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I recently got a telephone call regarding a new opportunity.

We scheduled a technical Android test completion date on the coming Sunday/Monday.

The other party asked me how much I was getting paid at the moment, I told him it was too early to disclose, and to let me think and proceed forward, then I would let him know on further steps. He seemed uncomfortable with my answer to the salary question.

Anyway, at the end we decided about the technical test and said bye to each other.

I then emailed him later after analyzing the opportunity:

Dear xyx,

Thank you for your consideration me for the position of senior Android Developer. I really do appreciate your time and effort.

After careful consideration, I regret to inform you of my decision to decline the technical Test/job opportunity. Main reason is that Android development and especially game development are not align with my career path. My focus is more towards Enterprise Java development.

Wishing you and the organization continued success.

Yours Sincerely, ABC

after that he sent me the following reply, which seems a little unprofessional to me:

Reply

Hello ABC,

Thanks for being in touch. You were already removed from the list as you were reluctant to disclose your existing salary that shows lack of confidence in your decision making ability in terms of joining a new company.

Kind Regards, XYZ

How should I reply to this email? My intent was to tell them to look for others, I am not interested and save their time. But how should I really reply to this email?

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    An email like that tells you everything about the company you need to know, not the slightest need to reply or bother with them ever again.
    – gnasher729
    Dec 4, 2014 at 9:37
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    In a case like this, I woudl open up a reply email, take out every name form teh to block and write a totally inflammatory response. With no names in the to block, no chance of accidentally sending it, but sometimes it feels better to get out your feelings when you receive somethign you consider offensive. This can help prevent you from obsessively thinking about it past the one minute or so it deserves.
    – HLGEM
    Dec 4, 2014 at 15:50
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    Off-topic hopefully-helpful feedback: Your email to them shows a lack of proficiency with the English language (which is admittedly difficult!). Until you're more confident in it, I'd get someone to look over professional correspondence. Little things like that (fair or not) can make the difference on whether or not you're hired.
    – thumbtackthief
    Dec 4, 2014 at 18:03
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    I would strongly encourage you to laugh - at them for behaving like a fool, and at your fortune for not having gotten a job with people like that. Even better, you don't need to open your email to do it!
    – BrianH
    Dec 5, 2014 at 18:52
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    You dodged a bullet, it's pretty clear he hadn't removed you from any list since you still had an appointment, he's just protecting his huge ego.
    – Formagella
    Dec 7, 2014 at 12:19

6 Answers 6

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No need to reply at all - you don't want this job (for good reasons) and they don't want to offer you a job (for dubious reasons, IMO). Just move on to the next opportunity and don't spend any more time on this one which is clearly not going anywhere. There's nothing to be gained on either side from continuing this conversation.

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  • 11
    Agreed, chill and let it go. You don't want the job, they don't want you (now), the only thing potentially at stake is hurt feelings.
    – Fiora the Ferret
    Dec 4, 2014 at 9:25
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    "dubious reasons" -- in two senses. Firstly that it's of questionable value to exclude anyone who won't disclose current salary. They could instead ask for your salary expectations and proceed with that. Secondly that XYZ might well be lying about having already excluded the questioner from consideration before hearing that they'd withdrawn.
    – Steve Jessop
    Dec 4, 2014 at 10:25
  • nice one , Agreed :)
    – Hitesh
    Dec 5, 2014 at 5:08
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    @SteveJessop: This seems very likely since I would have thought that if you have taken somebody out of the running after organizing a test that you'd let them know they didn't need to waste their time.
    – Chris
    Dec 5, 2014 at 11:59
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How should I reply to this email? My intent was to tell them to look for others, I am not interested and save their time. But how should I really reply to this email?

Don't reply further.

You were approached about a position. You pursued it for a short period of time, then decided not to continue.

You chose not to disclose your salary - that was your choice to make.

Apparently, the recruiter felt that knowledge of your salary was important and would have confirmed that you were serious about the position. That was his decision to make.

There's nothing further to be said here, and no value to continuing a back-and-forth set of emails.

Just end it here and move on.

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    "Chose not to disclose" is silly. Never disclose your salary, as AskTheHeadhunter has been saying for 10+ years. If they push on compensation issues, tell them you discuss that after the interview; give a broad range if necessary.
    – smci
    Dec 5, 2014 at 1:26
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    @smci this. I really shot myself in the foot when I volunteered my salary. I find it amusing that this has any bearing on decision making :D
    – Gusdor
    Dec 5, 2014 at 12:14
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    @Gusdor: contingency recruiters can be as superficial and abrasive as they want. Remember they get fired if they don't make their quota of referrals or coldcalls. The logic on salary is they don't want to waste time chasing a candidate who might ultimately turn an offer down on basis of compensation. But don't play their game.
    – smci
    Dec 5, 2014 at 22:58
  • Answer could be improved by "consider yourself fortunate," perhaps.
    – PoloHoleSet
    Oct 4, 2016 at 16:34
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This is a tricky situation. You got lucky: you and the employer both decided (independently) that it wasn't going to be a good match for you. But the reasons for that are completely different. Here's the key difference. Your reason was because the job wasn't a good fit for your particular career path. Their reason was implying that you are not a good employee.

