I have to feel super passionate about applying for a job opening that doesn't list a salary range.
And maybe that's a good thing for both sides.
Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
21–30 of 143 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#22Yes, but only if the salary is in my range.
I get so many recruiter spams, LinkedIn junk mail, contacts from former associates, etc. - most of which have absolutely no salary range - those that do and are high enough tend to stand-out in my mind, while a lot of the other ones are simply mass deleted every few days.
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#23There's a big problem with salary ranges:
Everyone wants the highest number listed. This prevents employers from being honest, because that max range should be the MOST They want to spend, but to the applicant, it's the least they think they should accept.
It's frustrating as an applicant, and having been on both sides of this fence, I've stopped listing it because it's a very easy question to ask on a first contact: "Just so we're in the same ballpark, what kind of salary range are you looking for? I'm not going to hold you to whatever number you throw out because we've still got a lot to learn about each other, but I don't want to waste anyone's time"
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#24I doubt you'll get anyone who says that salary range disclosed in a job advertisement is not a good thing, from the perspective of the job seeker. The question you may want to ask instead is: "Does the benefit to the job seeker of having a salary range specified outweigh the loss of potential advertisers who do not want to disclose a salary range?" If you're just doing this as a side project, with no expectation of m…
It depends heavily on your target market and whether you can successfully influence that market. If you get a substantial number of users, and job postings on your site have a high success rate and faster responses than anywhere else, then companies may not be able to ignore your site, even though they'd prefer not to disclose salary up front. Do some trials, get those numbers, and use them prominently in your pitch to companies.
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#25Hired.com does a good job of this, you look at candidates on the board (as a potential employer) and you put in what you think you would pay that candidate. They can decide if they want to interview for the job or not. As an employer nice bit is that you already know that they would already consider working for you at that salary. For the candidate they can see multiple 'bids' from different companies and get a sense of the market and also see if their own expectations are under valued or over valued.
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#26A range helps to know if it's even worth applying. If I see a range, from X to Y, and my prefered salary is Y + 20k, It's probably worth talking to you because there's a chance I can make the needle move.
If I'd have to make the needle move by 100k, then I'm not going to bother.
If the range is not shown at all, I'll still apply, but I'll usually start with "While I negotiate salaries later in the process, my range is usually around X-Y, depending on the role".
Too many times I went through a phone screen, and when talk of salaries came up, it was just way off. And sure, phone screens are quick, but at that point I already had to deal with the silly pointless puzzles for 30-60+ minutes.
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#27I think addressing the salary too directly e.g this is how much money give or take $5k makes the hunt overly focused on financial benefits, which as has been commented has substantial downsides.
I think that a standardized band should be selected. Substantial sized bands, to dissuade purely financially driven people. You want them, but also as has been pointed out you don't only want them. You need a range. Bands give security that we are having the same conversation. I have also been interviewed for roles where the salary being offered is substantially below market value. What a waste of time tbh.
Also some way of getting at the intangibles would be great. For employees knowing whether this manager fires regularly, his feedback in the industry, etc would be helpful when selecting a role.
Cultural questions with answers are also good.
There is a great deal not be done to help the two seekers find the right connection and it's quite shocking really how prosaic the tools are for recruiting when you consider the money involved.
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#28As a current job seeker, its certainly helpful to see the range I can expect when the process gets that far. I might suggest that you offer two modes for input: exact and range. In the case of range, maybe, warn them if their range is crazy big. I've seen jobs recently in the market I'm searching in on StackOverflow advertising a range with the low end being 50% of the high end. That doesn't actually help me when dec…
Absolutely! Public company email is mandatory, I didn't even consider having a job ad without it. Good point about the application form, it sure makes the applicant feel like just another record in a database.
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#29Yes.
Re: Ask HN: Are you more likely to apply for a job that discloses salary upfront?
#30Lacking a salary range in a job posting tells me that "competitive salary" really means "below market rate" in most cases.
I've found the best postings list their minimum ($70k+ or whatever). Maximum is irrelevant, as you can assume it's around 20% of that minimum. It shows what salaries and skill expertise they're after.