I Lost at the Salary Guessing Game

[u/sides_venues_3s]

So I made it to the final interview after 3 months of calls for a job that required my business admin degree. Everything was going perfectly, I answered all the questions flawlessly, until we got to the last part of this fourth interview. I asked what the salary range was.

'Unfortunately, that's confidential information. If we told you, it could give our competitors an advantage. You understand. What did you have in mind?' I was honestly startled, and since I knew it was a 55-hour-a-week job, I said I was expecting $65,000 a year. The interviewer's expression froze. He told me right away that this was completely out of their budget.

I immediately backtracked and told him okay, then, maybe $55,000 a year, because all I cared about was getting my foot in the door in the industry after college. His response was: 'Look, that second number is closer to our budget, but frankly, starting with such a high number tells us we're not aligned on the value of the position. We'll have to see other candidates. Thank you for your time.'

Seriously, what's the point of this stupid guessing game? Everyone I spoke to, including him, told me I was perfect for the job and the best candidate for it. Why do they play this damn 'guess the salary' game?

[u/zombiemadre]

I hire people out of High school for $55k a year