The internet is roaring with laughter over a Reddit post telling the story of a job recruiter who was angry at what a potential prospect was currently making.
The original poster (OP), u/Main-Yogurtcloset-82, shared their story to the popular r/antiwork subreddit, and earned over 18,200 upvotes and 900 comments in four hours.
The OP says they're not looking for a job, but they were a few months ago, and their resume is still online. Though they're a gig worker, and it's a union job. OP is earning between $90,000 to $120,000 a year, with full health insurance, a 401k and a pension plan.
While they enjoy their work, they would like a position with more stability. They said they kept track of alerts just in case such a job offer comes along. When a recruiter reached out, the OP figured it was worth hearing her out, as the potential gig was a standard 9-to-5 office job with their skills. But early on in the process, they asked about compensation.
"She responded with one of my biggest pet peeves, 'well what is your expected salary for such a role?'. Such a s**tty way to either try and underpay someone who doesn't know how to ask for more or to pressure a person who knows their worth into taking less," u/Main-Yogurtcloset-82 wrote.
Since the OP was already working, they said they felt they could be blunt. They told the recruiter what they were currently making and that the potential employer would have to better that for them to consider even interviewing for the job. The recruiter replied with a "very snippy email."
"Wont post word for word but the general jist of it was: 'That is way out of our budget for this role and quite frankly an unreasonable expectation. We are no longer interested in you as a [candidate] for making such demands. For future endeavors I recommend you keep yourself more appealing to prospective employers by reducing your standards to something more in line with your skills. You will never find work with this attitude,'" u/Main-Yogurtcloset-82 wrote.
"B**ch I just told you this is what I AM MAKING RIGHT NOW. It's not in your budget fine, but don't tell me what I am and am not worth," they concluded.
Right now, given that many people are leaving their jobs in what's been called The Great Resignation, it's considered a worker's market when it comes to hiring. Despite this, Forbes reports, some companies will still offer prospective employees a lowball offer—or even avoid revealing the salary until late in the process.
While Forbes says job seekers should be upfront about asking how much the pay is, tension can cause some seekers to defer out of fear of losing the offer before it's even made. However, companies trying to hide salary information or make lowball offers are foolish, Forbes says, as it can make potential hires bail on an offer without even attempting to negotiate—or, worse, make a hired employee immediately quit when they find out they could have had significantly more money.
Alternately, starting from near the top of the amount budgeted, Forbes argues, is much wiser. A employee offered what they're worth is not only more likely to take the job on offer, but will likely stay longer with the company out of loyalty. In addition, that also gives the company a wider pool of potential applicants to make sure that they're getting the right employee for the job.
Redditors were delighted for being given the chance to mock a job recruiter who not only didn't understand that—but didn't seem to realize that the figures quoted were what OP was currently making, showing that they were indeed able to find work with "this attitude."
"Send that email to her boss. That kinda unprofessionalism from a recruiter? F**k that," u/Sterquilinus-K wrote.
"Not to mention that recruiters usually paid a percent of first year salary so even if he was out of budget for this job she just lost herself a $100k candidate for the next job which has the budget," u/BigAggie06 pointed out.
"Quite frankly, it's unreasonable to expect someone to take a paycut for harder work. I would recommend to them that if they want to actually find employees, they need to be more appealling to prospective employees by increasing their standards to something more in line with market value. They will never find employees with that attitude," u/Boibi wrote.
Others shared their own recruitment horror stories.
"My favourite answer is 'well, we are not looking for such a Senior profile,'" u/MIP_PL wrote. "hell you asked for 10+ yr experience what do you expect, my 15yr old son?"
"One of my great joys is having a recruiter telling me I wouldn't make more than X with my current resume and then making 30% more than X a few weeks later. Don't let anyone tell you what you are worth," u/DrapedInVelvet wrote.
"I will never work on contract for a recruiting agency ever again unless I'm completely desperate after some pretty bad experiences. One specific example was the company and recruiting agency holding the carrot of a permeant position in front of folks for YEARS while paying 30-50% less and offering zero benefits and vacation time--all while hiding employees in the building and construction contractor's budget (Upper MGMT only found out after there was a lull in new build out over a few quarters). They all had to be in on it somehow," u/Kamel-Red wrote.
"Had a recruiter call and leave me 3! Voicemails yesterday, text me and send me an email for an entry level file clerk position saying "my skills matches the role". I have a JD and have been out of school for 8 years. He was very terse when I told him I wasn't interested and didn't want to hear more as I didn't think it would be a good fit," u/Becsbeau1213 wrote. "Recruiters getting desperate out there!"
Newsweek reached out to u/Main-Yogurtcloset-82 for comment.
