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> For example, I’ve told recruiters about my salary expectations and had them laugh and say “no one gives that kind of [salary/equity/vacation/benefits].” Some
by rifung 10y ago
> For example, I’ve told recruiters about my salary expectations and had them laugh and say “no one gives that kind of [salary/equity/vacation/benefits].”
Some recruiters are seriously sketchy. Someone I know joined a company where the recruiter told her that they give all their employees at that level this same salary so there's no room for negotiation unfortunately. After she joined, she asked what other people were making, and found out that even a new grad had higher compensation than she did despite the fact she had several years of experience already.
Apparently, they tried to do the same thing to that other employee, but that other employee had another offer and just said that he would take the other offer, to which the recruiter apparently responded, "Oh wait, I'm sorry actually I think we can do something about that. I was looking at the wrong sheet."
- dominotw 10y ago> Someone I know joined a company where the recruiter told her that they give all their employees at that level this same salary so there's no room for negotiation unfortunately. Oh wow. this happened to me recently. I foolishly believed that it was true since I've heard of companies like Reddit that have policies like these.
- jghn 10y agoAt this point I'm always going to fall into one of two boats: 1) I don't need a job. You'll pay me what I want or no deal. In those cases things like what this recruiter pulled won't work. 2) I need a job. In this case it doesn't really matter to me.
- praneshp 10y agoI have always been in (1) or (2), but can think of (3) I'd love to be at this job (because of company mission, etc) . Maybe it is a subcase of (2)?
- Fej 10y agoI think that would be a subcase of (1). Would be "give me what I want" which would be other reasons than "pay me what I want".
- jghn 10y agoAbsolutely, I should have phrased it that way from the start. I don't view salary as the end all be all, however I'll be the one to choose what I'm willing to take a discount for, not them.
- tomtang0514 10y agoI've been in both situation. I first encountered (2) when I was looking for my first fulltime job back in college. I had little idea of how much I'm supposed to get paid so I told the recruiter: "I had no idea how much I worth, but one day I'll find out. And if I realized I'm low-balled, I'll left for another company immediately and all the resource your company spend on training me will go nowhere." It worked for me. But I guess it won't work for those really sketchy recruiters since all they care is take their commission.
- deagler 10y agoLittle ballsy, Raises a good point as well. I'll need to keep that in mind when I go for my first FT job
- alttab 10y agoInterestingly enough, recruiters get paid a % of the salary as a commission most of the time. This means they actually have an incentive to get you higher pay. But they also can't keep bringing in people above a company's ask. It's a balance that has to be managed.
- csa 10y agoThe biggest gap for the recruiter is between no and yes. The tiny increase they get for themselves for negotiating hard on behalf of their placement rounds to zero in most cases. If it costs them a placement, the opportunity cost is huge.
- __jal 10y agoPeople encountering this need to name and shame more. This is straight-up using asymmetrical information as a zero-sum weapon. It is hard to find salary information ahead of time, Glassdoor notwithstanding; and it is also hard to know how sleazy they are to employees. It isn't hard to write a comment about it that will show up in a search engine, and while that is far from perfect, it will allow employees who have freedom of motion to steer clear of slimy firms and those who don't to at least be able to negotiate from a slightly less-weak position.
- Mz 10y agoThis is likely also a bigger problem for women, who tend to be less savvy and less aggressive about negotiating for salary to begin with.
- ryanmarsh 10y agoTend to be less savvy?
- tf2manu994 10y agoThe data hints that they negotiate less, yes.
- acdha 10y agoThere is some data suggesting that but you, and the original commenter, are jumping to conclusions that it's caused by lower “savviness”. One commonly mentioned alternative explanation is simply that people will quite reasonably not risk negotiating aggressively when they perceive their negotiating power as being lower. Given the number of women or non-Caucasian/Asian men who've reported being paid less or held to a higher standard than peers, I would seriously consider the possibility that the data is showing us a symptom rather than the cause of the pay-gap.
- Mz 10y ago
- _pmf_ 10y ago> I foolishly believed that it was true since I've heard of companies like Reddit that have policies like these. A lot of large companies have tiered salary levels that are not in any way tailored for the individual. In Germany, we have a Tarifvertrag in virtually every large company, which fixes the salary.
- varjag 10y agoSalary tables are typical for unionised environments. Majority of software developers and their workplaces are not unionised, even in Europe.
- aries1980 10y agoNot really. This is typical in consultancy, where you deal with averages when you create a budget. Extremities would make the bidding risky.
- pmorici 10y agoThis is super common. You just have to know it is something recruiters say to try and get a prospective recruit to accept a lower compensation package and work around it.
- WalterBright 10y ago> “no one gives that kind of [salary/equity/vacation/benefits].” Everything is negotiable, including when you hear things like that and "that's not our policy", etc.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- chairmankaga 10y ago>For example, I’ve told recruiters about my salary expectations and had them laugh and say “no one gives that kind of [salary/equity/vacation/benefits].” I had a similar experience looking for my first job in Chicago a few years back. I met with a fairly large general recruiting firm in the area just so they could feel me out. I named my expectation of 50-60k to which the recruiter replied. "You know... when I moved to Chicago I was living on 18k" Not exactly the type of response I expected.
- varjag 10y agoUgh what one should even say to that? "sucks to be you"?
- Cerium 10y ago"Wow, you came to Chicago as a software engineer too? Tell me about how you got into recruiting?"
- Calist0 10y agoI would have walked out after hearing that. How could a recruiting firm be of any help to you if their goal is to get you to accept a low paying job asap. They'll be fighting with you every step of the way. I would rather search for a job on my own, even if it means eating ramen every day for months.
- agumonkey 10y agoI clicked on this thread by accident. Was worth it.
- godzillabrennus 10y agoThe issues tech people have had with recruiters is why I'm working on http://www.joinjune.com http://www.joinjune.com