When a salary isn't advertised on a job

[Ger1atricMillennial]

I saw a role I liked and is around the same as my role just in a different organisation. I spoke to the manager on a TEAMS meeting for 30 mins, and it sounded great. The application process took me 2 hours as I had to provide them ID and answer STAR questions in the interview as well as provide a cover letter.

I have had a screening conversation with HR and top end of the salary range is 10K less than I am currently being paid.

I dithered about going to the interview. For the interview I have to prepare a "presentation" (not part of the JD) and they will give me the topic on Friday afternoon before my interview on the Tuesday, as well as filling in a police report.

What would you do in this situation?

And am I being unreasonable to think that if you have to spend a significant portion of time applying for a role they should put the salary range out at the beginning.

Well you knew they weren't advertising the salary.....so why did you invest so much time?

Why are you still considering the role given the salary ?

you can’t make companies put a salary range with a job advert, but you can decide whether you apply to them. Personally any job adverts without this info are binned straight away

It drives me nuts. I don't apply either unless I know the salary.

I don't apply either, unless it's just a CV thing. I normally email them to ask for the salary.

Bit of a red flag.

Unless the advert states that there is a large salary range dependent on the experience/qualifications of the applicant. Some roles might be open to a qualified, unqualified, or newly qualified person.

In the past I asked about one of these roles with no salary advertised. I was told that they did that so that they got people who really wanted to work for the organisation. There was nothing unique about the organisation, or the job. The only potential attractions for a candidate would be location and salary. Sometimes organisations over value their own worth. Corporate narcissism is a thing.

I'd call to cancel the interview and tell them directly, clearly, politely that the salary is 10k (or 12k if you'd only move for more) less than you'd consider.

I wouldn't apply for a job with no salary stated. I'd ask straight up and wouldn't bother progressing an application if it wasn't what I was looking for.
No point wasting several hours of your life on a job you won't be taking as the moneys not good enough

In such a case, I would look at Glass Door or some such to try to gauge a ballpark salary. If I can’t see anything, I probably wouldn’t apply in the first place, far less put a lot of effort into preparing a presentation.

I can’t abide such practices. It feels grubby and dishonest to me, and a signifier that this would not be a good company to work for if they can’t even be decent and transparent to potential employees.

I never ever apply for jobs without the salary advertised. On occasion I have however emailed the contact on the advert to find out but it does infuriate me that they expect people to apply with no salary.

Job titles just don’t give much away anymore and the salary gives a good indication of the level of the job.

I'd make a law that a salary range and expected working hours have to be shown in an advert. They are just wasting everyone's time otherwise. I remember trying to get a part time job when DDs were small for like 20 hours a week- lots of roles when I rang them were not set hours and it was a 20 hour contract but you'd be at the employer's beck and call as to when those hours were worked. Just appalling.

Not the same but it also annoys me when companies don't put prices of their products because they want to faff about quoting first.

I wouldn't apply in the first place and in your situation I would 100% pull out and tell them why.

Just no.

No, they gave you the salary range in the HR screening. That's what most recruiters do, I don't see the issue. I don't see how the rest is relevant, don't waste your weekend preparing for an interview for a job you don't want.

Asking for multiple competency based questions in the application is the issue.

I'd go back to hr prior to interview and ask if there is any negotiation on salary as the one stated does not meet your expectations.

I don't understand why people can't just ask the company in this situation. Usually there is an email contact, or you can phone reception and get the email for HR.

Unless it was a 'one click' fire my CV off application I'd never apply for a job without finding this out first.

I think it should be advertised from the beginning. I have read a suggestion that it is a back door way of paying women less.

Yeah this is really fucking annoying. I’m applying for jobs right now hoping to get £60-70k in my first big move after leaving the company I did my grad scheme with. I’m applying for new roles/industries and the salaries are all over the place - which you only find out after submitting an application. Pain in the arse to write a cover letter, answer asinine questions etc only to find out salary is miles off.

Take a look at Lauren Spearman on TikTok she posts videos about companies doing this and calls out their terrible job adds and interview scheduling.

A fair company should advertise the salary so you are informed from the beginning and can make a decision whether you should apply.

I wouldn't even bother applying until I knew the salary. I had this recently and asked what the salary was and was told that is to be discussed if successful. I said that I needed to know the salary range before applying so didn't bother.

This.

I'd stop wasting your time and theirs. Do you hate your current job so much that the pay cut is acceptable?

I only apply to jobs that don't advertise the salary if it's an easy apply. I've been lucky that my last few jobs have been upfront about the salary at the start of the interview process. I do understand that some places don't want current staff to know the salary and things like that but it's 100% a red flag to me. There's nothing wrong with a range being listed and you are offered based on experience.

Employers who don't advertise the salary are not committed to equal opportunities. That sort of hiring practice leads to white men being paid more than anyone else.

I wouldn't apply in the first place

I definitely wouldn't go to an interview when the salary wasn't what I wanted.

Pull out and tell them why.

I'd write them an email and say "Good morning, following a discussion with [HR bod] over salary bands, your current offer is £10,000 less than I am being paid in my current role. Unless you can significantly improve the salary being offered to at least £XXXXX I will unfortunately have to withdraw from the process."

If you don't ask you don't get. They can only say no, then you politely decline and have a nice weekend not sweating about an interview next week.

Total red flag- if the salary is good, they’ll want you to know what it is. To me, “we want someone who doesn’t only care about money” is effectively saying from the off that they’re going to want blood. If they’re genuine, they don’t need to say that and they acknowledge that most people wouldn’t work if they didn’t need to earn.