Open any job board and you’ll still see the same vague phrasing: “Salary: Competitive” or worse, “To be discussed.” Despite growing demand for salary transparency in hiring, many companies stick to outdated tactics—keeping pay hidden in hopes of attracting a wider applicant pool and retaining negotiating leverage. But rather than appearing strategic, this approach makes your company seem evasive, disorganized, and out of touch with how modern professionals evaluate opportunities.
For candidates, it adds another layer of stress—forcing them to guess whether a role is even financially viable before investing time and energy. For employers, it guarantees wasted hours, lower morale, and long-term damage to the company’s reputation as an employer.
And yet, this practice stubbornly persists.
Salary Secrecy Attracts the Wrong Applicants
These candidates are more likely to settle, but also more likely to leave the moment they find something better. They’re not applying because they’re inspired by the role or aligned with your mission—they’re just hoping the offer is better than whatever else they’ve seen.
The Talent You Want is Looking Elsewhere
When you keep pay secret, you’re not protecting leverage—you’re filtering out the talent you want and inviting in the candidates you’re more likely to regret hiring.
The Illusion of Negotiation Power
One of the most commonly cited reasons for not listing a salary range is the desire to retain “flexibility.” The logic goes something like: if we state a number too early, we lose leverage. But this mindset is flawed from the start—because it assumes your goal is to underpay people.
In a healthy, values-aligned organization, negotiation isn’t about getting someone for less than they’re worth. It’s about reaching a fair agreement based on skills, contribution, and context. If your first move is to hide key information in hopes of squeezing more value out of someone’s labor, you’re not negotiating. You’re manipulating.
Transparency Is Leverage
When a company is upfront about salary, it communicates confidence. It says: we know what this role is worth. We’ve benchmarked. We’re serious. And we’re ready to move forward if you’re a fit.
That clarity can actually strengthen your hand in negotiation, not weaken it. Because now you’re attracting candidates who trust your process, believe in your offer, and are willing to engage in a meaningful dialogue about value—not a combative back-and-forth based on fear and guesswork.
Why Transparency Saves Time and Builds Trust
Ask any recruiter or hiring manager about their most common frustrations and you’ll hear the same themes: too many unqualified applications, candidates ghosting midway through, drawn-out timelines, offer rejections at the final stage. A lot of these headaches trace back to one root cause—unclear expectations.
When salary is hidden, it’s not just the candidate who wastes time. It’s your entire hiring team. You spend hours reviewing résumés, scheduling interviews, and conducting evaluations—only to find out in week three that your top prospect was expecting a salary 25% higher than what you’re prepared to offer.
At MKUltraman, we’ve seen firsthand how clear communication and transparent structures lead to faster, better outcomes—not just in hiring, but across entire organizations.
By simply stating the range up front, you eliminate a huge portion of this churn.
And that’s not just good for efficiency—it’s good for morale. Hiring is expensive. Hiring is emotional. When teams go all-in on candidates who walk away because of misaligned compensation, it’s demoralizing. It creates cynicism inside your organization. Transparency helps avoid that spiral.
Public, Competitive, and Negotiable: A Better Formula
When a company offers public salary ranges that are genuinely competitive, it stands out in a crowded market. Candidates take notice. Conversations move faster. Trust builds earlier. Even if negotiations still happen, they happen in a framework that feels respectful and well-grounded.
And here’s the kicker: candidates are more likely to accept less than their max ask when they feel the process was honest and straightforward. Transparency builds goodwill—and goodwill makes people more cooperative.
Why Accepted Practice Lingers (And Why It’s Time to Move On)
But in today’s hiring environment, that inertia is costing real money.
If your company is trying to attract digitally literate, ethically minded, socially conscious professionals—and let’s be honest, most companies are—you can’t afford to play by yesterday’s rules. What worked in the 1990s doesn’t hold up in a world of Slack, LinkedIn, and global remote work.
Candidates compare notes. Salary review sites exist. People talk. If your job post smells fishy, your brand takes a hit.
Modern recruiting needs modern thinking. And that means questioning old norms—especially the ones that no longer serve.
The Broader Cost: Salary Secrecy as Social Friction
This creates drag—on productivity, on morale, and on wages. It contributes to wage gaps, particularly for underrepresented groups. It distorts labor markets and increases burnout.
Transparent compensation practices, on the other hand, improve decision-making across the board. They allow job seekers to focus their energy, enable managers to plan strategically, and reduce the invisible friction that eats away at economic productivity.
In short, everyone benefits when we stop pretending that hiding salary is harmless.
The Talent You Deserve Is Watching
If you want to attract people who are smart, capable, motivated, and principled, your hiring process needs to reflect those same qualities. That means ditching outdated practices that make your company look evasive or exploitative.
Be proud of what you pay. Share it. Let it speak for your culture. Then watch how quickly your hiring process transforms—for the better.
