The HR Decoded: Episode 2

The Great Salary Heist (And How To Win)

Feb 12, 2026

“How old are you?”

That’s what the HR manager asked Ifedapo Adewole, right after she stated her rate for a Community Manager role at a major consumer electronics company.

Not “What’s your experience?”

Not “What results have you delivered?”

How. Old. Are. You.

She knew instantly; this wasn’t a negotiation; it was a setup.

The HR manager came back with an offer 30% lower than her asking rate.

The justification was: “It’s a good deal for your age.”

Translation: We’re not paying you for the value you bring. We’re paying you based on how many years you’ve been alive.

Ifedapo walked away, but most people in her position won’t because of desperation.

And that’s exactly what exploitative companies are counting on.

Welcome to The HR Decoded, Episode 2: where we expose the global salary heist and the tactics companies use to systematically underpay professionals while making it sound like they’re doing you a favour.

Spoiler: They’re not.

The salary heist: 3 tactics they use to rob you blind

Tactic 1: The invisible budget (can you guess what we’re paying?)

Have you ever seen those job descriptions that are powerfully written, with the right words that pique your interest?

But somehow, they “forgot” to mention the pay.

You decided to go ahead with the application anyway.

You spend:

45 minutes tailoring your resume
30 minutes on a cover letter
Another hour researching the company, stalking their LinkedIn, prepping for questions they haven’t even asked yet

Three rounds of interviews later, they hit you with an offer so low you feel a sudden urge to either rush to the toilet or punch someone in the face.

Can I tell you a secret?

They intentionally wasted hours of your life. And they knew you’d let them.

Because by the time you’ve invested 6+ hours into the process, you’re emotionally committed. You’ve already imagined yourself in the role. You’ve told your family about it. You’ve mentally spent the salary you thought you’d get.

Now you’re negotiating from a place of loss aversion, not power.

That’s not an accident, it’s the strategy.

Tactic 2: “competitive salary” (competitive with what, exactly?)

This phrase is so smooth. So official, professional and almost reassuring.

When they say “competitive salary,” here’s the translation: “We’re not telling you what we pay, but we promise it’s not the absolute worst in existence.”

Competitive with what, though?

The startups paying ₦150k or the multinationals paying ₦800k?
Market rates from Lagos? Ibadan? 2015, before the triple economic threat of Buhari, COVID, and Tinubu?
Your current salary? (So if you’re underpaid now, they’ll just underpay you “competitively”?)

The phrase is weaponized vagueness. It sounds good enough to keep you interested, vague enough to mean absolutely nothing.

It’s the corporate equivalent of “I’ll call you later” after a bad first date.

No, they won’t.

Tactic 3: The salary history trap (how you lost ₦6.1M without noticing)

You’ve made it to the third interview. You’re excited. The hiring manager leans in and asks:

“What’s your current salary?”

You pause.

You’ve heard you shouldn’t answer this question, but you also don’t want to seem difficult.

So you’re honest: “₦250,000.”

Two days later, the offer comes in: ₦300,000.

You feel grateful. A 20% raise!

What you didn’t know: The role was budgeted at ₦450,000.

Let’s do the math you wish you’d done earlier:

₦170,000 lost per month
₦2,040,000 lost per year
₦6,120,000 lost over three years

Gone. Evaporated. Because you answered one question honestly.

Here’s why this trap works so beautifully (especially for early-career professionals):

Your first job pays poorly because you’re “entry-level” and “learning.”
Your second job asks what you earned - offers 10-15% more
Your third job asks what you earned - offers 10-15% more than that

You spend your entire career climbing a ladder that started in a hole.

It’s worse for:

Women, who are statistically paid less early on, carry that penalty forward forever
Career pivoters, who get punished for their previous industry’s pay scale
People from underfunded sectors (NGOs, education, creative industries, startups) who never catch up

Ruth Adekola (Bloomberg Global HR Team) puts it bluntly:

“Your previous compensation has NOTHING to do with this company’s compensation budget. If you were underpaid before, they might underpay you now. Your past salary doesn’t determine your market value; your skills, the role requirements, and the current market do. But companies that keep asking for this information under whatever disguise do so because they’re banking on your desperation to reveal unnecessary information.”

