How to Navigate Lowball Offers in Tech Hiring

Lowball offers are a growing trend we’re seeing in tech hiring today. The market has a surplus of highly qualified candidates, and as supply increases and demand stays the same, there’s more competition, giving employers more leverage. You must go into your interviews ready to answer the compensation question – so come prepared.

If you know your worth, you won’t be asking for compensation on the lower end of your band. These numbers change, but here are the 4 approaches you should take to prepare.

1. Look at similar job posts in California

California’s salary disclosure law requires employers to post salary ranges on all active job postings. Look at several similar job postings to develop a comp range before the interview.

Now, the occasional dishonest recruiter will post a wide range, something like $65,000 – $300,000, but you can mitigate this by collecting data from multiple companies. The more data points you have, the more accurate your understanding of the comp will be.

2. Check Levels.fyi

Levels.fyi is an excellent site for compensation data. However, it is also biased towards compensation from top companies. Consider the stage of your company, and if you’re looking at a role within a startup, read on for more advice.

3. Ask questions on Blind

Get active on Blind and ask for compensation data. However, be very specific about the stage of the company (information you can pull from Crunchbase), the employee count, and the location. Current or previous employees may be able to comment and provide accurate salary insights, or you may get a range of data from people in similar roles.

4. Don’t directly answer the compensation question

When asked what your salary expectations are, turn the question around immediately. Here’s how I would respond,

“I don’t understand the full scope of the role at this point in the process, and the economy is shifting rapidly, but I’m very excited about the role and, more importantly, the company; what’s your budgeted salary range?”