Salary Transparency Debate: 4 rounds of interviews and 3 weeks of hard work went in vain, candidate rejected a package of ₹ 20 lakh; Startup founder admitted his mistake

In today’s era, salary (CTC Package) is one of the most important aspects for those looking for a change of job or a new job. Before becoming a part of any company, any candidate definitely wants to ensure whether the package he gets is as per his qualifications and expectations or not. But in the corporate world, often companies do not disclose the salary range while posting job vacancies, which ultimately wastes precious time and resources of both the candidate and the company.

One such interesting and eye-opening case has come to light on social media, which has raised eyebrows in the corporate world. Salary Transparency (Clear information about salary) A new debate has been started regarding this. A startup founder publicly admitted his mistake, saying that after completing a long recruitment process in his company, a qualified candidate ₹20 lakh annually Outright rejected the job offer. The reason was a huge gap between the candidate’s expectations and the company’s budget.

Three weeks long race, 4 interview rounds and finally ‘No deal’

Sharing the inside story of this entire incident, startup founder Abhishek Aggarwal wrote a post on the social media platform LinkedIn. He told that his company had started hiring for a specific post. An eligible candidate applied and became a part of the company’s rigorous selection process.

• Tough test: The candidate took the total one by one. 4 tough interview rounds Successfully passed.

• Waste of time: This entire recruitment process is about three weeks (21 days) It continued till then. Both sides put a lot of time, energy and effort into it.

• Salary issue: When it came to offering the final salary in the last phase after all the rounds were cleared, both the parties were stunned. The company offered a package of ₹ 20 lakh per annum to the candidate as per its fixed budget, while the candidate was offered a package of ₹ 20 lakh per annum as per his market value. ₹28 lakh annually Was expecting. Due to this huge gap of ₹ 8 lakh, the candidate flatly refused to accept the offer.

Founder admitted his big mistake on the word ‘competitive salary’

Abhishek Aggarwal admitted very honestly in his LinkedIn post that his company’s policies were entirely responsible for this disappointing situation. Decoding his gaffe, he made two main points:

confusing words: No clear figure or range regarding salary was given in the job advertisement. It was only written in the advertisement that the company ‘Competitive Salary’ Will give. The founder admitted that the scale of this word may be different for every person. Based on his previous credentials and experience, the candidate considered it to be ₹28 lakh, whereas the company’s competitive limit was ₹20 lakh.

• Clarity is important in the beginning: The founder admitted that if he had written a fixed salary range on the first day of hiring or at the time of job posting, this situation would not have arisen. Doing so would have stopped this long drama that lasted for three weeks and would have saved precious time for both parties.

Same role, but different salary: Why does this misunderstanding arise?

Abhishek also exposed a bitter truth of the job market in his post. He told that the salary structure for the same designation can be completely different in different companies.

1. The package of a manager or developer in an early stage startup or small company can be ₹15-20 lakh.

2. At the same time, for the same role and responsibility in a big multinational company (MNC) or a funded startup, one can get a salary of up to ₹ 30-40 lakh.

This is the reason why it is impossible to accurately estimate the actual salary of any job just by looking at the job title. Candidates always have high expectations based on their existing skills, experience and market demand, while companies have their own internal budget limitations.

Anger of users erupted on social media; Increasing demand for transparency

This post of the founder went viral on social media in no time and the working youth started expressing their anger and opinions in the comment section.

• User Opinion: Most working professionals supported the founder’s stand and said that companies should stop hiding salary ranges in their job postings.

• Disappointing Experience: One user wrote, “Having an offer withheld after 4 rounds of marathon interviews just because the salary budget does not match is extremely stressful and frustrating for any candidate.”

• Best Practice: Many HR experts advised that in any recruitment process, the salary expectations (Expected CTC) and company budget should be discussed openly during the first round of HR screening call itself, so that the journey ahead remains transparent.