This Woman Was Accidentally CC'd On An Email From A Company Trying To Lower Her Salary Offer, And Her Response Was Perfect
If you've ever interviewed for a salaried job, then you probably know that salary negotiation is (usually) part of the process.
NBC
Generally, salary negotiation is a back-and-forth between a job candidate and the potential employer about pay. Candidates often state their desired pay range during the interview process, and if/when the company gives them a job offer, they state how much they're willing to pay the candidate. From there, the candidate can choose if they want to negotiate for more pay, or take the offer.
Ideally, companies would be transparent and list the salary range for a position in the job listing, but that isn't a common practice. Just last year, New York City passed a law that required employers to list salary ranges for job postings, which is a step in the right direction. But OF COURSE, companies have found a way around it by posting salary ranges with huge range disparities, like $45,000-$150,000.
Something that happens pretty frequently with job offers and negotiation is lowballing. This is basically when a company offers you a salary at the very bottom of your desired pay range (or sometimes even lower). Some say this is done to open up the opportunity for negotiation, but I personally think it's done in the hopes that a candidate will simply take the job for the lowest pay possible. After all, it benefits the company and helps their bottom line if they can pay their employees the absolute bare minimum, right?
In my opinion, lowballing is really annoying and actually pretty scummy and disrespectful. Why not just pay people what they're worth, and avoid wasting your time and theirs by making an offer they're likely to refuse? Not to mention the added stress on candidates feeling like they need to negotiate their way into the pay they asked for. It shouldn't be a game, and it shouldn't be this hard. But I digress!!!
While not all companies lowball, it's pretty much an open secret that at least some do. And now, thanks to a screenshot shared by u/Komeandgo (or OP; for Original Poster) in the r/antiwork subreddit, we have bonafide proof. Apparently, a company OP interviewed with accidentally CC'd her on an internal email thread, where they shared that despite her asking for a salary between $55k-$60k per year, they felt like they could get away with offering $53k.
OOF.
NBC
Naturally, the post quickly went viral with thousands of other redditors giving their two cents on the situation. Some chimed in with their own experiences of being lowballed:
"When interviewing, I had to deal with complete idiots offering me less than what I currently make. Three rounds of interviews to find out they want to offer $20k less. Why in the world would anyone take that? The anger from employers\recruiters when I would laugh in their faces and turn it down...ridiculous."
"I had a recruiter tell me I’m never going to find a job at my current salary range at the time, and that I need to take a $35k pay cut. I think at the time I was making $85k."
"A similar thing happened to me, too, when I was right out of college. I had a bachelor's degree in computer science, and was asking for $40k (which was considered a decent starting salary for the geographic area I was looking, even if it's low as fuck for my field overall). A recruiter told me I had to take $20k. I stopped responding to them and got offered more than what I was asking for a week later when I ditched the recruiter."
Others suggested that OP raise her expected pay range as a result:
"Staying within the range is a weak play if they're already ignoring it. The new price is $65k, and if OP gets anything other than a job offer at $65k, the uncensored version of this pic goes on Glassdoor."
"After this exchange, I wouldn't want to work there for any of the relatively small increases I'm seeing here, so I would just reply. 'She will not accept $53k.' And force them to do the raising to see what they think of their fuck-up."
And redditor u/DaFyre2010 pointed out that situations like this wouldn't happen nearly as often if companies were more transparent about their salary ranges upfront:
"This is also why we shouldn't be interviewing unless we know the expected salary range. That's a question I ask near the end of the first interview if it doesn't come up before then."
Ultimately, OP didn't take the job, and she gave a little more details in a top comment on the thread. She said that during her initial interview with the company, "We discussed pay, and I said my minimum was $60k (I was already leaving an entry level job in the same field, so lower wouldn’t have been beneficial). That’s why when I saw this email, I was caught off guard. The salary range wasn’t listed (but was not $55k or less on Glassdoor), and they never communicated pay directly to me, just said, 'OK' after I told them my minimum. This was my first time seeing a potential offer."
Bounce
"I went to the second interview and told them I saw the email. They apologized and told me they were embarrassed, etc. etc. I told them I felt they wouldn’t have my best interests at heart if they were already undervaluing me, and I didn’t want to continue forward with a team that’s likely to stab me in the back."
She continued, "HR sent texts asking me to continue forward and called me apologizing and saying, 'That’s not how they do business, and if that was them, they would be pissed,' but I think that was more damage control, and the other person declined. I told them the fact that it was offered by the person who would be my boss means they would not be looking out for me if I took this position. And I also said it speaks volumes about the company that HR is apologizing on the director’s behalf."
"Shortly after this interview, I took an offer for another job that pays me more than $60k."
CBS
A word of the wise to any companies interviewing candidates: Be careful who you CC on your emails. Or, better yet, be upfront with what you plan to pay future employees, and don't try to short them by offering less than what you know they're worth.
Bravo
And for any job seekers out there who might find themselves in a similar situation, don't be afraid to advocate for yourself and negotiate. Also, if you're in a position to do so, don't be afraid to turn down an offer if it's not what you're looking for. Sometimes, it's the only way to make sure you actually get paid what you deserve.
FX
What do you think of this whole situation? What about lowballing/salary negotiation in general? Tell us in the comments!
Note: Content and responses have been edited for length/clarity.
