- 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.
Unstated Compensation Band Discrepancy
Candidate market rate exceeds budgeted compensation for the requisition, but salary band was never published or clarified early.
Mechanism M-004 Intermediary dependent Actor: policyNature: ruleVisibility: opaqueAgency zone: intermediaryEvidence: supported
On the canonical path
Terms compared before anyone spends time — 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.
What it looks like
Composite excerpts, written to be typical rather than copied. No particular message, company or person is quoted here.
- 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.
Barriers where this mechanism operates
Observations this mechanism emits
What this does NOT establish
- Rejection does not mean candidate is overpriced for the market, only mismatched with this specific employer budget.
Causal relations
Interventions targeting this mechanism
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.
- 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.
- 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.
ATS vendorNot visible from here
From this position the entry is not visible. That is not a gap in the atlas — it is the finding: the decision is made where nobody in this position can see it.
Hiring managerNot visible from here
From this position the entry is not visible. That is not a gap in the atlas — it is the finding: the decision is made where nobody in this position can see it.
