Are Recruiters the Villain of your Salary story?

At the end of a productive a call about the job vacancy and candidate evaluation, the conversation moves towards discussing Salary expectations. Often recruiters are hated for asking the candidates about their current salary or salary expectation.

So many candidates feel that Recruiters are trying to qualify them for a salary range, and for some candidates the session of recruiter bashing begins either with their network or sometimes reaches the social media.

Here's my take on the salary situation between a candidate & a recruiter :

1. A Recruiter / company has an approved budget to hire someone. Often times companies are trying to hire the best person for the lowest price. The recruiter wants to make sure your compensation expectations align with what they've calculated for the job.
2. If a candidate doesn't wants to disclose his/her salary, it's purely their choice - just politely say you'd not like to disclose the salary because of whatever your reasons are (provide a logical / convincing reason without sounding rude).
3. Recruiters don't call you with the goal to get you paid the lowest possible, they always have a range given from the recruitment budget. Sometimes the hiring managers ask them to provide potential candidate's salary information, so that new employee is paid in line with existing members in the team - not because recruiters have a motive?to cheat you on your money.
4. If you had a higher salary in previous organizations but you're not paid that much in current job, put your salary expectations straight with the recruiters as they may be able to take it up with the company and try to bridge the gap. (They are not the ultimate villain of your job story :)
5. There are always good and bad recruiters in every industry. If a recruiter doesn't sound professional during prescreening call and pushes you really hard to share the salary information, deviates from the Job description, asks nothing but salary & availability - YOU'RE EITHER TALKING TO A LEARNING RECRUITER OR NOT TALKING TO THE RIGHT RECRUITER AT ALL.

Ultimately you can always give a broad answer, such as, “My salary expectations are in line with the experience and requirements mentioned for the job role.” Or, “I would like to discuss the salary if I am shortlisted for an interview. This way you an escape the salary part during the first call and might go with organizational budget. I am sure no recruiter would threat a potential candidate (or push them too hard) whom they have found after going through thousands of applications.

A candidate's salary must not ONLY be based on the individual expectations because of the company name but should be discussed based on industry standards & the value preposition.

Additionally be sure to say - I am confident to bring great value to the organization and I am open to discuss the offer if we progress, so that you don't shut the door on any opportunity knocking at your career door.

Best of Luck !