Watched 6 people fumble the same salary question at a job fair in Akron and I finally get why
I volunteered at a job fair in Akron last Thursday and sat in on the mock interview table. Six people in a row got asked about salary and every single one of them threw out a number with no research behind it. One guy said $40k for a job that starts at $52k in that area. The recruiter's face said it all. Here is what people keep getting wrong: they treat the salary question like a test they have to pass instead of a talk they get to have. Nobody told them to look up the range first or to ask what the budget is before answering. I know because I made the same mistake at my first interview in 2019 and lost about $8k on the offer. So I started carrying a note card with three numbers on it, the low, the target, and the walk away point. Has anybody else watched this happen at a hiring event, or is it just the crowd I was with?