Took a screening interview with a company that reached out to me for recruitment and seemed to be attractive.
It was going very well by all standards and I am not in a rush, so I'm cool as a cucumber chatting to the recruiter and he seems the same for me.
Over the course of the conversation, guy asks me how much I currently make, but in really nice recruitment speak, and it goes like this:
Guy: How much do you make?
Me: Is that really relevant for this conversation?
Guy: it's important for when I discuss you with the Hiring Managers for your interview with them (again, he said it much nicer than this, but effectively that).
Me: uh, OK, well, I make in $xx to $xx a year range. But since you mentioned in your message to me that you'd pay me around $xxxx per year (*much higher), that made you very attractive.
I make a bit less than my mentioned $xx a year, but it's reasonable enough jump that it's not an obvious lie and still representative of the top % where I am paid currently.
It felt illegal to ask me about my current salary, but it felt very confrontation to accuse him outright and I didn't want to call him out unless I was sure.
I looked it up after the interview and they're not allowed to ask how much you make in an interview in WA state!!!
I'm pretty upset!! Is there anything I can do or just chalk it up to a rookie mistake?