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The market is changing and the bargaining poster is shifting across recruiter and prospects. So you need to decide if the salary you’re being offered is good but not necessarily great.
The rules we lived by for decades no longer apply. Being currently employed gives you more freedom to wait for a higher paying job, but it doesn't mean a company will be more willing to offer a higher salary to get you. A lot of people are unemployed and willing to work for whatever they are offered. That's what you're competing against.
The whole job market right now is weird. I would think that having a job would put you in a better position to negotiate, because when you don't have a job, you are more desperate usually, but I could be wrong.
Mentor
That super strange you would get ghosted when you have an offer in hand. I’ve been at the same company 7 years but when I got my offer and negotiated the recruiter was very responsive. How many people are experiencing this in today’s market?
’ve heard both sides on negotiating while employed. In theory you have more leverage, but some companies do seem to interpret firm negotiation as “this person will be hard to close” and move on too fast.
Subject Expert
Having a job absolutely strengthens your position — but it's not the reason you're getting ghosted.
The more likely culprit: your number is landing too early in the process before they're sold on you. If compensation comes up in the first recruiter screen, you're negotiating before they've built any attachment to you as a candidate. The sequence matters as much as the number.
Push back on early salary questions with: "I'm open depending on the full package — can we revisit once we're both more serious?" That buys you leverage.
Also worth auditing: are you targeting roles where your current comp is genuinely in range? If you're consistently hitting ceilings, the market may be telling you something about title or industry alignment.
Ghosting usually isn't about being overqualified — it's about mismatched expectations set too soon.
What point in the process are salary conversations typically happening for you?