What do you think this is?

The discussion about talent and skill shortage in areas such as IT and mainly Information or Cyber Security is getting significantly more intense. At the same time, the unemployment in EU ranges from 5% to 25% (1). And the usual time to fill a position is over 3 months, in cases can reach even to a year (2), with just the interview process to be close to one month in most countries (3, 4). These are alarming indicators about how effective the recruiting industry is - or is not.

It is not uncommon that I see job advertisements with specifically stated salary ranges. It is actually a good thing, as it allows potential and interested employees to know if they want to get a job with that amount, before they apply. It is also very common that recruiters ask for salary expectations during the introductory phone call; before the actual candidate evaluation. Obviously this is driven by the salary range that the hiring company has set to them and they want to minimize the time wasted in a candidate whose salary expectations are not within this range.