About once a week some recruiter emails me with a “great opportunity”. Only the opportunities are usually worse than I have now.
In a keyword search your resume came up as being possibly qualified for the following position I have open
with a very successful IP Network Security software development company I am currently working with in the
Sunnyvale area:Please review the following requirements and reply with a copy of your resume if you would be interested:
Sunnyvale. I quickly do a web search for median home price of Sunnyvale and find its about double my current home value. So I email the guy and tell him my salary requirements to consider a move. His reponse?
Sorry, that’s a CEO salary.
Ignoring for a second that I have yet to meet a CEO worth anywhere near what he gets paid, I tell him to go ahead and outsource the job somewhere with sane real estate prices. I mean, since when are knowlege workers supposed to be stupid enough to take a real pay cut?
No wonder they can’t find qualified workers, they are totally oblivious to the market forces talent has to deal with. My salary expectation is (median home price)/4. No matter where you are. If you can’t pay that, move or plan on outsourcing to some location where people can afford to live on what you are willing to pay. That doesn’t necessarily mean India or China or Russia or some other country. Lots of folks in the US live in sanely priced areas as well who can do the job just as well or better for the money you’re willing to pay as long as you don’t expect them to relocate.
Workers have costs too. Respect that.