> employers don't actually know what they would be willing to pay someone They know, they know. They just don't want to be the first one to putting numbers out

> employers don't actually know what they would be willing to pay someone They know, they know. They just don't want to be the first one to putting numbers out there, because they want to low ball as much as they can. I clearly remember, in one of my latest interview, the recruiter mentioning an internal system of theirs that would come up with "numbers", and my numbers were way off, so they couldn't make it work. Knowing, at least a ball park range, it would have saved me time and stress. They must have a range in mind: - average candidate $x - good candidate $y - awesome candidate $z Therefore they could just ads for $x-$z signaling they won't be able to go above $z. So a candidate can at least decide if it is worth interviewing or not.