Hi everyone, thought you might find this amusing.
Every week, I get around 2-3 recruiters reaching out to me. For context, I work in a very high-turnover industry, and it's not uncommon for people to hop around agencies and companies every year.
I'm not actively looking to leave my job because my boss actually gives a shit about us and pays us above average to help retain employees and reduce turnover. On top of above average salary, we all get unlimited PTO (yes, unlimited; all I have to do is let my direct manager know at least two weeks in advance, and they make sure we're staffed around those days), health, dental, vision, 401k, etc. It's a pretty cushy job for what I do.
Anyways, recruiters reach out to me, and I always entertain them. I ask what they're looking for, what the duties are, and what the salaries are.
Every single time, without fail or regard for what they tell me, I always tell them that their “competitive” salaries are too low and that my colleagues are making above that for the same position elsewhere. I then give them a range around $5-$10k higher than what they send me and let them know that it's unfortunate that they aren't meeting people's reasonable expectations for a salary that matches contemporary inflation rates and COL.
I do this every time with every recruiter. If I can even marginally skew the salary range for the next person looking for a job, then I've done what God intended.
BTW: If you're looking to get into PR, don't accept less than 55K as entry level.