Netizen asks if it’s common for companies to lowball new hires with low pay even after asking their expected salary

A somewhat irate netizen took to Reddit recently, wondering if it’s a “common practice” in companies’ Human Resources divisions to ask new hires what their salary expectations are, yet tell them they have a flat rate when offered a position in the firm.

“In the initial call, they’ve asked for my salary expectations, I asked them how much is usually offered for fresh grads here and they told me it depends on many factors, so I just accept their answer and proceed with the stages. (might be my mistake here)

After going through rounds of interview, I was offered a role and I’ve asked if it’s negotiable, they say no as they have a flat rate for fresh grads.

In this case, why don’t they mentioned it in the initial call earlier that they have a flat rate?” 7Seas_ofRyhme wrote.

A commenter who works in HR confirmed the post author’s suspicions.

One Reddit user wrote that this had been his experience as well.

“Whats the point of asking salary expectations when you are going to just ignore it,” the commenter asked.

“Hopefully if enough candidates reject the offer, hiring managers will start getting pissed off at HR for wasting their time too and the practice will stop,” chimed in another.

“I have thought about this too, psychologically you would not want to reject it after going through all the hard work and process through all the interviews,” 7Seas_ofRyhme said in a comment.

Another Reddit user told an equally bad HR story.

“Refusing and insisting you sign before allowing to read through it carefully is a red flag,” replied one commenter.

While some encouraged 7Seas_ofRyhme to reject the offer, others offered helpful tips. 

/TISG

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