4

Every now and then I get contacted by recruiters, even though I explicitly stated that I am not interested in job offers. I usually decline any further contact, since I'm already in a good position with incredible benefits and I don't want to waste any time with mediocre crap.

But of course, if someone is willing to pay me a lot, I'm open for a talk. I want to reply with something like:

Thanks for your request. To be honest, I'm really happy with my current employer. So if you can tell me first what compensation I can expect, I will gladly have a look at it.

But I am not sure if this sounds too arrogant. On the other hand, I don't want to spend more than 5 minutes for someone stating they pay "above-average compensation", when it then turns out that my expectations are way too high.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
12

Thanks for reaching out to me. Can you tell me about this opportunity and what the salary range is?

Simple and to the point. This is always my first response to a recruiter.

You don't need to say anything about your current situation, and frankly, recruiters don't care. They're contacting you in the hopes of filling the clients need so that they can get paid. They have no interest in you beyond that.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    This, don't worry about their needs, they contacted you. Get the information you want first. Keep it short.
    – Kilisi ♦
    Mar 22, 2019 at 0:48
  • Just don’t expect what they tell you to be accurate.
    – AffableAmbler
    Mar 22, 2019 at 0:52
  • And don't give anything out, especially not to "What's your bottom line [minimum you will accept]?", or "What's your current salary?" (which is in this answer, but I thought I'd emphasize).
    – Justin
    Mar 22, 2019 at 9:19
2

Asking is not very hard; it's a pretty simple question. Your suggested sentence seems pretty straightforward to me.

However, they may not know. In fact, the company who is hiring may not know yet. Sure, if you're hired by a factory where salaries are determined by a few objective parameters they can just rattle it off a table, but those typically aren't jobs where they actively seek out and recruit individuals. For IT jobs for instance, how high the initial salary is is often determined by how senior you are. Unless you have gone through the interview process and they have had the time to assess you, they won't know how much they will offer you.

But you may be able to turn it around. Don't ask what they're offering. Tell them you're not interested unless they offer at least X amount. For the past couple of years, I've been telling recruiters roughly what I'm making and the perks I really care about (working from home) and that I'm not at all interested in any job which doesn't substantially offer more. That seems to be successful at keeping them away. (Of course, I may have missed some interesting offers that way).

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.