Seriously though, how do people get 50%+ hikes in India?
Confession - I just got a job offer where HR said, “We can only do 15% because your current CTC is low”… meanwhile, my ex-colleague (same role, same skills) joined a new company last month for double his old salary. HOW?!
Are y’all blackmailing CEOs with their tax evasion secrets or what?
Some questions I need answer to -
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What’s the dumbest excuse HR gave you before caving? (“Our increment cycle is in 8 months” doesn’t count, that’s standard.)
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Did you actually have competing offers, or did you just gaslight them into thinking you did?
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Did you use the “I’ll walk away” option, or butter them up first?
No company names, no humblebrags – just real tactics. Let’s help each other stop leaving money on the table.
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
Simply put you need to shop offers. HRs hate it because it actually works. I once had an HR say it's unethical, to which I responded that asking people to serve 90 days notice is even worse, and paying a new hire double the salary for the same role and giving 3% hikes to existing employee is the worst.
you have my respect boss👏, if you really said that upfront.
Did 3 things:
Researched salaries for my role and asked for the 75th percentile.
Told them I wouldn’t share my current CTC but shared my “expected” range upfront.
Had a list of projects where I’d saved costs/boosted revenue at my old job. HR pushed back, but the hiring manager loved #3. Got 65% hike.
if CTC is high , then they will say we can offer the same salary
if CTC is low , then they will say we do have budget
For me, they didn't say they had a budget bro. my previous ctc was 2.1lpa and my yoe was 4.4 relevant years. I asked for 6lpa coz my cctc is way below the average of what others are getting paid, they said it should go to approval, I said okay. But in offer letter it was just 4 lpa, and when I asked, they told you've nearly got 100% hike and this is the best they could do. I didn't have any counter offer so I said yes and joined. Waiting till next year to move out.