A professional who recently came back to India after spending several years working overseas is facing an unexpected and frustrating challenge: landing a new job. Despite holding a solid track record and four years of experience at a reputed financial organization abroad, the returnee is finding it difficult to secure meaningful employment offers.
Sharing their story on the subreddit Indian Workplace, the individual revealed that after applying to over a hundred job openings, only a handful—no more than five—actually responded. Even those limited interactions quickly turned uncomfortable. The very first question posed during these calls from recruiters was almost always about the candidate's previous salary, also known as CTC (Cost to Company). The jobseeker found this not only invasive but also inappropriate, particularly given the stark differences in currency value and salary standards between countries.
The frustration deepened when the candidate chose transparency and disclosed their past earnings. Almost immediately after revealing the foreign pay figure, hiring managers would abruptly end communication, effectively ghosting the applicant. This pattern repeated itself enough times to become a source of serious concern and confusion. Seeking advice from others in similar situations, the professional asked how one should even respond to such inquiries when clearly the intent isn't to match qualifications but to lowball based on outdated or irrelevant salary data.
Many users in the forum chimed in to validate the experience, with one pointing out that this approach is unfortunately widespread in the Indian corporate scene. While it may be considered unethical in places like North America or Europe—where employment laws often protect applicants from having to disclose salary history—in India, the lack of legal boundaries allows companies to continue this exploitative trend unchecked.
Others remarked on how absurd the offers could get, with some companies shamelessly proposing salaries as low as ₹1 lakh per annum, even for candidates with senior-level experience. One sarcastic comment mocked the system, citing a scenario where a former CTO was offered just Rs 4 lakh per year. Another contributor gave a hypothetical but all-too-common example: someone earning Rs 25 lakh annually abroad being told that due to a six-month employment gap, the company could now only offer Rs 3 lakh.
The final consensus among users was sobering: regardless of whether a candidate earned in euros or dollars, Indian employers often disregard international benchmarks. Instead of evaluating skills and experience on merit, they prefer anchoring offers to previous CTC figures—no matter how irrelevant or mismatched
Sharing their story on the subreddit Indian Workplace, the individual revealed that after applying to over a hundred job openings, only a handful—no more than five—actually responded. Even those limited interactions quickly turned uncomfortable. The very first question posed during these calls from recruiters was almost always about the candidate's previous salary, also known as CTC (Cost to Company). The jobseeker found this not only invasive but also inappropriate, particularly given the stark differences in currency value and salary standards between countries.
The frustration deepened when the candidate chose transparency and disclosed their past earnings. Almost immediately after revealing the foreign pay figure, hiring managers would abruptly end communication, effectively ghosting the applicant. This pattern repeated itself enough times to become a source of serious concern and confusion. Seeking advice from others in similar situations, the professional asked how one should even respond to such inquiries when clearly the intent isn't to match qualifications but to lowball based on outdated or irrelevant salary data.
Many users in the forum chimed in to validate the experience, with one pointing out that this approach is unfortunately widespread in the Indian corporate scene. While it may be considered unethical in places like North America or Europe—where employment laws often protect applicants from having to disclose salary history—in India, the lack of legal boundaries allows companies to continue this exploitative trend unchecked.
Others remarked on how absurd the offers could get, with some companies shamelessly proposing salaries as low as ₹1 lakh per annum, even for candidates with senior-level experience. One sarcastic comment mocked the system, citing a scenario where a former CTO was offered just Rs 4 lakh per year. Another contributor gave a hypothetical but all-too-common example: someone earning Rs 25 lakh annually abroad being told that due to a six-month employment gap, the company could now only offer Rs 3 lakh.
The final consensus among users was sobering: regardless of whether a candidate earned in euros or dollars, Indian employers often disregard international benchmarks. Instead of evaluating skills and experience on merit, they prefer anchoring offers to previous CTC figures—no matter how irrelevant or mismatched
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