He also mentioned a second instance when an applicant requested a 100% raise in order to enroll her child in an international school with “very high” tuition.
The sharp pay increases that certain software engineers have been requesting without being able to persuade him that they are deserving of them have generated a social media debate among a real estate recruiter in Gurgaon. On X, Bhandari, who goes by @GurugramDeals, presented two examples of techies requesting a 100% raise without providing evidence of their qualifications.
“A guy we interviewed for a tech role was getting Rs 8 LPA and asked us for Rs 19 LPA!” Bhandari penned. Dreaming big is fine, but requesting such a huge leap without any supporting evidence eliminates one’s chances of being chosen. Perhaps these applicants are content in their existing positions and won’t change until they receive a significant raise.
However, the message went viral and received a lot of negative feedback from online critics who believed that Bhandari’s reluctance to pay more was only due to the software engineer’s prior wage range. Many people made the statement that employers and recruiters ought to base employee compensation on their qualifications rather than their most recent payday.
“This post clearly shows why pay transparency should be a norm!” Vedvrat Shikarpur (@I_am_Vedvrat) left a comment. “If your budget is 24 LPA but you judge someone for quoting Rs 19 LPA because they’re ‘currently on 8 LPA,’ the problem isn’t the candidate’s ‘entitlement,’ it’s your mindset stuck in the colonial era.”
Vinay Gaba (@VinayGaba), a lead tech manager at Airbnb, wrote, “I don’t get the concept of remuneration depending on the previous business. The individual may have been lowballed, but since they have excellent talents and recognize their market value, they are requesting the same. Another possibility is that they have advanced significantly during the past one to two years. If the budget permits, he continued, recruiters should have no trouble hiring people who are passing interviews and going above and beyond their expectations.
“If he was a fit for the role, then he is a fit for the salary you budgeted,” stated Sita Giri (@sitagirinair), another educator and X user. Economic concerns might have caused him to accept a lower wage. He doesn’t have to live with the consequences of that error forever. HR bases the compensation on the most recent pay only in India.
Bhandari responded to the criticism by providing an explanation. “All businesses are for-profit companies. Because the company makes money, jobs are created. Unless you are employed by a startup that is losing money to PE or VC funding. When requesting a significant raise, it’s crucial to demonstrate your importance to the organization,” he stated.
He also mentioned a second instance when an applicant requested a 100% raise in order to enroll her child in an international school with “very high” tuition.
“I am posting the pay demand of another woman we interviewed because my previous post about a techie requesting a 137.7 percent raise upset a lot of people. All she requested was a 100% increase in pay, from Rs 12 LPA to Rs 24 LPA. He said, “When asked to defend it, she stated that she needs the hike to be able to pay the extremely high tuition at the international school she wants her child to attend.” “There are many examples like this that we occasionally encounter. Candidates who can’t explain “why they deserve it” are begging for the moon.”
