Why is it that some employers are so
resistant to tell prospective employees how much they pay until the
last minute? Personally I think this is one of the most important
factors when deciding on a place to work and should be clearly
disclosed right from the beginning on the job listing. I have had
some experience with this topic that I would like to share here in
this article.
Years back I applied for a new job. It
was an entry level tech position in a school district. They did not
say how much they paid, but I was hoping it would be at least as much
if not more than what I was currently making at the time. So I took
the time to fill out the application and a couple weeks later was
lucky enough to get called in for an interview.
At this time I had not much experience
with interviews. I didn't know that it is generally not a good idea
to bring up salary unless they do. So in the middle of the interview
when they asked if I had any questions, I asked how much they paid.
I made it clear that I was only asking because it was not displayed
anywhere such as the job listing. Immediately after I asked the
question, I could tell the interviewer was turned off by me asking
such a question. She did tell me, but mentioned how that kind of
thing would be discussed later in the process.
We continued on with the rest of the
interview. I ended up not getting offered that job, but here's the
thing, when she told me how much they paid, it was less than I
expected and less than I was currently making at my previous job. If
I had known that ahead of time, I may not have even applied for the
job in the first place, let alone gone in for an interview.
This is why I think employers need to
be up front about salary and how much they pay. When they keep it
undisclosed, you end up with a situation that could potentially be
wasting everyone's time. Like I said before, if I had known how
little they were offering, I probably would not have spent the hours
applying, preparing, and interviewing. They also would have saved on
unnecessary interview time.
This was just a little rant that came
to my mind after observing the same kind of situation today when
someone was asking a job interviewer how much they would be paid and
the interviewer, dismissed them by saying they would discuss it at a
later time. I still say salary information is very basic and
important information that should be transparent to job seekers right
from the beginning. It's not a secret. Hiding it just ends up
wasting people's time.