Why the heist works (and why you keep falling for it)

The salary heist succeeds because of four structural advantages:

Information asymmetry – They know what everyone makes. You don’t.
Power imbalance – You need a job. They can wait.
Social conditioning – You’ve been taught that talking about money is rude, greedy, and ungrateful.
Isolation – You negotiate alone. They have HR, lawyers, hiring managers, compensation consultants, and decades of institutional knowledge.

But here’s what they conveniently forget to mention:

The cost of replacing you is 50-200% of your annual salary.

That’s recruitment fees, training time, lost productivity, onboarding, and institutional knowledge loss.

They have more to lose than you think.

They’re just better at pretending they don’t.

This isn’t random, it’s systemic

This isn’t just one company lowballing one candidate. It’s a feature, not a bug:

Women are asked about salary history more often than men and penalized more harshly for negotiating
Career pivoters are told they “lack direct experience” to justify 30-40% pay cuts
Young professionals are fed “pay your dues” rhetoric while doing senior work for junior pay
You’re told to be “grateful” while companies maximize profit margins on your labor

Ruth said it clearly:

“If you want quality, be ready to pay quality money. Don’t be stingy. I have never in my life offered people less than they deserve. I would never do it. If the company cannot provide for them, what additional benefits can you offer them? If you don’t pay people what they deserve, especially when you can, they’ll leave, and you will start all over again.”

The heist works because no one challenges it.

The culture of silence about money

You know what makes this heist possible?

We’ve got a culture that treats money like a dirty secret.

Asking a colleague how much they earn is seen as rude.
Sharing your own salary is seen as unprofessional. Or worse, inviting “village people/evil spirits” into your life.
Comparing compensation across companies publicly is uncommon.

We’ve been trained to (almost) never discuss the one thing that most determines our quality of life.

And exploitative companies love this.

Because:

When you don’t know what your colleague earns, you can’t tell if you’re being cheated
When you don’t know what the market pays, you can’t negotiate from strength
When salaries are secret, companies control all the information

And information is power.

Ruth nailed it when she said:

“Some of these HRs and CEOs are out of touch. I remember fighting a CEO to increase a gateman’s salary. Why will you be paying someone ₦30k just because you’re offering them accommodation? Some of them are just mean beans. They don’t know the basics of being human because they either never worked a day in their life or feel like everyone else must suffer because they also did on their way up.”

But this silence doesn’t start in workplaces. It starts in Nigerian homes.

Most Nigerian homes never discuss money openly.

You probably grew up knowing money was tight, but no one explained:

Budgets
Salaries
How to negotiate
How to recognize when you’re being exploited

You were told to go to school, work hard, and build excellence. But no one told you how to ensure you get paid your worth.

So when you entered the job market, you were walking in blind.

You didn’t know you could negotiate salary. Or benefits. Or work arrangements.

And companies exploit this ignorance ruthlessly.

They:

Include contract clauses prohibiting salary discussions (often unenforceable, but intimidating)
Frame compensation questions as “jumping ahead” or “not a culture fit.”
Pivot to vague “growth opportunities” when you ask about money
Make you feel greedy for wanting to know what a job pays

This isn’t culture. This is a strategy.

The strategy is: keep you ignorant long enough to lock you into a bad deal.

How to dodge the heist

1. Research market rates BEFORE negotiating

Use:

Glassdoor
PayScale
Salary.com
Local salary surveys
Communities where people share real numbers (anonymously)
People in similar roles, ask them directly

You can’t negotiate effectively if you don’t know your worth.

2. Never answer “what’s your current/past salary?” directly

Try these responses:

Direct (if you can afford to be): “I’m focusing on the value I’ll bring to this role and what the market rate is. What’s the budgeted range for this position?”

Softer (if directness feels risky in your context): “My previous role had a different scope and responsibilities. Based on this role’s requirements, I’m looking for ₦X to ₦Y.”

