A friend of mine is considering a new job.  Drew has gone through a phone screen/interview and a face-to-face interview.  They didn't post a salary range, and he forgot to ask, so he emailed the recruiter he's dealing with and she said:

I'm sorry not to answer your question, Andrew.  Our salary and benefits packages are competitive to the industry market.  Give me your current salary expectations and I can run that number by our CAO and see if it's even worth your while to come in here on Thursday.
Best Regards,
A.D.T.

He asked me what to make of it, and frankly I don't have a clue.  I told him something I heard in class last weekend regarding negotiations -- never make the first offer.  If you come in lower than their upper-limit, then you've just set the upper threshold.  If you just sit and wait, their initial offer may be better than what you thought you could negotiate and it becomes your starting point.

Still, it doesn't make sense that the company would be recruiting for a position and they don't have an idea what the salary would be.  Anybody have any ideas?

Tags: salary+negotiations, career, pmba, recruiting, job+search