Had a 5 minute phone call with an interviewer on Friday. The job is in my wheel-house and expertise, it's local, and it's a large company so there is room for upward mobility. No salary range was posted, though. Filled out their antiquated on-line application, get a request for an initial interview. Had to wait 2 weeks as our schedules didn't align.
We talk about the job for less than 5 minutes before the inevitable question: So what is your desired salary range?
I've given up on playing the koy “I need to learn more about the job and expectations from the hiring manager” as that ends up just dragging the process another month or two just to find out they are cheap assholes. At this point in my life, I'd rather just find out day 1 and move on. I'm making good money now, so I'm not in a hurry to move, but my job has no upward mobility and I've been punching above my salary range for a few years, now.
So I tell them my number, then they tell me the range, which is not only uncompetitive, it's 50% lower than similar postings for the same job. She said she didn't feel that they had anything that would meet their expectations. I replied that this could have been avoided if they posted the salary range along with the posting and hung up.