Rotten Job Recruitment: No Salary Advertised. When unemployment is high, employers and recruiters daringly wield unlimited power during the recruitment process. By omitting pay information they place applicants at a disadvantage during the wage negotiation.

Sins of the Secret Salary

There are many job adverts specifically targeting inexperienced youth and other vulnerable job seekers. Sadly, these applicants don’t realise the real reasons why companies don’t want them to know salary ranges before an interview.

Corporate SA and recruiters don’t like being called out on this practice as they can’t justify it against our Constitution and they know it! The Constitution states our right to dignity and fair labour practices.

As a job seeker, it is your right to be able to evaluate if a particular opportunity is worth your while or not. Organisations are aware of the fact that applicants usually have to spend money in order to attend an interview. They believe this investment is your problem and don’t care if you are poor and need to borrow money and clothes to be interviewed.

The practice of withholding information is an unfair advantage oppressing those with the least amount of power in an economy shadowed by high unemployment.

Let’s list potential reasons for non-disclosure:

To have the upper hand during negotiations.
The offering is so low the company is too embarrassed to make it public.
The organisation doesn’t value trust and transparency.
Recruiters know they will have many applicants and can make them compete for the job by negotiating for the lowest possible rate.
These adverts work on applicants who are desperate and will apply regardless of what they offer. These applicants are easier to hire at a low rate.
Recruiters disempower applicants intentionally so they can surprise them in the interview to see who shows the most gratitude and desperation.
Recruiters test who will raise income-related questions and then remove them from a shortlist as they’re labeled ‘potential troublemakers.’
To make you beg.

Recruiters and employers who withhold information

Words you can use to describe them are mean, manipulative, untrustworthy, unprofessional, unfair and ignorant pigs.

These adverts should warn applicants of the following:

Organisations place these ads to take advantage of youth, vulnerability, desperation and inexperience.
Organisations placing adverts that don’t provide the information need to lie about their corporate culture. They have a problem with transparency, honesty, fair labour practice and respect.
Organisations often target youth as they are often uninformed, very naive and unable to defend their rights. Basically, youth = easy meat for corporates.
These organisations understand that the more you know, the more difficult it is to negotiate you down. Information is power.
Secretive organisations view recruitment as a power relationship where your weakness is that you had to apply to their unfair job advert in the first place.

Companies that Publish Salaries

Regardless of what they offer – at least it’s visible to potential applicants. What it says about them:

They have conviction in their offer, and even if it’s low – they will probably be more honest with you about future prospects.
They understand the need for transparency and in providing you with the information to decide if you REALLY want to be part of their team before you use your resources and attend an interview.
They probably have leaders who think that withholding information is silly, small-minded, exploitative and a cheap ego shot.
You’re welcome to negotiate knowing where their budget lies. If you want them to change it – they would expect you to have an attractive, well-thought-out negotiating argument.
It’s likely that these companies communicate values and principles that show respect for human dignity. By comparison, companies who withhold this information such as Truworths, communicate vague values and principles. They don’t specify actual value-driven behaviours that inform employees’ code of conduct. As they say nothing about respecting the dignity of individuals – they don’t practice it.

Claim Your Power from Recruitment Vultures

Weak recruiters prey upon desperation. They try everything they can to turn your desperation into their profit.

The first tip is obvious:

Look for recruitment adverts that state a salary or stipend and submit the best possible application you can. Compete hard because you want to be at a company that is most likely to respect your dignity.

The next tip is four steps to take if you need to apply to companies that operate like recruitment vultures:

Call them before you apply or before the interview.
Give a false name, be friendly and upbeat, and say you’re excited to be applying for the position and would like to inquire about the salary/stipend. Don’t give your real name as a company hiding this information will use it against you.
If they give you the runaround, keep your cool – remember they want you to play their game which is for you to be powerless. By questioning them before the interview you are showing them that you have power and that scares them #$@%. They won’t want you so remember no.2.
If they say it’s market-related, sweetly explain you don’t know what that means, so can they give you an idea or tell you where to find the information, please?

If they appear unwilling you don’t need to push the point – you made the call to prepare for an interview. Now that you made the call and had a taste of their machine – you know what to expect.

Decide carefully if you want to spend your money on an interview with companies who communicate no respect for you as an applicant or your right to fair labour practice.

Just remember I’m ALWAYS here to share your experience and do what I can to help.

Please share this information so that we outsmart industry practices that exist to dehumanise us as individuals who have a right to be selective about who and why we apply for jobs.