Anyone else develop distain for a recruiter when they ask for your current salary?

Nope, Just add 20-30k on top 🤷‍♂️

@C0D4 "yeah I earn 28k" lmao

@Kage well.. you could 😎

The argument that they are just trying to make sure they aren't pairing you with a role which would be a backward step doesn't hold any water for me. You can do the same by asking what salary someone is looking for (which also shouldn't be asked if you can't be open about the salary range on offer first).

I feel more disdain when they approach me for roles that have no bearing on my experience

I sometimes say that I cannot disclose it, and sometimes just say a higher number because no matter what I say, even if I say I earn 1$/yr they will say: THAT'S TOO MUCH! Our budget is 0.05 cents/yr!

I used to, but that’s a noob response stemming from you believing that recruiters are trying to preemptively low ball you.

Well, here’s the truth: recruiters aren’t that intelligent, and it takes a while to grasp just how utterly incompetent they are.

Here’s the reason they ask for salary: they don’t know how to tell what the difference between the levels are, so they’re just using the salary as a sanity check data point. It’s like years of experience, just another binning point.

Also the roles they work with can lack level info. So they can have a client that wants a “SWE” for $120/hr, another that wants an “SDE II” for $80/hr and yet another that wants a “BUMFUCK ARCHITECT” at Derp and Co for $20/hr. Strictly off the titles you would expect Architect to be the most senior, but it could be a startup or some niche sector that overloads that term. Rates are just the most reliable way of mapping a position that would roughly correlate to your role range.

I’m in test, so it especially applies for me: SDET, SET, TE, STE, QAE, QA, etc. And those are just the *non-niche* roles

That’s all it is. Recruiters are just incompetent NPC’s that add zero value to the job ecosystem, no need to have ill feelings towards them.

@irene idk I got lonely xD

I say I've signed an NDA and can't discuss it. They either leave me alone or give me their number

@toriyuno thanks for all the info 👍

@gitpush I had a similar funny interaction with a recruiter.

recruiter: hey are you looking for offers?
me: my pretended minimum is 48k (im 3rd worlder ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) otherwise not interested
recruiter: you're asking too much
me: i dunno, i work for other countries and that's what I'm getting paid

and she bombs with: "you must be working for one of our clients"

me: "absolutely" and this image

Just see it as them trying to do their job. It's their job to get a good candidate and make sure the company doesn't have to invest more in him/her than necessary.
Granted some recruiters are kind of blunt about it, but just keep in mind, you'll probably get a higher salary if you negotiate it and ask him to give you a figure, instead of you giving him one upfront.

I tell it to them straight. And when they offer like 5% increase when going to them, I just refuse with telling them the reason, that I am not going to leave for such a small bump.

Fuck that. I always answer their questions with a question : what range is your client willing to entertain?

Might be to compute things like taxes, other expenses e.t.c