Admittedly, I did have the mindset of finding talents at a lower salary point. It felt like a win for the company as we could keep expenses low and a win for myself that I was able to negotiate in favor of the company.
As the person hiring (the Employer side), I had the bargaining power to always go for this question first.
"What was your last salary?"
"What is your expected salary?"
In negotiation, whoever shares the number first has a disadvantage.
Overall, I had candidates who stood firm on their expected salary, but I recalled also having a number of candidates I hired who were lower than what we expected to pay.
Now reflecting on this whole approach which is widely used everywhere, I'm not proud of it.
I've come to learn that many perceive transparency as damage in the short term, but the long-term benefits are huge. Similar to #BuildingInPublic that I often talk about.
1/ This salary negotiation game might save the company some money. But think about what can happen next. This person stays for a year or so. Because he/she feels undervalued, he/she is then hired by another company that uses the same approach. It is a never-ending cycle.
2/ Senior executives love to bet on employees not sharing salary info with one another, but this rarely happens.
Tons of time is then spent on hearing employees out, negotiating with employees, etc.
Worst of all, this is all distraction from real contribution ("real work").
What do I believe in today? Transparency.
If I'm running my company right (generating enough value), I should be open about who is making how much doing what kind of work. This allows everyone to focus on value creation, which comes back to benefiting company.