Corporate Recruiter Yanking My Chain?

May 23, 2019 8:42 AM

How does the relationship between a hiring manager and the company recruiter work? I completed a very positive phone interview with the hiring manager for "a very big sportswear company", but when the company’s senior recruiter then contacted me, she said she wanted to arrange flying me out for an in person interview, but needed to finalize salary details first - and then proceeded to *very* low-ball me (my salary expectation is at the top end of the salary range, which my resume justifies), to the degree that I’m now having second-thoughts. Is this standard practice?

Additional detail: the recruiter said she'd have to go back to the hiring manager to discuss my salary requirements, but then the next day her colleague contacted me to arrange flights - with no mention of salary. I wrote back explaining that I thought there'd been some crossed wires, but it honestly also kind of feels like they're messing with me - am I off base here?

posted by 7 Minutes of Madness to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Is the offer at the low end of the industry salary range, or of a salary range that was given in the job ad? If it's the former, it's possible Big Sportswear Company just pays on the low end, possibly because it's seen as a desirable place to work for some reason. In either case, I wouldn't jump to assuming malice at this point. Sometimes recruiters and the teams they're hiring for are out of step with each other. You haven't agreed to anything yet, so there's no harm in flying out to interview if you're interested. An in-person interview might even bolster your case later on. But if you're not really that interested and you think it's a waste of everyone's time, I would send an email to the recruiting team telling them that you won't take the job at the stated salary and get confirmation that a more realistic salary is on the table.
posted by jomato at 8:56 AM on May 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

I had this same experience with 'a very big technology company' and now that I actually work here... the recruiters are barely connected with the hiring managers. I think recruiters basically always start at the low end of the range for a given role.

When I had the same conversation, after a truly stellar interview in which by the end of the day the leader of the group wasn't interviewing me but instead was pitching me on all the great opportunities joining the company would mean for me and in which I received the official 'we want you' 45 minutes later... the recruiter then called me for the salary chat and offered me a 30% paycut over my existing salary. I laughed at her. The were able to quickly turn it around and come back with something more reasonable after my hiring manager intervened, but it has since become clear to me the recruiters basically operate on a set of instructions that have nothing to do with talking to the actual hiring team.
posted by CharlieSue at 8:57 AM on May 23, 2019 [9 favorites]

Recruiters are super hit or miss, and a bad one doesn't necessarily mean anything about the company or the job. Hold steady and communicate your expectations clearly whenever it comes up. Let the recruiter trying to make drama or destabilize you be their problem.
posted by spindrifter at 8:58 AM on May 23, 2019

I’m a hiring manager and use an internal recruiter. It’s very good cop / bad cop. I’m the good cop :) I determine if I like the candidate and how much I like them, and I tell the recruiter my thoughts, and then the bad cop comes in and negotiates salary, stock, vacation etc. I don’t think the recruiter has to be a bad cop, I’ve worked with some where we are both good cops (I prefer that) but yeah a lousy recruiter doesn’t mean a bad company. Go by the people you will actually be working with.

Stick with your salary requirements and keep with the process. Good luck.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:30 AM on May 23, 2019

Yeah, my experience has been almost uniform in that the internal recruiter and the hiring manager are out of sync, and the fact that the second recruiter reached out to arrange the flight without mentioning the salary question is simply because that person isn't part of that conversation.

Only once was the recruiter's initial number higher than I expected and she let me know that it's because they've had the experience of losing people by not being competitive enough out the gate. So there are some company's out there that don't do this.
posted by sm1tten at 9:33 AM on May 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

The recruiter is probably being instructed to minimize salary. You know how one of the reasons that telephone customer service is so bad is because agents are judged based on how quickly they can get callers off the phone? Recruiters have a similar imperative: don't just be handing out the company's money. Especially if they're new to the job, or if they've recently gotten a talking-to from their manager, or they just take things literally, this can make them pretty uncompromising on anything but the low end of the salary range.

The recruiter will take your requirements back to the hiring manager, and the hiring manager will likely realize that, yes, your request is reasonable. Once it's someone else's ass on the line for the money, the recruiter will care less.

Are they messing with you? Of course. Management always messes with labor; that's captialism. But the recruiter is likely just responding to the incentive structure in place. Don't hold it against them.

And don't let them dissuade you from continuing in the process. Never take yourself out of the running. Let the company be the one who makes the decision that they don't want you.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:20 PM on May 23, 2019

If it’s the same very large sportswear company I work for; yes, recruiting sucks, don’t let it ruin your interest in the job!
posted by girlalex at 11:19 PM on May 23, 2019