Bit of a long story below:
Got an email from a recruiter yesterday, asking if I was interested in a position. I'm not really, the job is pretty much what I'm doing right now except it wouldn't be for an MSP, and would be onsite rather than hybrid. And I like my job, so doubly not interested.
Anyway, I responded out of curiosity, asking what the pay was for this job. That was the only question I asked, no info on whether or not I'm interested. He gives me a pay range, the high end of it is almost exactly double my current pay, and the low end wasn't too much lower. Okay, now he's got my attention.
We go back and forth, he's looking for specific things, which are listed in my resume, but not in quite the way he wants. I adjust my resume a few times, probably took him longer to read it with the changes than it did for me to adjust. Finally, once he's happy with it, he sends "oh, and what pay range are you looking for".
I email him back, reminding him that was my first question, and quote the pay range he gave me, making it clear that I'm quoting what he gave and I was fine with that range. He shoots back almost immediately that range is a bit too high for the position, and they've got someone else interested who's willing for a different amount already, that's 20k below it.
That's still significantly above my current pay, but I just know it's not going to end there. If I interview with them, they're going to say that was pushing it as well/that's higher than he was told/budget cuts/blah blah, and offer me even less.
I email him back and say that the new amount is fine, remind him again that I was just quoting his statement on the pay, not making that request myself. And also mention, to avoid the above rigamarole, that if it goes lower than that I am not interested. He had been responding to all the other emails within 5-10 minutes, and unsurprisingly after I told him that no further responses.
No big loss. But I don't see why recruiters can't just be honest from the start and avoid wasting their own time.
