Recently I saw a post about a recruiter who refused to share the salary range and how the interviewee declined to move further in the interview so I was really channeling the energy of that post
The recruiter asked me my salary expectations only 10 mins into the interview. We didnt really go over my experience in detail or even discuss the role itself, just my desire to work there.
I flipped it back to them letting them know that I need more insight from speaking to the team/asking more technical qs before I can surmise a fair compensation and asked them the budget. They shocked me by refusing to share, saying that I have a unique situation and they want to know what it will take me to leave my job and how they're flexible blahblah. I then asked if they had a max as a last attempt cause we were playing tennis at this point. they still refused.
So I straight up told her I believe in salary transparency and don't understand why they won't share. They said they are willing to flex for the right candidate that checks off all the boxes. I asked them point blank how they know I check off all the right boxes when we are only 10 mins into the convo and we haven't discussed my experience or the role…
They finally shared the budget after that, which was less than my expectations so I told them that I may not be the right candidate for the job cause I had higher expectations and now they're going to consider a senior position for me (or so they say lol).
But anyway, truly uncomfortable but the situation could have been avoided had they just listed the salary on the job post.