I just noticed four openings at the same firm on LinkedIn this morning and every one said “competitive pay” with no range — why do we do it that way? Do you skip applying when there’s no salary listed, or am I overthinking it?
Do you ever ping the recruiter first? I stopped guessing at ‘competitive pay’ and send: ‘My target is $X–$Y; does that fit your budget?’ — saves time, though I’ll still apply if the team is exceptional.
When I see “competitive pay” on LinkedIn, I still apply but ask for the budgeted band by level and location before the first screen (e.g., “What’s the band for L5 in NYC?”) and walk if they won’t share. For those four postings this morning, tying it to their internal job grade usually gets a real range faster than tossing out my own number. Caveat: startups often can’t pin salary early, so I ask for total comp (cash + equity) instead.