Setting Clear Salary Expectations During Interviews

In the early days of Gem, we lost a perfect candidate despite doing everything right … except one simple mistake I'll never make again. Here's what happened: We were talking to this dream candidate. One of the first 20 people at a unicorn (think Airtable during hypergrowth). They'd seen every phase of growth. Perfect fit. The process looked incredibly positive. We pulled out every stop: - Personalized congrats emails from our entire team - Tribute video with each teammate sharing their excitement - Investors reaching out personally - Calls with board members Our full-court press. The tactics that usually won. We got to the offer stage confident. …then everything fell apart. Not because they didn't want to join. I could tell they REALLY wanted to be here. In their heart, they were already part of the team. The problem: We'd never aligned on compensation expectations early. They needed 40% more cash than we could offer. And I totally got it. They'd entered a new life phase: family, mortgage, responsibilities. Very different from joining that pre-PMF company five years earlier. Our equity was compelling, but they needed cash certainty. It was painful for everyone. We'd invested so much time and energy. They'd gotten excited. And it all came down to a conversation we should've had on day one. What's the takeaway? Align on comp expectations early. Really early. It's not just about saving time. It's about respecting everyone involved: your team who's investing in the process, and the candidate who's imagining a future with you. All those high-touch recruiting tactics? They mean nothing if you're not aligned on the fundamentals. I take full accountability for this mistake. We had all these sophisticated recruiting processes but missed one of the basics. Now, comp alignment is one of the first conversations we have. It's not the most comfortable topic to bring up early, but it's far less painful than the alternative. That candidate went on to do amazing things. No hard feelings on either side. Just a lesson learned the hard way. And honestly? It made us better recruiters. We still do all those high-touch things. But now we make sure we're building on a foundation of clear expectations. Sometimes the most important recruiting lessons aren't about what you add to your process. They're about what you shouldn't skip.

Interviewing for a job is often not a fun exercise for the candidate - and sometimes neither it is for the hiring manager . Why is that? I think it's a matter of clarity of expectations - usually on compensation Let me use a simple example to make my point. I am the candidate - I think I am a good fit for the generic role description I read. I tailor my CV slightly to make it easy for the hiring manager to see the fit and they call me for an interview . Based on whatever research I did - I figured the fair comp is 100K for the role. Let's say I aced the interview as well. How does it go wrong from here ? 1. Hiring manager asks me what my expectation is and I say 100K. He says that's way beyond his budget and it stops there and we have both wasted our time. 2. Let's say I ask in reverse what's the range for this job and they give a big range - say 80K to 150K. I pick a mid point and negotiate from there downward. Good chance I can agree on a number that gets me an offer. But I will regret it from the day I join thinking I could have started higher When I am the hiring manager and I get asked the question on the range - I don't just give a random range. I explain what I am looking for at each bookend. This gives the candidate a chance to explain where they stand in that spectrum and we can agree on a comp that's reasonable. We both can ask each other sensible questions to arrive at that conclusion. In all my years of hiring - I have never lost a candidate on comp when I have followed this approach. Unfortunately I very rarely get asked the question this way though. There are a million variants that make each situation unique. The extreme case is the candidate who cannot survive without this job and hence will take the job at any pay, or a hiring manager who absolutely needs to hire then and there and hence will agree to whatever the candidate asks. Those are not the median cases - but unfortunately most comp negotiations start with a false assertion that this is the case. Experienced recruiters help both sides see the fallacy - but there are only so many good recruiters around any given combo of hiring manager and candidate ! Aim for clarity as early as possible in the process. Know what your needs are and what you are willing to compromise. Design time decisions are easier to work with than run time decisions !

"If I'd known the salary range earlier, I wouldn't have interviewed." ... dead silence on the other end of the call. My candidate had just finished three rounds of interviews.  ▶️glowing feedback from everyone.  ▶️the team was excited about this "perfect hire." And I was about to crush everyone's dreams with their lowball offer... That moment taught me the most expensive question in recruiting isn't "What are your salary expectations?" ... it's the one you don't ask. Now I lead every screening call the same way:  ▶️"Before we dive in, what salary range are you targeting?" Some recruiters think it's too direct. Some candidates get uncomfortable. But you know what's more uncomfortable? ▶️Wasting 6 hours of interviews on a deal that was dead before it started. Here's the brutal truth:  ▶️A rockstar candidate wanting $20K over your max budget isn't a "maybe." ▶️They're a "no" with expensive consequences. The candidate feels misled. The hiring manager feels frustrated. You feel like an idiot. Save the heartbreak. Ask about money first. Your candidates will thank you. Your hiring managers will thank you. Your sanity will thank you. What's your take - salary talk first, or save it for later?