The first time I watched a hiring manager physically tense up at the mention of posting a salary range, I thought it was about budgets. It wasn’t. It was salary secrecy and fear. Fear of the internal mess it might expose. Fear of questions they weren’t trained to answer. Fear that once the number was out in the open, they’d lose control of a conversation they already felt behind on. Salary transparency wasn’t a compliance issue or a philosophical debate to them, it was a deeply human stress response. I thought it was my job to take their lead and I never argued to do anything different. Weeks later, the offer was rejected and guess who got blamed? It was not the hiring manager.
Here’s the part no one says out loud: choosing not to share salary is still a choice. It’s just one we’ve normalized because it feels easier than arguing with a manager. No challenge, no pushback. No awkward Slack messages. But that silence doesn’t mean nothing is happening. It means the tension gets distributed differently. Usually, back to the recruiter and the candidate - instead of a simple conversation at the beginning, among the candidates, recruiters, and eventually, your own team
The numbers come out anyway. We have a million different ways to get an idea of what people are making and people talk. Making pay feel like a secret just erodes trust. But try convincing that manager who’s scared of hard conversations that it’s a good idea… not so easy.
Why Salary Transparency Feels Like A Hard Choice For Managers
I get why they’re anxious and resistant to this idea of salary transparency. Managers are barely trained to talk about compensation beyond “here’s your bonus and raise.” Then you add the social dynamics of people finding out they are doing the same work for different amounts of money? I don’t think any manager expects something good to happen next.
Managers know pay disparity is emotional as much as it is financial, often from personal experience. Most folks do, myself included. Early in my career when I found out I was making $40,000 less than someone who sat across from me with the same title and less experience? I started looking for jobs and working a lot less. Stay in the office past 5:30? Hell no. Attend your forced fun happy hour? Absolutely not.
No one wants to lose great people (or their efficiency) because some recruiter wanted to disclose salary on a job post. Often those pay inequities were established long before they even got there. Plus, it’s not the industry standard in the United States to share salary on the job post unless it’s required by law - which it is now in 16 states. (You can see each state and the laws by state in this great chart from Paycor here.)
The Case for Posting Salary Ranges Anyway
And still, despite all of that, I think every recruiter should be coaching hiring managers that they should share the salary anyway. Even when it isn’t required by law. Even when we know it might start a hard conversation. In fact, I think it’s your responsibility as a recruiter to consult your manager on this topic.
Hiring managers do not understand the tradeoffs beyond the emotional aspects - they understand the status quo. So, when you have a conversation with hiring managers about the consequences of salary secrecy, keep these things in mind:
- It needs to be presented as a tactical risk. They need to clearly see the friction that comes from salary secrecy. Pay is a roadblock that will stop you from successfully hiring the right person - now or at the offer.
- You do not need to convince a manager to "like" salary transparency. This isn’t picking an ice cream flavor. You’re the recruiting expert and you are going to do what works. Transparency works.
- Make the trade-offs explicit. Wasted ad dollars, wasted time on candidates who want more money, and qualified applicants. 85% of Gen Z reported they are "less likely to apply for a job if the company does not disclose the salary range in the job posting" in an Adobe Survey (more on that here). That’s not going to be a generational thing. That’s the next big trend.
Ultimately, you need them to see that salary transparency is not a neutral choice. As the world of recruiting moves from an order taking model to consulting, this kind of tactical conversation is critical to the transition. Stop ignoring what you know works and make the case with your manager that salary secrecy isn’t a strategy. And address those pay inequities while you’re at it…
