have only had four Interviews. I can only describe each one of them as being Victorian in its attitude.

People are expected to work for nothing these days. Don't even get me started on Internships, there's enough threads about these as it is.

starlit

I find this annoying if they don't give an approximate amount or be a concern to me that its unpaid. Usually if its unpaid there be nothing there in salary section but sometimes they could be bluffing by stating its negotiable.

everdead.ie

I find it very annoying but at the same time if you are actively looking for a job that's one thing, but if you are being head hunted from somewhere you are very happy you would think that giving even a Salary range would be a bright idea.

While on the job Hunt I have come across similar Jobs giving wildly different Salaries where are offering 24k and others 32k none supplied details of Salary on the Job Spec, but I would of thought the better paying places would at least put their salary down to entice more applicants.

cerebus

Sleepy wrote: »

I think there's an element of competition / seniority here too. For a candidate straight out of college or an entry-level position, I can understand not advertising a salary. Similarly if it's a standard desk-jockey admin role that anyone with a brain should be able to do. But when you're looking for a role that has a very specific or in-demand skillset e.g. Senior JAVA developer, BI Analyst, Systems Accountant on SAP etc. you're really looking to lure someone away from their current employer.

My take on it is slightly different - it could be a function of the level I am at/stuff that I do, but I can be certain that any advertised jobs that look interesting to me will be well compensated, and typically salary details are not given. Also, base salary will only be one component of the comp package, with items like bonus schemes and stock plans a significant %. All of these items are up for negotiation, and it is good sometimes to have the flexibility to anchor the negotiations on the high side with your opening position.

Sleepy wrote: »

Why would anyone in an established career give up their annual leave to come interview for you when you're not even prepared to let them know if it's worth their while to get the job or not?!

Again, it is probably a function of level/sector, but I see very little downside to a conversation - think of it as a networking opportunity. Even if it doesn't lead to anything in the near term, it is always good to build a relationship. You never know what it might turn into in the long term.

As an example, I was lucky enough to have a number of options recently when looking for a new role. Comp didn't become part of the discussion until late in the process in each case, as the fit/opportunity was more important for both sides - I was going to be able to pay the bills no matter what. I ended up choosing a role with slightly lower base comp because it was a better fit with my career goals (the fact that total comp was comparable when you factored in things like signing bonus, performance bonus, stock, benefits etc. did make the decision easier )

okiss

I have a friend who is looking for work at the moment. She told me that she is not willing to work for €50 a week on top of the dole. She needs to earn x amount a week or hour in order to cover the costs of getting to work, for better clothes and her bills. For this reason she does not like doe/ negotiable on job adverts but she still applies for these jobs due to the poor jobs market.

Another friend of mine was very keen to leave a job in Dublin to move to the country a few years ago. She was doing the work of 2 people and had a terrible boss. She got an interview with a well known company.
The person interviewing her was very poor at this. The interviewer kept asking my friend what she was earning in a few different ways & eventually my friend said her salary. She was told we won't be paying you that. My friend said what is the salary - no answer. My friend then said well you must have a salary scale for the job - what is the salary range are you offering?
She got no reply to this question and interview finished quickly.My friend did not even get a pfo from them. The company since closed and my friend said no wonder judging from the idiot I met that day.