I was there with Ticketmaster. It was hilarious. We went back and forth for a good five minutes (that's a long time in a phone call) with our entire arsenal of canned responses. I was a recruiter in the past so I could just hear her going down the list. It got to the point where I don't think she realized I was looking for an out by saying things like "it's ok if we can't reach an agreement, we don't have to proceed with employment discussions." I had to eventually hard end the call with something like "I'm no longer interested in the opportunity."
Still goes down as my favorite recruitment call. No better way to practice "never give a number."
"I can't really effectively talk hard numbers before I've even tried the commute out, which I'll do if we do an on-site interview."
"I haven't had a chance to check over how your health benefits work, so can't speak to any hard numbers."
"What's the range you're looking at?"
"I haven't even had a chance to meet the team and guage my interest in the company, so I can't speak confidently to what I'd need for this position"
"I'm not sure what the job entails exactly so I wouldn't be comfortable speaking numbers yet"
Edit: check later and I'll have added later-stage-strategies
"I'd be more comfortable talking numbers after having an idea of your range"
"What's your comfort level?"
"What are you offering for this position?"
"What do you typically offer for (job) at this skill requirement?"
"I don't like to get caught up in details without first knowing your comfort level"
"I don't come to the table with a hard salary requirement - tell me what you're looking at and I'm confident we can work it out"
"The end salary isn't nearly as important to me as good team fit. If you have a number you're comfortable with, let me know and I promise I'll be able to fit within reasonable expectations"
I love that last one. In my head you've run right through the checklist, popping out a new reason not to offer up a number first, before hitting the last one and just coming right out with it.
Haha pretty much. I've only ever once had to run through the whole list and it was with ticket Master. My end is "if you aren't able to proceed with the interview process without having a range for me, that's ok, I'm happy to separate now on mutual good terms."
She wouldn't even relent with that though... I had to hang up on her. Never seen anything like this before or since.
Still goes down as my favorite recruitment call. No better way to practice "never give a number."