3. Demand salary transparency upfront

Ifeoluwa Ojo (Recruiter at VAMP) confirmed this should be standard:

“After the first shortlist, I do a phone screening. We talk about salary expectations, work model, it helps level the playing field for what you want to engage next. It just helps you weed out misaligned expectations.”

Before wasting time on interviews, ask:

“I’m interested in this role. Before we proceed, could you share the salary range to ensure we’re aligned?”

If they refuse:

“I appreciate your time, but I don’t move forward without salary transparency. It protects both of us from wasting time on a misaligned fit.”

4. Set boundaries on “test assignments” (aka free labor)

A reasonable skills assessment shouldn’t take more than 1-2 hours, max.

If they ask for more, respond with:

“I’m happy to demonstrate my skills. This assessment appears to require 8-10 hours of work. I can either:

Complete a shortened version (2 hours max), OR
Complete the full assessment at my consulting rate of ₦X.

Which would you prefer?”

5. When they say “that’s not in our budget.”

Stand firm (if you can afford to):

“I appreciate the offer, but ₦X reflects the market rate for someone with my experience in this role. I’m not able to accept less than ₦Y. Can we make that work?”

Or push for a written commitment to review your pay within a fixed time (3 months, ideally).

6. Document EVERYTHING

Emails
Offer letters
Verbal promises
Salary discussions

If they promise a “review in 6 months,” get it in writing with specific criteria and numbers.

Plugs for my friends (Community > Competition)

One of the easiest ways to increase your negotiating power is to have hiring managers come to you.

If you’re an early-career professional struggling to build visibility and attract job offers (especially if you’re introverted like me), Toluwanimi Ajiboye specializes in helping people like you.

She’s helped dozens navigate these exact situations, and I recommend her.

Early-Career Pro Visibility Growth

For marketing folks: A special opportunity

Speaking of negotiation and knowing your worth, one of Nigeria’s marketing legends, Tochy Emereole, is hosting something truly game-changing.

She helped a friend go from ₦450k to ₦1.9M in 3 years using a career mapping system that’s helped marketing professionals increase their salaries by 50-200%.

On February 26th and 28th, she’s running the Marketing Career Mapping Masterclass, where she’ll show you:

Your highest-paid marketing niche (based on YOUR skills, not guessing)
Which skills get you promoted vs which keep you stuck
How to negotiate 30-50% raises without changing jobs
When to switch companies for 40-60% salary jumps
The 90-day action plan you can execute immediately

If you’re tired of being underpaid while doing senior-level work, you should join this masterclass.

Join The Marketing Career MasterClass

The red flags you should avoid

Here are the red flags to watch for:

🚩 Job posts without salary ranges – They’re hiding something.

🚩 “Competitive salary” without context – It’s meaningless.

🚩 Asking for your salary history – They’re anchoring you low.

🚩 Take-it-or-leave-it offers with artificial urgency – They’re testing you.

🚩 Unpaid “assessments” longer than 2 hours – They’re stealing your work.

Why negotiation is critical

The cost of accepting a lowball offer isn’t just the number on your payslip.

It’s the trajectory.

Every future raise is calculated as a percentage of your current salary. Start low, stay low.

If you accept ₦180,000 instead of negotiating to ₦350,000:

Loss per month: ₦170,000
Loss per year: ₦2,040,000
Loss over 3 years: ₦6,120,000

That’s not a salary gap, it’s a heist, and you’re the victim.

Ruth’s advice

For hiring managers and recruiters:

“Be transparent and post the salary. If you know you’re paying below industry standards, don’t ask for a master’s degree. Don’t ask for 10 years of experience. Say 2-3 years. Post-NYSC. Be transparent with the pay and manage your expectations.”

For early-career candidates:

“Sometimes, something has to give. You either pick the money or the long game of better prospects. If the job has the possibility of placing you in a better position in your career in the next 2 years, go for it.”

The truth you need to know

Negotiation isn’t about being difficult.

It’s about being paid what the role is worth.

Your silence isn’t humility.

It’s permission to be cheated.

Remember to:

✅ Research market rates for your role
✅ Document all promises with clear timelines and numbers
✅ Practice saying “That doesn’t work for me” without apologizing