recruiters and divulging current salary

LinkedIn is a strange experience when used as a news feed. I feel like I have very little control over what is given to me, and a good 3/4ths of it isn’t really relevant. Plus there’s tons of these little “10 ways to be happy,” posts that, while inspirational, are less impactful when you can get 10 of them per 5 minutes while browsing any social media platform (incidentally, I prefer imgur’s picture formats for quick consumption and favoriting for later).

But sometimes I find interesting inspiration in strange places. For instance, this Forbes article: The Recruiter Got Mad When I Wouldn’t Divulge My Salary. I don’t have a problem with recruiters or divulging what I need to, but the article is a reminder to take charge of yourself in the process, but also be realistic about the recruiter relationship as well. To question questions, and keep everything in context without offering more than is necessary. (I always feel squirmish when talking about my current or past salary. That goes away if we’re talking target or asking salaries, interestingly enough!)

Why the heck is this here? Because it’s relevant to me, and in a professional world, relevant to the greater experience of being in infosec. I’ve had bad interactions with a particular firm or two earlier in my career to the point where I won’t bother them ever again (and believe me, I felt like a bother!). But I’ve had great interactions as well. Kinda like dating or finding jobs, it’s a numbers game as well as a personal effort game.

But really, I wanted to save this link for future attitude encouragement; there’s a certain self-confident-optimism-without-being-arrogent between the lines of this article that I really tapped into. That’s why I’m saving this.

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