Have you been asked “What is your desired salary?” by a recruiter or an HR employee? Yes, me too and this is an evil game that everybody should play. Here is a classic scenario;

• At the end of the interview, recruiter ask about your desired salary

• You struggled to tell because you are worrying if your number is too high or too low

• You first ask about their salary range for the position

• Company employee doesn’t want to give you any number for possible negotiation

• In the end, you give your number to not make any mistake

• Company employees say they will get back to you

Although it is now an obligation to post the salary range for companies in the USA starting from New York, there are many countries that hasn't ruled this yet and when governments are not there for the people, we try to solve this problem by our own way unfortunately.

So, where is all the transparency, trust, or equal payment?

I believe that both companies and candidates should be transparent about salary range. This is the most efficient and fairest way for getting to know expectations but how?

Should companies post their salary range in their job applications? Well, in this case, they never know what the candidates’ real expectations

Should candidates give the number in interviews? In this case, companies try to “cheat”

So if nothing works well, how to make this evil game into a funny and fair game?

So here is my solution in the most transparent way for both sides;

I prepared a simple google form that asks salary range from the company, when the recruiter select the range and submit the form, my desired salary is immediately appeared on the screen. No one knows it earlier or later, everything is related to structured system. There is no dirty game, no cheating or any evilness.

Here is an example Google form link, let’s try by yourself!

People can apply this method in the middle of interviews and it takes five seconds to get to know the expectations and desires.

It is not only a benefit for candidates, but it is a great opportunity for companies that wants to provide transparency and build the trust from the first impression. Let’s get rid of any kind of uncertainty, let’s be transparent otherwise current attitudes would only create more chaos for everyone.