Give the applicant the real range

Integrity · Little Light original

The interview is going well. The candidate has prepared carefully, the team can imagine working with them, and only near the end does someone ask what salary they expect. Everyone knows the approved range. Only the person making the largest decision with the least information does not. Share the real range early enough for it to be useful. Explain which experience would place someone at different points, what else is included, and whether the number can move. A candidate may still choose to continue, negotiate, or step away. Those choices become more honest when they are not built on several hours of unpaid guessing. Recruitment is one of the first experiences a person has of how an organisation uses power. Make it consistent with the culture you describe. You can protect a budget without hiding the boundaries of the conversation. A clear range will not guarantee agreement, but it lets both sides discover a mismatch before optimism turns into avoidable disappointment.

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