Job candidate hangs up on recruiter who calls their salary expectations "cute": 'Did I overreact?'

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  via Daiga Ellaby

  Job candidate attends Zoom interview with recruiter. 

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• Are there any real job opportunities out there anymore? Can we find a gig without having a parent who's a CEO? Can we get hired without jumping through one thousand hoops? Can we go through the interview process without getting ghosted 67589692835 times first? 

  It's questions like these that job seekers young and old are asking themselves every day. 

  It's hard to even imagine a time where you'd apply for a job and get a quick response. Getting hired after one or two interviews just seems laughable. 

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  via Daiga Ellaby

  Job candidate looks at phone in dismay.

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• Take this person, for example. 

  This person has been on the hunt for a new job for months, and they're lamenting the “endless ghosting” that candidates have to deal with. It's true! Jobs will often send out a receipt email confirming that they got your application, although a lot of them don't even bother to do that. But then, you will probably never hear from them again. You'll never know if you were in the running, or if that job was just posted for funsies by a company who never planned to hire someone in the first place. 

  This person shared that: 

  I got a call scheduled for a mid-level role at a company that seemed decent on paper. I researched them, prepped my answers, logged onto the video call early, and we started chatting.

  About five minutes in, the recruiter asked about my salary expectations. I gave a completely standard, market-rate range based on my experience. The guy literally chuckled, leaned back in his chair, and said, "That's a cute number, but we prefer to hire people who are driven by the mission, not the paycheck. We expect 50-hour weeks, but the base rate is non-negotiable."

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  via Eduardo Ramos

  Resume page stuck under the wheels of a rolling chair in an office.

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• I'm sorry but, I just don't think that the word “cute” ever belongs in a job interview. 

  The only acceptable use case would be if your cat springs onto your lap mid-interview, in which case, the interviewer simply must, by law, call your cat cute. Bonus points if they have a sense of humor about our beloved, lawless house pets. But that is literally the only time it makes sense. 

  The interviewer shouldn't be calling anything a candidate says “cute,” because it is not polite!

  It's really surprising that a recruiter wouldn't know about the concept of an “inside thought.” You don't have to share every little thought that runs through your brains, pal! He could've thought a “cute” remark to himself, while never letting the candidate know that they're being unrealistic about their salary requirements. 

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  via neringa

  A cat sits in front of a computer screen while it's owner tries to get work done. 

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• The candidate shared that for a moment, they sat on the call feeling “stunned, genuinely thinking he was testing my negotiation skills or making a weird joke.” That's a good instinct! It's a strange remark, and I'd wonder if there was some kind of language barrier or something, but often you can tell how well someone speaks a language by that point in the conversation.

  Not to mention that the recruiter could've noticed at any point from then on that he made a massive faux pas. He could've apologized! But no, he sounds braggadocios and impolite and unkind, to put it nicely. 

  Next, 

  I asked if there was equity or bonuses to offset the lower base and the extra hours. He just smiled and said, "No, just the opportunity to work with a rockstar team."

  When the word “rockstar” enters the chat, you know you're looking at the wrong job. Ugh. So tired of people using that word! What they really mean is, “We need someone who can do 5 jobs in 1 because we don't want to pay 5 separate professionals a good salary. We actually want to pay you minimum wage, rockstar. We actually hope that you never ask for a raise, and are cool with staying late, rockstar. Our team members are all rockstars because they're all super overworked and overburdened, and we'd be thrilled if you get in on that, too, rockstar." 

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  via Andrej Lišakov

  Relaxing home office space with laptop and journal.

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• Here's where this candidate left the call, and it's a righteous victory indeed: 

  I politely said, "I don't think our expectations align, thank you for your time," and just hit the 'leave meeting' button. Now I'm sitting here staring at my screen second-guessing myself.

   The market is so brutal right now, maybe I should've just swallowed my pride and tried to negotiate, but I just don't have the energy to talk myself into glaring red flags anymore.

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  via Getty Images

  Recruiter waves goodbye after being hung up on by a job candidate. 

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• This is just my 2 cents, but I hope this person knows in their heart of hearts that they dodged a terrible job. Truly. I think this recruiter was “negging” them, trying to talk down to them to make them feel small and powerless. The recruiter wanted them to think, “Omg, am I asking for too big of a salary??”

  The answer to that isn't clear. It's possible that their salary expectations were too high. The price of things is kind of insane right now, like it's truly hard to know what one should be asking for as a salary. In the olden days of yore (the 1970s and 80s), it was encouraged that candidates try to aim for the highest salary possible during these negotiations. These days, if you want a job, you kind of just have to quickly accept what you're offered, otherwise the company will probably just give the job offer to the next person in line. 

  But that doesn't mean that this person was wrong. I imagine they know their worth in their specific field and were offering a reasonable estimate. No one wants to move economically downward! You should aim high! 

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  via Getty Images

  Candidate meets with a recruiter face to face. 

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• This job-seeker asked, 

  Has anyone else just completely lost their patience and walked out of an interview like this? At what point do you just say no?

  And commenters let them know that they're not alone at all. There's camaraderie here! 

   

  Phailgasm

  “We prefer to hire people who are driven by the mission, not the paycheck.”

  Sonofab**ch these recruiters, people need money, and both things can be true at once.

  He wants you to work overtime for free, and even at a lower salary than average, he can pound sand.

  You did the right thing, and more people need to do the same

   

  Sir-Craven

  My mission is to be paid my worth. That is literally my mission. I am 100% driven by the mission.

   

  Brownie-0109

  He left no room to negotiate. And then there’s the use of the word rockstar, which gave me the ick.

  If I had the b*lls, I’d have done the same thing.

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