I personally disagree with their logic here. Specifically, having the fortitude to decline to answer an interviewer's question shows you have more confidence than the average interviewer, not a lack of confidence as they seem to indicate. So it's easy to logically say they are simply wrong in their assessment. What they should have said was "we didn't like that you didn't disclose your salary information, so we cut you loose" because that's what it seems like.

So we can all agree, these guys are jerks and we should forget them. But...

This song is now stuck in my head. This better be worth it.

They made a strike at you. At you as an employee. That has to hurt. Were they wrong? I think it's without question that they are. But this will still effect you.

The key is to not let this attack make you call into question your confidence. You have a responsibility to yourself, and your family and friends if you have them, to be happy in life. And you cannot do that if you're in a job you're getting pressured into because it's the wrong career path for you. So continue to exhibit the same confidence you had in this interview, and I believe you will do well in your endeavors. It is only a matter of time until you find one that respects that confidence and lets you use it to mutual advantage.

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    The question you seem to be answering is "why'd they do that?" or "how should I feel?", neither of which is a good question for this site. Fortunately that's not what the OP asked; the question was about responding to the email. I don't see an answer to that here.
    – Monica Cellio
    Dec 4, 2014 at 19:34
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    That's strange - I read the word "respond", not the word "reply". I simply read it wrong. Also, is coping mechanisms for work related stress or analyzing a professional critique not appropriate for the site? Because that's what the answer is about. You're correct, though, I did misread the question.
    – corsiKa
    Dec 4, 2014 at 20:04
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    I think that this is the answer that the OP needed. Once you understand what's going on (they're being mean, you may feel hurt, etc.) then the rational response is a lot clearer: there is nothing to gain by responding. The employer was being a dickhead.
    – Clay Nichols
    Dec 4, 2014 at 21:46
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You dodged a bullet.

Thanks for being in touch. You were already removed from the list as you were reluctant to disclose your existing salary

You aren't required to disclose your existing salary, and in fact, may be prohibited by employment contract. You even told them you would disclose it at which point it became necessary.

This screams of an employer that wants to pay as little as possible. Whether or not you were removed from the list for it, I'd say this is a person who feels they need absolute control over everything.

that shows lack of confidence in your decision making ability in terms of joining a new company.

That actually shows confidence by standing up to what you believe to be unjust.

How should I reply to this email? My intent was to tell them to look for others, I am not interested and save their time. But how should I really reply to this email?

Don't. The kind of person who would reply like that, wouldn't take well to being challenged. Consider, at best, looking into employment law if they are even able to ask that question. Your prior salary isn't relevant, and it puts the interviewee at a huge disadvantage.

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You might consider replying to this individual if he is a recruiter working to place you with another company. If not, simply ignore it as irrelevant.

You say he said:

Hello ABC,

Thanks for being in touch. You were already removed from the list as you were reluctant to disclose your existing salary that shows lack of confidence in your decision making ability in terms of joining a new company.

Most likely what he meant was "shows lack of commitment in terms of joining a new company". I.e. if you won't talk salary, you aren't really looking for a new position. You obviously felt it was too early to talk salary, and wanted to get other details settled first.

If my interpretation is correct, then the problem was a communication failure (unless you were just testing the waters, and he correctly identified that).

While there are exceptions, in most cases it is reasonable to want the other party to be as interested in establishing a relationship (i.e employment) as you are. If you are determined that you don't want to disclose salary expectations too soon, you might give consideration to how you can express commitment to the process of finding new employment.

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  • I agree, the recruiter typed confidence when commitment was meant.
    – Ben Voigt
    Dec 8, 2014 at 7:48
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As others have already said, the obvious option is to do nothing. You'll probably get very little back as a direct result of chasing this through.

However, if this came from some inept intern at a large recruiter, or something similar at a large company's HR department, and they're essentially saying they've blacklisted you from future work that you might be interested in, do something.

This does depend on that scenario. If the person you got the email from is the head recruiter at a company or the head of an agency, just walk away, but if they have a boss (or a client) that they're managing this for, you have somebody to talk to who will want to discourage future behaviour like that.

Again, it probably doesn't get you a job but you are letting a company know they have an idiot working for them. Embrace them warm fuzzies.

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