• I’m going to go out on a limb and say the recruiter cares about the compensation too. If they aren’t advertising the pay or being transparent about it when asked, I don’t imagine it’s that great; hence the phone call (which is the opportunity to sell you on it). I’ve never used a recruiter. So, I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer this. But if the recruiter is compensated based on a single transaction that is a percentage of the associates’s salary, then I suppose it’ll be up to you to decide who cares more about the position vs compensation.
• As everyone said; take the call. I got my current job from one of these calls after asking about work load, expectations and total compensation in the initial call. They gave a range and it was inline with that I wanted. - Good luck!

• I always ask for a ballpark range if I don’t already have an idea. Might not be the most polite thing to do, but it at least saves us a phone call if we aren’t in the same ballpark. If their range is too low, I’ll respond that I’m looking for X and ask if there’s any way they could meet that or if I could be considered for a higher level.
• I ask immediately. I won’t consider jobs under certain compensation numbers and wasting people’s time is worse in my opinion. If just politely asking for a range is enough to piss them off and take me out of consideration, I probably didn’t want to work at that company anyway. Even if we love our jobs, no one is doing this job just for the love of it, compensation is a massive factor.
• Take the call. We call it “networking”. Charm and finesse go a long way. I’ve landed two tech GC roles because the recruiter remembered me from that five-minute call last year.
• Looking at the expected title and company should give you a good ballpark range. If the opportunity looks interesting from the description, then I’d suggest taking the call and asking about compensation during the call.
• I always ask for a range first thing, especially if they are reaching out to you. There's no point in wasting everyone’s time.

Associate and Attorney Responses:

• First, congratulations! You’re doing great if you’re getting that kind of attention. Second, while you don’t “owe” anyone anything in this scenario, I would recommend you take a call with the recruiter and ask about pay on the call. Even if it doesn’t work out this time around, that connection may be beneficial in the future. - Good luck!
• If you ask, it lets the company know off the bat you care more about the compensation than the position. I would hide through at least a first round, it would be a waste of an hour at most. They might also not want to share their ranges with candidates who aren’t actively interviewing, so they aren’t floating out on the internet.
• Doesn’t everyone care the most about compensation? I do 🤷🏻‍♀️
• You don’t come out and tell the company that you care the most about compensation when interviewing. They will always go with the candidate that cares or at least pretends to care about the opportunity and company. It’s the same as when candidates ask about the title before hearing about the job.
• I always ask. It's a waste of my time if the range is not right.