I work in IT. I do a job that's definitely not entry level. It involves skills that are not easily acquired. Recently I obtained a certification that isn't particularly hard to get, but can be costly. (My current employer paid for it.) For some reason, this certification is very valuable in the IT field.
My current employer is not paying me what I was worth before obtaining the certification, much less now. That's fine, I'll hit the job market.
I've had several recruiters reach out to me and scheduled a few interviews. I've noticed when a recruiter reaches out to me they quote me a very high annual salary offer. In truth, a salary that my experience does not warrant at this time. But I tell them I'm interested, because if they're going to pay me that I'll take it. Invariably, every time I send my resume in and they look at my experience, I always get this line back about how the job they scouted me for has been filled but miraculously, the same company has another position open at a lower salary.
To be entirely fair, I don't have much experience in this job and I'm probably only worth the lower number at this time. And what is considered a “starting” wage in this job is actually a substantial raise for me. It's actually the salary range I expected when I hit the job market.
But what pisses me off is the pure duplicity of these recruiters. They entice me with a much higher number, then once they see that my experience doesn't matter that high number, that job suddenly filled but they can offer me the salary that again–is what I realistically expected–but this game of lying pisses me off.