---
id: M-004
type: mechanism
title: "Unstated Compensation Band Discrepancy"
lang: en
registry: 2026.08.2
canonical: https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-004
json: https://hoba.work/api/v1/mechanisms/M-004.json
---

# Unstated Compensation Band Discrepancy

Candidate market rate exceeds budgeted compensation for the requisition, but salary band was never published or clarified early.

> **On the canonical path** — [Terms compared before anyone spends time](https://hoba.work/process#WF-003-terms-check)
>
> Band, level, location, notice period and start date are put side by side in the first conversation, before any assessment is scheduled. Either side can stop here at no cost to the other.
>
> This entry is one of the ways that commitment stops being kept.

## At a glance

- Actor: policy
- Nature: rule
- Visibility: opaque
- Agency zone: intermediary
- Evidence: supported

## What it looks like

Composite excerpts, written to be typical rather than copied. No particular message, company or person is quoted here.

**The number nobody published** — *reconstruction*

```
  week 4 Recruiter  Before the manager round — what were your expectations again?
  week 4 Candidate  85–95k, as I mentioned at the screen.
> week 4 Recruiter  Right. I should be straight with you: the approved budget for this req tops out at 74k. It was never in the posting.
```

*What to notice* The mismatch existed on day one and surfaced in week four. Four rounds were spent on a gap that a published band would have shown immediately.

## From each side

The same entry from inside each position that meets it: what reaches them, what it means from there, and what happens next given what they control.

### Employer policy

- **What reaches them:** The approved maximum for the requisition, the levelling grid it sits on, and the disclosure rules that apply to the posting.
- **What it means from there:** The band is a control on cost across every hire. Whether it is published is a separate question, answered by the rules of the jurisdiction.
- **What happens next:** Sets the ceiling and what may be stated, on a cycle measured in quarters. The hours one process spends above that ceiling appear nowhere in that cycle.

### Recruiter

- **What reaches them:** The approved maximum in the requisition, and the candidate's stated expectation from the screen.
- **What it means from there:** A gap here decides the outcome whatever the panel returns.
- **What happens next:** Chooses when the number is said, which is the point where this can still be closed early. Saying it early ends a pipeline on a metric that is measured, and saves rounds on one that is not.

### Candidate

- **What reaches them:** A posting with no band, and a question about expectations asked before any number is offered.
- **What it means from there:** The figure given can be checked against nothing. The band, the level and the grid are all outside what the candidate is shown.
- **What happens next:** States a range and records when it was asked and what was said. Asking for the band at the screen is the one point where the gap can surface early.

### Public policy and industry standards

- **What reaches them:** Whether the posting falls inside a jurisdiction where a band must be stated, and whether a stated band appears.
- **What it means from there:** A published band closes the branch a disclosure rule reaches. The level a candidate is assessed at, and the grid behind it, sit outside the text of the rule.
- **What happens next:** Writes to what is enforceable and measurable, which is the presence of a number in a posting rather than the reconciliation that happens later.

## What this observation does NOT establish

- Rejection does not mean candidate is overpriced for the market, only mismatched with this specific employer budget.

## Related entries

- operates at — [B-004](https://hoba.work/barriers/B-004) — Recruiter Screening Call
- operates at — [B-009](https://hoba.work/barriers/B-009) — Compensation & Leveling Reconciliation
- emits — [A-002](https://hoba.work/artifacts/A-002) — Generic "closer alignment" rejection template
- emits — [A-005](https://hoba.work/artifacts/A-005) — Compensation band reduced or altered mid-process
- emits — [A-013](https://hoba.work/artifacts/A-013) — Feedback stating candidate is overqualified for the grade
- amplifies — [M-013](https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-013) — Mid-Process Role Requirement Redefinition
- masks — [M-001](https://hoba.work/mechanisms/M-001) — Genuine Technical Skill Shortfall

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